Directed by : Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
Written by : Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely
Starring : Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Chadwick Boseman, Tom Holland
Release Date : April 27, 2016
Let's get this out of the way first. As much as "Captain America: Civil War" is technically the third installment of the Captain America film franchise, this is pretty much essentially an Avengers movie. Chris Evans as Captain America is still the primary lead and a lot of the focus is through his point of view, but Robert Downey Jr. is also the co-lead for this story, with a good chunk of the rest of the Avengers playing very important roles in the supporting cast. This is an ensemble piece through and through, and everybody gets to shine and steal the movie from everybody else in one way or another.
The movie's premise is actually deep and complicated, with multiple themes and call backs throughout the whole Marvel Cinematic Universe. With that said, this movie does an amazing job in being very straight-forward and very easy to follow. It's a fantastic story, filled with plot turns and character conflicts, about friendships, guilt, consequences, accountability, revenge, ideologies, regret, that successfully gives us a convincing reason to believe that our heroes had to fight each other. Speaking of which, the action scenes are a joy to see, from thrilling chase sequences, well choreographed fights, to a super-powered group battle that is so much fun to watch.
While I have almost nothing but accolades to give here, I could have done without some of the shaky-cam that is used in several scenes. Some of the CGI work that replaced some stunt work also felt a little off to me. The big giant location title cards additionally felt unnecessarily too in-your-face for my taste. What absolutely wasn't unnecessary however, are the many moments that are littered throughout the movie. From small moments where characters meet for the first time, comedic exchanges of innocuous dialogue, super-heroic teamwork assists, to moments of poignant clarity of the situation at hand. All those moments only add up to make this film better as a whole.
It's easy for me to say that "Captain America: Civil War" might just be my most favorite Marvel movie right now. Even if it wasn't, it easily makes the case of being one of the all time best super hero comic book movies ever made so far. Entertaining. Enjoyable. Exciting. Such an excellent movie!
P.S. Spider-man is simply spectacular, Black Panther is badass, and Ant-man held his own so damn well.
LOVED IT enjoyedititsokayitsmehitsterrible
