Review of Captain America: Civil War (2016) by Michael C — 26 Mar 2017

Strengths: I praised the original Avengers for the delicate balancing act it did with all its parts. This movie might have don't that ever better. With so many pieces, this basically plays as an Avengers movie. All the usual players give their typically strong performances. Chris Evans (Steve Rogers/Captain America) continues to have great chemistry with Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier) and Scarlett Johansson (Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow). The person who may give the best performance of all is Robert Downy Jr. (Tony Stark/Iron Man). He's been so good in every movie he's appeared in, but he's at his best here. The arrogant pieces of him start to fade as the weight of Avengers, Iron Man 3, and Age of Ultron all crush him. It all comes to a head in the final fight against Cap and Bucky, which is among the best in MCU history. Speaking of great fights, the airport battle between Team Stark and Team Cap is the single best thing the MCU has ever done. It's so perfectly laid out, with each hero getting several chances to shine. The direction, character moments, and action of that scene are perfect. Paul Rudd (Scott Lang/Ant-Man) is the MVP of the fight, even though that's really his only scene. The movie gets the humor right, never going too far in with it, but remaining funny at the right points. I especially enjoyed Bucky's relationship with Sam/Falcon (Anthony Mackie). There was also the tall task of introducing two major new characters, which not even Avengers had to do. Tom Holland (Peter Parker/Spider-Man) and Chadwick Boseman (T'Challa/Black Panther) are both spectacularly cast. Even better, they're introduced so well. Gone are the generic origin stories. Parker and Stark develop their relationship quickly and it sets up HomeComing, while T'Challa plays mysterious early on. In fact, T'Challa gets one of the better arcs, going from someone basing his actions off rage, to allowing Zemo (Daniel Bruhl) to live. I also enjoyed Elizabeth Olsen (Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch) much more here than in Ultron. Lastly, I have to praise how the film never leans you towards picking a side between Iron Man and Captain America. You can see how both sides are right and how both sides are wrong.

Weaknesses: There were only a few small things in this film that bugged me. One was how Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) came back after his retirement in Ultron. It led to some cool scenes, and I love having him around, but it cheapened Ultron a bit. The other was Vision (Paul Bettany). I just still don't like his character, even if he was dumbed down a bit here (he was basically a god in Ultron). It didn't help that he walked around dressed like a dad during the movie.

Overall: I often go back and forth on what my favorite MCU film is. It's either The Avengers or this. That's how good Civil War is. It manages to juggle a lot at once and never feel forced. To introduce Black Panther and Spider-Man, have great scenes of Cap against Iron Man, feature brilliant fight scenes, and set up future films is genius. It's a brilliantly paced movie that is among the best ever.