Review of Captain America: Civil War (2016) by Kyle L — 11 Jul 2018

Captain America Civil War is the best of the Captain America trilogy and also a superb way to kickstart the third Phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In Captain America Civil War, the Avengers' lives are at stake after a mission goes awry that resulted with the deaths of a number of civilians.

To solve this problem, the government introduces the Accords where the heroes will only work for them to save others when necessary. While Iron Man along with his allies agree to this, Captain America and the others refuse to do so.

Things just couldn't get worse when the Winter Soldier, Bucky Barnes becomes a wanted man after bombing the piece treaty in Vienna that killed T'Challa's father. Cap soon learns that his friend has been framed and that he must find the mastermind behind the events that led to the fracturing of the Avengers as Iron Man fights his way to send Cap into custody.

Back when this showed two years ago in IMAX I had a blast watching it, especially on the Director's Club. When I got it on DVD, I still couldn't get enough of this film as Marvel has really become a game changer by the start of Phase Three which led to Avengers Infinity War and this is one of Marvel's best efforts to date.

Between DC's Batman V Superman and this film, Captain America Civil War is a much better experience especially when DC now starts to sink gradually from one film to the next. With Marvel, the stakes are high and they slowly start to turn into the crown jewel of comic book movies that began with the original Iron Man until this film, Avengers Infinity War and so on.

One of the things that I like about Captain America Civil War is that this movie like the previous films does a great job in keeping their footing on the right direction while telling a good story. This movie seriously did the job expanding some of the questions from the previous films like what truly happened to Iron Man's family and so on.

I love how the film is well executed during the course of the story that does not lose its direction from one place to another as it is told in a powerful yet intriguing way. The movies twists and turns are so unexpected, you'd never see it coming.

The themes about how far would you go to be a hero is well explored; every character is so fun to watch from the new ones (Black Panther) to the returning and reintroduced faces (Spider-Man and Ant-Man).

The action scenes are intense combined with good old fashioned humor like what the previous Marvel films usually do (the airport battle is funny and exhilarating featuring crazy CGI effects from past Marvel films and the thrilling final battle against Iron Man, Captain America and Winter Soldier).

There are some scenes that are just as suspenceful as in its predecessor (the death of T'Challa's father, the Winter Soldier going crazy and the shocking twists in the finale) and last but not least, the main highlight of this film is the main antagonist Helmut Zemo, beginning with this film until Ant-Man And The Wasp, the villain issue has been solved.

Neither of the enemies the Avengers faced this time around are not watered down from lack of character development. Marvel seriously responded to this issue by giving us villains who are threats to the heroes or are more human and changed the heroes mind knowing that the villains are usually telling the truth for all the right reasons and Zemo is just the start.

Now that the films can compete with the Netflix Marvel shows villains. The acting is spot on, everyone from the casts did a good job with their roles in this film from Chris Evans to Robert Downey Junior as Captain America and Iron Man respectively.

While the new faces like Tom Holland and Black Panther are amazing, last but not least. The returning casts from past Marvel films like Scarlett Johansson, Paul Rudd, Anthony Mackie, Don Cheadle are great as Black Widow, Ant-Man, Falcon and War Machine while I like seeing Stan Lee once more in another funny Marvel cameo.

Directors Anthony and Joe Russo did a spectacular job with their work on this film, they really took a huge leap forward with their work on this film until Avengers Infinity War with the help of writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely.

These four are the key players of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as they helped in expanding this universe in the best directions thanks to their hardwork and effort this franchise has sprawled to the top of the hill.

Overall Captain America Civil War is a fun start for the Phase Three MCU films, the result is an entertaining and memorable Action film filled with humor and charm while delving deeper into the mythology of this expanding universe.

This film gets an 11/10.