Captain America: Civil War

Captain America: Civil War, 2016

Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, 147 minutes

Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Elizabeth Olsen, Chadwick Boseman

Review by Katherine Scheetz

             

              Marvel once again orchestrates a star-studded ensemble as only Marvel can. It’s the same rapport Joss Weedon brought to the Avengers franchise, this time, with both new and improved faces.

              Bucky (Stan) returns as the Darryl Dixon of Marvel, Black Widow (Johansson) sports her best look yet, Black Panther (Boseman) debuts with reverberations throughout the fandom and Spider-Man (Tom Holland) seamlessly keeps pace with seasoned avengers whose balls have actually dropped.

             

With civilian causalities stacking up circumstantial to the Avengers missions, they are called out to answer for the loss. A UN doctrine for bureaucratic regulation ruffles feathers and rifts friendships when Iron Man (Downey Jr.) surprises by signing in agreement and Captain America (Evans) abstains.

              Insert the pressure of the Cap’s longtime friend Bucky – the Winter Soldier – being caught up in an assassination plot, as well as a sneaky Slovakian psychiatrist (Daniel Brüel) holding onto video footage and an agenda of his own.  The result is a snappy superhero plot peppered with quips among super-friends.

              A now-displaced Wanda (Olsen) and synthetic Vision (Paul Bettany) share a few human moments that far surpass the forced-out kiss between Sharon Carter (Emily VanCamp) and Steve Rogers. Sorry Carter, no matter how good you think his biceps look holding a helicopter aground, you two have no chemistry.

             

Marvel’s secret weapon here is a chatty Peter Parker, ousted by the ever snarky Iron Man Stark via hitting on his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei). Holland’s promise makes our Spidey-senses twinge for more.

              The battle sequences are well shot with low camera angles that give it a grandeur equal to the scale of the film. It’s clear the choreographers had a blast putting the sequences together, testing the limits and creativity of each superpower present.

              There is no way to prepare for what writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely have created from Mark Millar’s comic, but hang on through the exposition for some serious power-punching twists.

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