Captain America : Civil War Second Take Review

Captain America: Civil War is the third installment of Marvel’s very heavily anticipated Captain America series, starring Chris Evans as Captain America aka Steve Rogers and Robert Downey Jr. making a return as the titular Iron Man/Tony Stark. Also, included are most of the past Avengers as well as some new ones. Also returning are Winter Soldier’s directors, the Russo Brothers.  Even though this as billed as a Captain America film, it’s actually an Avengers film. Much like the amazing Captain America: Winter Soldier, the Russo Brothers have brought another solid installment to the Captain America and Avengers franchises. Taking place some amount of time after Age of Ultron, the Avengers have not stopped protecting the world from imminent danger. But instead of their bravery being applauded, The Avengers are being scolded for the consequences of their actions. Those consequences being the casualties that are caused as a result of their heroics. Cities have been destroyed; civilians have lost their lives; and the government feels The Avengers need some boundaries. Tony Stark agrees, so does Black Widow (Scarlett Johannson), but Steve feels that they still need to operate independently. This disagreement leads to a series of disastrous events, with the bulk of the blame centering on Steve Rogers’s best friend Bucky Barnes, or better known as the Winter Soldier. Steve believes in Bucky’s innocence and goes out of his way to help him escape from the wrath of Iron Man, Black Widow, and newly introduced Avenger Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), all three out for Bucky’s blood. The strongest part of Captain America: Civil War is the story. The story in no way portrays the Avengers as these god-like heroes. Their actions have severe consequences, much like they would in real life. And they are not treated as gods by the US government or the media. It humanizes these enhanced individuals from the start. The “war” is a war between two parties who have very valid reasons for their anger. You never get the sense that either side wants to kill each other for the satisfaction of it. Team Captain America vs Team Iron Man just wants to slow each other down. Yes, there is a villain - although he was the weakest part of the movie, once again there is an individual who has a plausible motivation for his hatred. His destruction is fueled by vengeance, not a quest for power. Captain America: Civil War is the movie that Avengers: Age of Ultron should have been. There is so much more going on here than just action sequences and fight scenes. There’s more of a story here than many of the Marvel films have had in previous years, so much so that I would not classify this as an action film. It really is the next entry in the Avengers saga. There are a lot of Avengers in Civil War, old and new. But the Russo Brothers did a great job of giving them a purpose to be there besides attracting more box office. With the exception of the opening action scene, which was just okay, I thoroughly enjoyed this film and the performances of every single Avenger in this film. The Russo Brothers did a masterful job.