Review: Captain America: Civil War is a Quality Mess
- Jan 31, 2017
- 2 min read
The Civil War event was one of the biggest story lines in comic history. Every hero and a decent number of villains took sides in a battle of titanic proportions. Unfortunately, the official film adaptation barely scratches the surface of what it could have been.
After a particularly violent encounter, the governments of the world band together in an effort to manage the avengers and ensure that events like it never occur again. But Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) won't stand for it, feeling that the heroes should be separate from the government. Naturally, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) stands against him. Soon enough, everyone's taking sides and a fight is inevitable.
Civil War has two major problems. It's overstuffed and it doesn't know what it is. Between 12 superheroes, 1 weak villain and a plethora of supporting characters, there's so much going on it's easier to ignore than it is to care. And then there's the plot. Aside from the actual civil war, there's a side plot concerning the winter soldier, a villain who serves no purpose, set up for the upcoming spiderman film as well as a number of shoehorned appearances. It's a messy movie to say the least.
At the same time, civil war can't decide if it's a serious look at superheroes within a modern setting or an excuse to have iron man fight captain america. It is both grim and childish and it makes it difficult to care about what's going, which isn't helped by the fact that, from the outset, you know nobodies in trouble, they've got movies lined up for the next few years.
It's not all bad. The action is the best it's ever been in these movies, though it constantly switches between wide shots and clear visuals and the handheld style of the Bourne films. The Characters, at least the pre-existing ones, are good though the newly introduced ones are less than stellar.
Civil War isn't a bad movie. It's just a colossal mess with bits of quality scattered throughout. From a villain that shouldn't exist to a climax that is wholly undeserved, it suffers from the same problems as just about every other Marvel film on the market. Fortunately the action is good enough to ensure it's watchable but it's a cautious recommendation at best.
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