Captain America: Civil War succeeds with deeper conflict
Could this be one of Marvel’s best movies so far?
Seen together, the Captain America films make for a intriguing journey for this character. Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) is initially willing to give all he has for his country in wartime, before learning many years later that the institution he trusted in had been corrupted, and ultimately using that experience as fuel for continued scepticism about authority and oversight in Captain America: Civil War. This film sees the Avengers torn apart by their political differences, and it works precisely because it makes that clash appropriately complex and personal.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier directors Joe and Anthony Russo return here to tell the next part of the hero’s story, opening with an Avengers mission that goes awry and results in yet another instance of unintended casualties. Shortly after this, an agreement is drafted to oversee the Avengers so that uses of their extreme power are not so likely to have such tragic consequences. Cap sees the potential of any governmental oversight as a risk the team shouldn’t take, while the guilt weighs heavily on Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr). The team is split, and verbal sparring soon gives way to a physical fight when Stark believes he has to bring Rogers into custody.
Like many other Marvel movies, this is a long film that leaves itself with a lot of work to do. It feels like it has approximately a hundred different characters all with their own story arcs to serve, and it’s to its credit that it pulls this off confidently. The main conflict revolves around Tony, Steve, and Steve’s childhood friend Bucky (Sebastian Stan), who is almost on the road to recovery after being brainwashed to be an assassin. Elsewhere, just about all the Avengers appear (except Thor and Hulk), with the strongest storylines going to Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen), Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), and Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson). The film also sees the terrific introductions of exciting new characters Peter Parker aka Spider-Man (Tom Holland) and T’Challa aka Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), along with a more exciting return for Emily VanCamp’s Sharon Carter.
It’s a good sign that characters like Spider-Man and Black Panther somewhat steal the show, as they’ll have films of their own coming soon. Here, though, it’s all about bringing the simmering difference of opinion between Tony and Steve into something much more aggressive, as they wrestle with responsibility in a world where the level of danger is only increasing. The film seems to be building towards a climactic clash between these two opposing teams of superpowered people, but it has something more personal and wrenching up its sleeve for after that dazzling and spectacular fight.
There’s a controlled sense of mayhem to that sequence in particular and to much of the excellent character-building material leading up to it. It’s refreshing to see the film both have an undercurrent threat that has emerged while the team has been distracted and that the threat is not a world-ending one but in keeping with the highly personal tension developed in this movie. At its heart, this film’s writers challenge us to pick a side but also make sure there’s no easy answer to the debate, something that keeps you questioning who’s right and who’s wrong throughout.
Captain America: Civil War ends up being a real triumph for Marvel Studios, and is certainly one of its most impressive films so far. What should be an unwieldy behemoth with too many characters to service juggles storylines expertly, and delivers on a level that is more mature and darker than previous films while still being fantastically entertaining.
