Captain America: Civil War (2016)

[filmlover]

10 hours ago, WrathOfHan said:

 

My only big gripe with the movie was the forced romance with Sharon Carter. Quite a few people let out "No!"s in the theater when she and Steve kissed  

 

I think they should just embrace the mildly homoerotic subtext between Cap and Bucky and run with it at this point.

[WrathOfHan]

5 minutes ago, filmlover said:

I think they should just embrace the mildly homoerotic subtext between Cap and Bucky and run with it at this point.

They should but they can't afford to lose that China money.

[jb007]

Captain America is the most adult oriented movie in the MCU. While it is still funny, the movie portrays the real divisions between the Avengers effectively. 

 

Russo bros have succeeded in delivering a fine movie. The action scenes are just spectacular especially the all out battle scene at the airport. I loved the slow parts just as much.

 

Spiderman was a hoot. His interaction with Tony and Cap was just superb. Black Panther got a good intro. 

 

Apart from the disagreement regarding the Sokovia Accord, it came down to Cap considering WS as Bucky and Tony viewing him as The Winter Soldier. 

 

While not as wholesome as The Avengers, it is still an excellent movie. 

 

Rating: A

 

 

 

 

[Impact]

Saw it yesterday. This film was fantastic. It was not as good as Galaxy but still an amazing start to phase 3. Some great action and some good humor as well (I love the line about Empire Strikes Back being that really old move!)

A

[Lordmandeep]

When people say Marvel films cant be more adult and tell a more serious story line well here you go...

It pretty much was the film Batman vs Superman should have been.

 

It had a great buildup and likely the best storyline then any of the Marvel films. 

 

The film mixes in the fun wackyiness of The Avengers at the Airport and a very dark and serious/sad climax.

 

Most blockbusters would have peaked at the Airport but this went on to a better peak.

 

8.5/10

 

 

I think some of the character motivations were a bit nonsensical and perhaps 1-2 characters like Vision and such should have left out. 

 

 

Also Zemo was needed for the film, how else would the actual 'civil war' take place. 

Edited May 8, 2016 by Lordmandeep

[AniNate]

It's a solidly crafted blockbuster with an engaging story, but I can't really go further than that. The opening action sequences were really mishandled from a technical standpoint and Holland's Spider-Man was way overhyped, but otherwise the film succeeds at delivering the comic book goods people expect.

[Maazaowski]

So I just watched Civil War again last night and I have gathered my thoughts on it. Overall...I liked it a lot less in the second screening. I will be discussing it with full spoilers and will be fully comparing it with Batman v Superman. 
THIS IS JUST MY OPINION. YOU MAY CALL ME A DC/MARVEL FANBOY BUT I DON'T CARE. 

.
The motivations of each character was shown brilliantly. You could see why Steve Rogers was against the Sokovia Accords and why Tony Stark was all for it. I liked how we saw 'few' members of the Avengers discussing it among themselves. Some agreed, some disagreed while others didn't or couldn't reach their decision. 
In Batman v Superman, both superheroes had a different style of bringing the criminals to justice. While Superman wanted to grab the criminals and throw them through the walls, Batman wanted to torture them and be the judge by branding them with a bat symbol which means sentencing them to death. (He said he won't be the executioner, but didn't say anything about not being the Judge).
In this aspect, I liked Batman v Superman more than CW because from the very beginning, we understand why Bruce Wayne truly hates Superman and why he wants to absolutely crush him. But in CW, there is just a little disagreement between the heroes, and then they joke about it and become mates. The stakes aren't that high throughout CW except in the end (which I'll come about later). In BvS, I know that at least Bruce Wayne will definitely be going for murder. I know that he is brilliant and he will try to take down Superman somehow. I didn't get that glimpse in CW, however, which made the airport scene unexciting. 

.
Going into both the movies, I was aware of the fact that there are a lot of superheroes who will be making an appearance and I was afraid that the directors just want them there to sell the movie. And my fears were true in both of them. Having said that, I think BvS did a somewhat better job. In BvS, we saw glimpses of the Flash, Cyborg and Aquman through a video camera footage and that was all fine by me. It didn't detract me from the story, it was just a few cameo roles and a glimpse of what they can do in their upcoming movies. It wasn't necessary for them to be there but at the same time it wasn't unnecessary. 
In CW, however, during the airport scene, we understand why Captain America, Iron Man, Bucky, Falcon, Iron Legion, Black Panther and Black Widow were fighting. But the rest...no clue. To me, they just shoehorned in Ant Man just so that he could become giant and surprise the audience. They pushed in Spiderman because of reasons. Hawkeye was introduced to make a few jokes around. Even Vision and Scarlet Witch had no business to fight each other. We clearly saw that neither of them reached their decision regarding the Sokovia Records but suddenly, just when Hawkeye came to save Scarlet she automatically chose sides. That kind of confused me. The action sequences were amazing during that scene, but again the stakes weren't that high. No one was going for blood. They were freaking making jokes during fighting sequences which really infuriated me. It was like watching a comedy circus where the clowns were wearing superhero costumes. 

.
*sigh*

.
Let's talk about the villain. Marvel has a track record of producing mediocre villains because they spend so much time developing the heroes. And in this movie, it was no different. I have seen the movie twice and still don't know thr name of the villain and why he is so important. I know why he hated the Avengers and tried to turn them against each other. But he was underwhelmed because he didn't do much. He just planted the bomb during the ceremony and that's it. 
We had a similar kind of villain in BvS by the name of Lex Luthor who also turned Batman and Superman against each other. But in BvS, I couldn't understand why he hated Batman and Superman so much and why he turned them against each other. But the reason why I liked Lex better was because he was the creator of Doomsday. He served his purpose as a villain by creating the monster which ultimately lead to the death of Superman. Between Lex Luthor and the other guy in CW, I have to go with Lex on being the better villain. 

.
And this leads to the ending of both the movies. After Tony finds out about Bucky killing their parents, he turns into a freaking maniac and starts to kill Bucky. Steve, being the voice for reason, tries to defend himself and his best friend. This scene was powerful because we finally got to see what we wanted to see and that was the heroes going for blood. Or at least Iron Man. Captain America wasn't going for the kill but he wanted to stop Tony from murdering his friend. This is similar to the BvS fighting scene where we saw Batman going for the kill and Superman trying to stop him. In this case, the stakes were high in both the movies and we actually got the definitive winner in these two movies. Batman and Captain America (with the help of Bucky). Both the action sequences were phenomenal but I'd give a slight edge to Civil War because it was longer and it was more brutal than the BvS one. But the aftermath in CW was terrible. We saw Tony still angry with Cap and orders him to leave the shield because it didn't belong to him. But there was no encounter between them which showed the characters realising that it was a mistake going against each other. At least in BvS we had a Martha scene which, no matter what anyone says, was still a very powerful scene and it led to both heroes becoming allies. We didn't get that scene in CW. Instead, we saw Cap sending a letter to Tony and apologizing for what he and Bucky did. That's it? That's how they become allies once again. That's how Tony accepts his apology? From a freaking letter? It could've been anything else like Spiderman coming in and being the voice for reason and stopping the fight. Anything else couldn't have been worse than that sorry letter. I guess they couldn't come up with anything else for Stan Lee's cameo.
.
Even though Civil War had some of the best, jaw-dropping action sequences in any CBM history, the villain, the aftermath and the stakes were the biggest cons of the movie and in turn were the biggest highlights of BvS. The one thing I hated about BvS was the fact that there weren't enough action scenes in the movie. We barely saw Superman fighting anyone in the movie. We only see him talking to someone and then flying away which really underwhelmed the character. But Ben Affleck's Batman made it all better and we certainly hope for him to do more in the upcoming Suicide Squad.

[lilmac]

A

 

Most of the reviews have hit on the same points I'd make. Highlights were Spider-Man, the airport fight scene, the smart writing (especially for RDJ), RDJ's acting, and the villain (forgot his name). 

 

The villain is both a positive and the one weakness in the movie. I liked this villain because I felt sympathetic to him at the end. Rarely has that ever happened..so, kudos. With that said, he wasn't formidable enough, forgettable, and I think how his plans came to fruition were too convenient at times. 

[lilmac]

18 minutes ago, Maazaowski said:

So I just watched Civil War again last night and I have gathered my thoughts on it. Overall...I liked it a lot less in the second screening. I will be discussing it with full spoilers and will be fully comparing it with Batman v Superman. 
THIS IS JUST MY OPINION. YOU MAY CALL ME A DC/MARVEL FANBOY BUT I DON'T CARE. 

.
The motivations of each character was shown brilliantly. You could see why Steve Rogers was against the Sokovia Accords and why Tony Stark was all for it. I liked how we saw 'few' members of the Avengers discussing it among themselves. Some agreed, some disagreed while others didn't or couldn't reach their decision. 
In Batman v Superman, both superheroes had a different style of bringing the criminals to justice. While Superman wanted to grab the criminals and throw them through the walls, Batman wanted to torture them and be the judge by branding them with a bat symbol which means sentencing them to death. (He said he won't be the executioner, but didn't say anything about not being the Judge).
In this aspect, I liked Batman v Superman more than CW because from the very beginning, we understand why Bruce Wayne truly hates Superman and why he wants to absolutely crush him. But in CW, there is just a little disagreement between the heroes, and then they joke about it and become mates. The stakes aren't that high throughout CW except in the end (which I'll come about later). In BvS, I know that at least Bruce Wayne will definitely be going for murder. I know that he is brilliant and he will try to take down Superman somehow. I didn't get that glimpse in CW, however, which made the airport scene unexciting. 

.
Going into both the movies, I was aware of the fact that there are a lot of superheroes who will be making an appearance and I was afraid that the directors just want them there to sell the movie. And my fears were true in both of them. Having said that, I think BvS did a somewhat better job. In BvS, we saw glimpses of the Flash, Cyborg and Aquman through a video camera footage and that was all fine by me. It didn't detract me from the story, it was just a few cameo roles and a glimpse of what they can do in their upcoming movies. It wasn't necessary for them to be there but at the same time it wasn't unnecessary. 
In CW, however, during the airport scene, we understand why Captain America, Iron Man, Bucky, Falcon, Iron Legion, Black Panther and Black Widow were fighting. But the rest...no clue. To me, they just shoehorned in Ant Man just so that he could become giant and surprise the audience. They pushed in Spiderman because of reasons. Hawkeye was introduced to make a few jokes around. Even Vision and Scarlet Witch had no business to fight each other. We clearly saw that neither of them reached their decision regarding the Sokovia Records but suddenly, just when Hawkeye came to save Scarlet she automatically chose sides. That kind of confused me. The action sequences were amazing during that scene, but again the stakes weren't that high. No one was going for blood. They were freaking making jokes during fighting sequences which really infuriated me. It was like watching a comedy circus where the clowns were wearing superhero costumes. 

.
*sigh*

.
Let's talk about the villain. Marvel has a track record of producing mediocre villains because they spend so much time developing the heroes. And in this movie, it was no different. I have seen the movie twice and still don't know thr name of the villain and why he is so important. I know why he hated the Avengers and tried to turn them against each other. But he was underwhelmed because he didn't do much. He just planted the bomb during the ceremony and that's it. 
We had a similar kind of villain in BvS by the name of Lex Luthor who also turned Batman and Superman against each other. But in BvS, I couldn't understand why he hated Batman and Superman so much and why he turned them against each other. But the reason why I liked Lex better was because he was the creator of Doomsday. He served his purpose as a villain by creating the monster which ultimately lead to the death of Superman. Between Lex Luthor and the other guy in CW, I have to go with Lex on being the better villain. 

.
And this leads to the ending of both the movies. After Tony finds out about Bucky killing their parents, he turns into a freaking maniac and starts to kill Bucky. Steve, being the voice for reason, tries to defend himself and his best friend. This scene was powerful because we finally got to see what we wanted to see and that was the heroes going for blood. Or at least Iron Man. Captain America wasn't going for the kill but he wanted to stop Tony from murdering his friend. This is similar to the BvS fighting scene where we saw Batman going for the kill and Superman trying to stop him. In this case, the stakes were high in both the movies and we actually got the definitive winner in these two movies. Batman and Captain America (with the help of Bucky). Both the action sequences were phenomenal but I'd give a slight edge to Civil War because it was longer and it was more brutal than the BvS one. But the aftermath in CW was terrible. We saw Tony still angry with Cap and orders him to leave the shield because it didn't belong to him. But there was no encounter between them which showed the characters realising that it was a mistake going against each other. At least in BvS we had a Martha scene which, no matter what anyone says, was still a very powerful scene and it led to both heroes becoming allies. We didn't get that scene in CW. Instead, we saw Cap sending a letter to Tony and apologizing for what he and Bucky did. That's it? That's how they become allies once again. That's how Tony accepts his apology? From a freaking letter? It could've been anything else like Spiderman coming in and being the voice for reason and stopping the fight. Anything else couldn't have been worse than that sorry letter. I guess they couldn't come up with anything else for Stan Lee's cameo.
.
Even though Civil War had some of the best, jaw-dropping action sequences in any CBM history, the villain, the aftermath and the stakes were the biggest cons of the movie and in turn were the biggest highlights of BvS. The one thing I hated about BvS was the fact that there weren't enough action scenes in the movie. We barely saw Superman fighting anyone in the movie. We only see him talking to someone and then flying away which really underwhelmed the character. But Ben Affleck's Batman made it all better and we certainly hope for him to do more in the upcoming Suicide Squad.

 

Thanks for this great review. Here are my thoughts:

 

1. I don't think it was meant to be a feel good happy ending. The path to reconciliation had begun in the aftermath of the fight (Tony was back with the Avengers, well 1/2 of them and Captain America extended the olive branch which Tony didn't reject out of hand). There was light at the end of the tunnel. I imagine the story will continue in some fashion in future chapters (movies). In real life, it may be unrealistic to expect estranged friends to reconcile so quickly. Also, I suspect there is a strategic reason for the Avengers to be split up as they are with a secondary HQ of sorts. We'll have to see why they have been positioned that way.

 

2. Agree about the weak villain. I'm still a little unclear about how the bombing in Vienna and especially the Siberian underground facility played in his plan (which ostensibly was to break up the Avengers). How did he know they would survive the first round of infighting and be able to track him to that site? What was his role with the Accords? How did he know the person he killed/replaced would have been the one to interview Bucky?

[Lordmandeep]

The Villain was more a plot device for Civil War then anything. 

[Fullbuster]

I gave it an A grade of course, best Marvel movie!

[Kvikk Lunsj]

2 hours ago, Lordmandeep said:

The Villain was more a plot device for Civil War then anything. 

He was unneed Tony Stark could have encrypt those files and found the video. Plus with the accident in the beginning of the film he was unneeded to have UN to look to pass a resolution to solve the Avengers problem.  

[bapi]

Wow really surprised RLM didn't enjoy CW much.

 

 

[Ezen Baklattan]

Had a few more days to sit on it.

 

I was on the B/B+ precipice initially, but I've now settled on a B. The characters are generally strong, and the duel of ideologies is a pretty cool angle, but I can't help but feel like the Marvel Cinematic Universe is too pre-occupied with building its universe that these major mashup films feel somewhat exhausting, to the point where I honestly think it would make a good TV series. There's a lot of good here, from Maximoff's guilt over the opening scene (which, by the way, had kind of horribly executed action sequences, quite frankly) to the pure fun of the airport battle and even Tom Holland's surprisingly sharp and genuinely youthful take on Spidey. I liked the idea of the villain, but I thought he could have used more development than relying on the tiring winter soldier subplot. Frankly, I like Sebastian Stan, but I'm not super interested in all of the Winter Soldier stuff now that CA2 has already shaped the universe.

 

Overall, I still really dug it, but the Marvel Cinematic Universe is still getting too big for its own good, IMO.

[Hatebox]

On 08/05/2016 at 8:20 PM, lilmac said:

Most of the reviews have hit on the same points I'd make. Highlights were [...] the villain (forgot his name).

 

[Kalo]

On 5/7/2016 at 0:45 AM, Dexter of Suburbia said:

the problem is each side has very thing arguments. A second problem is Captain America is stubborn and never grows as a character in the film. Iron Man in the end switch his views but Captain America refuse since it is Bucky is endanger and refuse to acknowledge that Bucky is dangerous. He doesn't see any of the damage the Avengers has caused.

 

Nope they both had pretty strong arguments, Steve time and time again has seen what happens when they let the governments, aka people with agendas try to control the actions of the avengers, if you remember in The Avengers, the council that Fury was talking to couldn't even agree on what could be done when Loki attacked New York and and they also agreed to nuke the chatarri  through the portal when Iron Man was still there. they also had weapons they started developing from Loki scepter, behind the avengers backs, which he found out about that is two pretty strong reasons right there.

 

Where it not for the scientist who found Steve and personally vouched for him to be the super-soldier experiment, he never would have become captain America in the first place.

 

in the Winter Soldier, Hydra had been infiltrating SHIELD for decades right under their nose, which were it not for Steve breaking the law and taking down Hydra, they would have succeeded in completely overthrowing SHIELD.  

 

he would be crazy at this point to sign something that 117 different nations each with different agendas wanted. 

 

He was conflicted on the matter and he did acknowledge that there was destruction, some of which they caused. but were it not for their quick actions the entire world would be pretty much enslaved or dead. and he was conflicted about it, he even went as far as almost signing the contract AFTER bucky was arrested. and I think he knew bucky was dangerous, he at least partially responsible and knew he was Bucky's only hope, he also saw that bucky was a major victim of what happens when corrupt higher powers intervene.  

 

As For Tony, he had almost the opposite things happen, although I must admit his motivations were slightly less clear and based heavily on his own guilt. 

 

He built Ultron by himself and ultron ended trying to destroy the whole world. he also saw the vision of the entire avengers fallen before his eyes, and felt it was something he was responsible for, he went off the deepend on numerous occasions (Drinking and being irresponsible in IM2, was a total playboy in IM ect..).. the damage in Wauconda and the woman who blamed him for the death of her son was just the final nail in the coffin. although toward the end he was even starting to see that signing the petition to work with the government had major repercussions, him complaining about not being able to have is armor when Bucky got loose. and finally seeing TWS wasn't responsible for the bombing in Wauconda and T'Challa father's death. he was stricken with revenge once he saw the video of WS killing his parents. and it was very emotional imo. I don't know man, maybe you need to see the avengers films again. 

[redfirebird2008]

Saw this last night and enjoyed it very much. I would call it the best MCU movie so far. It's not as fun as IM1 or the first Avengers film, but it is a better movie overall. And unlike The Winter Soldier, this new film does not fall apart during the third act. It keeps the scale smaller during the big conflict at the end and it's not just a big CGI fest like TWS ended up. I really loved Spider-Man and Ant-Man. They added some much-needed humor after everything leading up their appearance was so serious. The Empire Strikes Back reference was awesome. The conflict between Tony and Steve was very well done. I'm curious to see where they take it from here.

[Kvikk Lunsj]

20 hours ago, Kalo said:

 

Nope they both had pretty strong arguments, Steve time and time again has seen what happens when they let the governments, aka people with agendas try to control the actions of the avengers, if you remember in The Avengers, the council that Fury was talking to couldn't even agree on what could be done when Loki attacked New York and and they also agreed to nuke the chatarri  through the portal when Iron Man was still there. they also had weapons they started developing from Loki scepter, behind the avengers backs, which he found out about that is two pretty strong reasons right there.

 

Where it not for the scientist who found Steve and personally vouched for him to be the super-soldier experiment, he never would have become captain America in the first place.

 

in the Winter Soldier, Hydra had been infiltrating SHIELD for decades right under their nose, which were it not for Steve breaking the law and taking down Hydra, they would have succeeded in completely overthrowing SHIELD.  

 

he would be crazy at this point to sign something that 117 different nations each with different agendas wanted. 

 

He was conflicted on the matter and he did acknowledge that there was destruction, some of which they caused. but were it not for their quick actions the entire world would be pretty much enslaved or dead. and he was conflicted about it, he even went as far as almost signing the contract AFTER bucky was arrested. and I think he knew bucky was dangerous, he at least partially responsible and knew he was Bucky's only hope, he also saw that bucky was a major victim of what happens when corrupt higher powers intervene.  

 

As For Tony, he had almost the opposite things happen, although I must admit his motivations were slightly less clear and based heavily on his own guilt. 

 

He built Ultron by himself and ultron ended trying to destroy the whole world. he also saw the vision of the entire avengers fallen before his eyes, and felt it was something he was responsible for, he went off the deepend on numerous occasions (Drinking and being irresponsible in IM2, was a total playboy in IM ect..).. the damage in Wauconda and the woman who blamed him for the death of her son was just the final nail in the coffin. although toward the end he was even starting to see that signing the petition to work with the government had major repercussions, him complaining about not being able to have is armor when Bucky got loose. and finally seeing TWS wasn't responsible for the bombing in Wauconda and T'Challa father's death. he was stricken with revenge once he saw the video of WS killing his parents. and it was very emotional imo. I don't know man, maybe you need to see the avengers films again. 

Still does not work for me. Captain America could have stated references in history when large nations would ingnore problems like Rwanada genocide. The Avengers would only be used for capital gain. 

[The Panda]

I'm trying to imagine a situation like this in reality and how it'd play out.  A good (local) analogy would be a group of friends decide to start a Volunteer Night Watch group to help prevent crime in the area, but often work outside the law to do so (thus vigilantes in a way).  They get pretty successful at this and save lives but one day their actions cause a civilian death because the civilian got caught in the crossfire/fight.  In real life, they would be at the least shut down.  Nobody in the neighborhood asked for help, and they aren't representative of the government that the people of the neighborhood elected to choose who was fit to help.  Sure, you could argue that they were doing good, but in reality these people probably didn't have a big picture in mind and weren't trained or sanctioned by the people to help.

 

The Avengers are like this on a bigger scale.  There are too many problems, outside of taking out a few baddies in the short run, that come out of a group of random super-powered individuals deciding the law doesn't apply to them and they can go out and do what they want.  It's all fun in comic book movies, but in order to have civilized society not turn into anarchy, the idealized version of superheroes that Cap represents could never actually take place in the real world.

[Popcorn Lobotomy]

On 05/05/2016 at 4:16 AM, Dexter of Suburbia said:

@Popcorn Lobotomy Are you Ev@n from box office mojo?

 

Nope, I'm Harv from PopcornLobotomy  Why, do I sound like him?