Captain America: Civil War – Lengthy & Incoherent but Certainly Very Awesome [Review]

Before you see how I rated this film, I just want to say a few things.  Captain America:  Civil War was unbelievably well made.  It was beautiful to look at, well acted, funny and likeable.  It really did feel epic.  And I did like it – all 147 minutes of it.  I cannot stress this enough: I did not hate this film.  But, like its DC counterpart, Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice, this is a film that absolutely should have been two or three movies instead of one.   The significant difference between Dawn of Justice and Civil War is that Civil War was masterfully done.

Political interference in the Avengers’ activities causes a rift between former allies Captain America and Iron Man.

It can’t have been easy to make Captain America:  Civil War.   The problem with comic book movies (other than its unpleasable fan base) is that every movie has to be more awesome than ALL that came before it.  This is the logical conclusion to that cycle – it definitely is the most awesome of all the Marvel movies.  It’s lengthy and incoherent but certainly very awesome.  At some point during the conception of Civil War, the words “…yes.  All of them, they ALL have to be in there. <pause> I don’t care how much it costs.”

I had no idea what was going on half the time.  That’s because this movie wasn’t made for me.  It was made for people who have read all the other comics and seen all the other films (including Ant Man).  If you missed a film, you’re going to be scratching your head at some point during Captain America:  Civil War.  Even if you knew what was going on, you might be confused at times, there was just too much to set up.  I counted no less than a dozen characters, each with their own story that needed to be told on this film.  

The writing was great, other than some perfectly understandable problems with pacing  (see above, re:  TWELVE characters!).  The dialogue was wonderful and there were some unbelievable set pieces.  The acting was good too, of course, there’s really too many to get into individual compliments, except Chris Evan’s arms and, of course, Spiderman.   It’s been two years since the last Spiderman movie, so we were about due for another reboot.  But honestly, Tom Holland’s Spiderman was, by far my favorite.   He’s so funny and likeable. Though now that we’re talking characters, what happened to Thor?  I wanted to see Thor.  I mean I know he was on Huntsman, but in a perfect world he would have ditched that show and came on this one.  The more, the merrier, after all.

Visually, it was also very good.  There were many many good sets, so many I kind of forgot them all, but it was still good watching.   I’m a little tired of the way film suddenly becomes very bumpy during fight scenes, like everything is suddenly on a handheld camera.  I understand that it heightens the tension in fight scenes, but it irritates me.  And there was a lot of fighting in this film.  A lot.  But it was very well choreographed and you could just let it wash over you.

So is Captain America:  Civil War worth watching?  I guess so, if you’re a fan.  If you’ve seen all the movies and read the comics and really want to see them in their latest blockbuster then yes, go see it, on the big screen, in 3D.   I wonder though, if this might have been the genre killer I’ve been expecting.  Not because Civil War is bad (it isn’t) but because nothing, and I do mean NOTHING, will be able to top it.  And the film itself is a demonstration as to why they probably shouldn’t try.