Originally published April 17, 2019

Captain America: Civil War is the film that destroyed the Avengers.

Only narratively, of course. The franchise is just fine. Although there’s so much going on, I do worry that it may have done some damage to its ostensible main character.

Captain America: Civil War is a bunch of smaller movies all smooshed together. Or maybe it’s more accurate to say that it’s one movie, but it can’t decide what the primary identity of that movie is. Your enjoyment is going to depend heavily on which movie you’re looking for.

This is about 45% of an okay Avengers movie first and foremost. Second, it’s 20% of a pretty good Iron Man movie. Third and fourth, it’s both 15% an excellent Black Panther movie AND 10% a respectable Spider-Man movie. And only then, all the way in fifth place, is this movie 10% of a Captain America movie.

A Disappointing Sequel

For that, and several other reasons, this is a very disappointing follow-up to Winter Soldier. There’s no overarching theme of substance, as the film instead chooses to focus on the division between the Avengers. It’s all plot and little deeper meaning. Captain America: Civil War is not interested in actually examining the moral positions underlying the divide. This is not a spiritual successor to either prior Captain America film, which actually wanted to evaluate the underlying morality of the themes brought up by their narratives.

The plot isn’t strong on its own merits either. Part of the problem with the narrative of Civil War is that it ends with a big twist. Twists become a problem when they rely on shock value but don’t comport with the rest of the film.

The big twist is that the villain, Zemo, has always been gunning directly for the Avengers, that he’s been doing so alone, and that most of what has happened was part of his plan. Unfortunately, critical parts of the story are things Zemo could not have predicted or controlled. He doesn’t appear to have anything to do with the Sokovia Accords, meaning that his entire plan just so happened to coincide with a major change in the geopolitical landscape without which it couldn’t have worked.

This same issue renders the finale nonsensical. Zemo’s entire plan hinged on both Tony and Steve showing up, with Bucky, but without anybody else who would get in the way of a knock-down, drag-out brawl. If either’s team had made it, or if both teams had made it, or if any other combination of costumed heroes had made it, the plan wouldn’t have worked.

Captain Afterthought

For a movie named after him, Cap barely gets explored in Captain America: Civil War. He decides he won’t sign the accords but that he will save Bucky at about the 40 minute mark, and then has no development for the rest of the film, at least until the final minutes. At the very end, he tosses aside his shield, having decided Bucky means more. Cap then breaks out the rest of his team and monologues on how his faith is primarily in people, not institutions.

For just a second, you can almost glimpse the character arc Cap should have had during this film. I honestly think that Cap’s arc was a victim of narrative necessity in this film. It would have made sense for him to at least try and play peacemaker or argue out the ethical ramifications of the Accords, but that couldn’t fit in a film with this much to do.

The relative lack of characterization extends to most of the rest of the supporting cast from Winter Soldier. Sam Wilson gets zero development despite having a substantial amount of screen time. Bucky gets turned into the central plot device, but don’t expect much emotional growth from him either. Fury and Maria Hill aren’t even in the movie. Natasha gets to reaffirm her friendship with Steve and that’s about it. Other than explaining how Bucky got his head together, this film does not pick up from Winter Soldier in any tangible way.

Iron Man 4

Tony comes out of the film a lot better. He gets a direct continuation of his arc from Iron Man 3 and Age of Ultron. Tony is still looking for ways to fight the battles of the future before the future happens. This time he’s pushing the Sokovia Accords as a way to regulate super people. The issue is that Tony is being a massive hypocrite about everything. He’s making everybody else accept oversight in response to failures that are entirely his to own. It’s very much in character for Tony Stark to behave this way, but it marks two appearances in a row where he hasn’t appeared in the best light.

I want to be very clear; I love Tom Holland as Spider-Man. Sincerely, I do. I also love his role in this movie. Unfortunately, his role in this movie is detrimental to the movie as a whole. It’s one more spinning plate when there’s already far too many of them. I can’t dislike his inclusion too much, because it sets up his later appearances in the MCU, but it should go on the record that he bogs down the pacing terribly at a critical juncture.

Chadwick Boseman fairs much better in his first outing as T’Challa. His scenes may not have the raw charm of Holland’s, but they’re thematically linked into the film in a way Holland’s scenes are not. His development here also leads into his solo film.

Avengers 2.5

On the general Avengers front, a LOT happens. We get some major setup for Scarlet Witch and Vision, both with respect to their nascent relationship and the interaction between their powers. Both elements will prove critical to Infinity War. Rhodey gets severely injured by a stray blast from Vision. Hawkeye comes out of retirement just to go immediately back into forced retirement. This is the last time he appeared prior to Endgame. Even Ant-Man is in it. He’s mostly there for the fight scene, but he’s there.

What I can’t get past is how nonsensical the Sokovia Accords actually are. The people who would dictate the actions of the Avengers are a UN panel, the General-turned-Secretary of State that created the Hulk and then created the Abomination to fight the Hulk, and the man who made Ultron. The UN panel seems totally reasonable, but they then cede operational power to Ross and Stark, the two people LEAST qualified to be making big calls.

By the end of the film, Tony has already gone off the reservation and breached the Accords. I have no idea if this was the intent, but the film ultimately makes an amazing case for the Accords being a bad idea, even though they eventually do win. Technically speaking, I suppose that does make it a fairly faithful adaptation of the original Civil War comic.

Redeeming Qualities

That isn’t to say that there are no redeeming qualities in the film. That could not be further from the truth.

There are some good visual elements at play. The character designs are solid. The sets are generic, consisting mostly of cityscapes and abandoned locations, but they look good. A single notable weak spot is the de-aging tech they use on Robert Downey, Jr. They clearly still needed some time to work the kinks out before Captain Marvel.

The action sequences are a bit of a mixed bag. This is a real shame, as Winter Soldier was the high water mark for the franchise. They’ve gotten bigger and more spectacular, but they’ve lost clarity. A large part of that is due to the overreliance on CGI compared to the practical effects used in Winter Soldier. There’s also a lot of shaky cam at play, along with a lot of overly fast and unnecessary cuts. The first encounter with the Black Panther looks pretty bad, honestly, especially the bit where they’re running on the road.

Let’s be perfectly honest though; we all watched this movie for that big airport fight scene. And that one scene delivers. It’s big, it’s bombastic, and it utilizes the various powers of every Avenger in creative ways. We get a little of everything, from brutal hand to hand between Widow and Hawkeye to an aerial dogfight between Falcon and the Iron Men, not to mention stuff like Scarlet Witch telekinetically tossing cars or Scott Lang going giant. This sequence is so incredibly fan-servicey that it almost makes up for everything else.

Conclusion

I know I haven’t been super positive on Captain America: Civil War, but when it comes down to whether you should watch it, do I even have to say it? Of course this is a must-watch. It’s basically Avengers 2.5: Tony Messes Everything Up Again. It’s critical to the ongoing plot, it’s critical to several ongoing character arcs, it introduces critical new characters, and it has one of the dopest fight scenes in the entire MCU. It has more than its fair share of problems, but it’s non-negotiable viewing.

That’s great news for its placement on my Must-Watch List, not so much for its overall ranking. Even so, the good qualities keep it from being irredeemable. Accordingly, I’ve placed it firmly in the average category.

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