Calling All Heroes!
Superheroes just aren’t appreciated any more. Once the dust settles, the big villain is defeated and the world reviews the events in retrospect, the question is asked of the Avengers, ”why couldn’t you do better?”
Captain America: Civil War opens with settling an old score left over from Captain America: Winter Soldier, with some unfortunate collateral damage when the chase spills onto the streets of Lagos, Portugal. With the devastation of Sokovia (Avengers: Age of Ultron) and Washington (Captain America: The Winter Soldier) fresh in everyone’s mind, The United Nations signs into affect a law that requires the Avengers actions to be overseen by an international governing body.
Here the team splits, and because Marvel has spent a great deal of time building up this myriad of characters, the split of which hero falls into which line feels natural. The audience can understand their individual mindset, and the lines being drawn comes organically.
This, I feel, is a show of one Marvel’s greatest strengths, the fact that they understand their characters, and their own audience. So when characters are dropped in, the movie isn’t being slowed down to walk us through this new development. Everything still moves along at an almost breakneck pace yet we aren’t left behind wondering what just happened.
Interactions between Bucky (the Winter Soldier, played by Sebastian Stan) and Falcon (played by Anthony Mackie) produce some of the most unexpectedly hilarious moments of the film, while Spiderman (Tom Holland) zips around with such teenage wonder that he’s easily one of the most enjoyable characters.
The actions scenes are furious, fast and fun. There are beautiful moments of hilarity, the sharp banter that makes the marvel cinematic universe a joy to watch, yet the heroes are all so deeply human that the audience is still emotionally invested.
This brings me back to the blame that the Avengers face. They have messed up, they are guilt ridden, and they are broken. The numerous cataclysmic events shown over the past movies have worn away at them, and we see this very clearly.
Captain America: Civil War shows us what happens to the heroes, and the world, when they act. The juxtaposition between the personal issues, to the global issues and how they all intertwine makes this movie wonderfully heartfelt and an absolute must see.
Be the first to comment!