The key to providing a franchise with sustainability is not dependent
on how much money you throw at it, more so how much work you put into them.
Marvels consistent hit rate is down to the seamless stories they’ve woven together
across 12 films; their 13th doesn’t prove to be unlucky and might
just be their best achievement so far.
Civil War sees
Captain America and his Avengers involved in a mission which leads to an incident
where innocent lives are lost. As fall out from that, as well as their other
destructive outings, the Avengers are to be put in check by secretary of state
Thaddeus Ross (William Hurt), who imposes the ‘Sokovia accords’, those heroes
that don’t comply will be considered criminals in the eyes of the state. Tony
Stark, tortured by guilt is all for the act, Cap on the other hand is strongly
against, disagreements lead to arguments which eventually lead to the Avengers
splintering into 2 factions which will battle it out in the titular Civil War.
Similar
to Captain America: The Winter Soldier,
Civil War operates as a gripping
thriller that’s tackling big issues, Captain America has previously battled
Nazi’s and shady government agencies, but with the fight he’s picked here he
might not necessarily be on the right side, and that’s the films major
strength. There are no decisions being made for you here, no black and white,
there’s no right side to choose, weeks after watching this you’ll begin to
question whose side you’re really on. Stark’s side seems to come from a good
place, but the oppressive nature of the accords act seems far too restraining
in terms of stopping our heroes from being heroes. And with Cap, though he is
usually the pillar for moral good, here he is blinded by his unwavering bond with his
childhood friend turned murderous robot armed assassin, Bucky.
Despite being a Captain America solo film, this has the biggest roll call of any Marvel film
yet, it is essentially a three hander between Cap, Stark and Bucky, but with a
character list that includes 12 superheroes, it’s amazing that everyone seems
to have their moment and not one of them feels left behind. Black Widow is back
again and with her 2 closest team mates on the rival side, she is presented as
the most divided of the heroes. Jeremy Renner’s supposedly retired Hawkeye
turns up and essentially puts together Cap’s team. Anthony Mackie is Cap’s other
BFF and for a brief period of the film forms an enjoyable trio with Cap and
Bucky. Don Cheadle as War Machine is the other man in the iron suit, and as
Stark’s closest friend he provides great camaraderie in fight sequences and
moments of reflection in the quieter periods. Paul Bettany’s Vision and
Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlett Witch have some really well judged moments of
domesticity as well as sharing their turmoil at coming to terms with their
recently acquired powers. After the funniest performance in the MCU in his solo
outing, Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man is a brilliant boost of comedy, given the funniest
lines and possibly the standout hero moment of the film. And then there are the
2 newcomers to the party, in the form of Chadwick Boseman’s Black Panther, and
Tom Holland’s Spider-Man. Boseman, getting his solo outing in 2018, is
a different beast in the MCU, as King of his native Wakanda, he is burdened
with a responsibility like none of the others, he has drive and determination,
but as his character develops he also becomes more rounded, and with a
vibranium suit he’s also pretty handy in a scrap. Spider-Man makes a fleeting
but memorable appearance here. Though his introduction to this universe is
contrived and feels like a big jump in causality, it’s quickly forgotten the
moment Tom Holland appears on screen. Though his screen time is brief, this quippy,
fun, teenage web-slinger creates a Spider-Man that comic book fans have been
craving, a Spider-Man that 5 previous solo outings have been unable to provide.
There’s
also the introduction of the villain to the film, Daniel Bruhl’s Zemo. That
name will ring bells with any comic book fan, but the approach that Civil War has taken with him is an
entirely different one than expected. He’s sinister but not necessarily evil,
he’s more of a schemer than a mastermind, and Civil War is so successful at casting all its characters in shades
of grey that by the end you don’t entirely disagree with his actions.
A
lot of comic book films mistake misery for seriousness, and while this film is
serious in places it never loses sight of what these films should be, fun. The
airport sequence where both sides face off against each other in spectacular
fashion, is one of the best constructed set pieces put to screen. Destruction
is meaningless if there isn’t anyone invested in it, and although it may look
like chaos it’s incredibly well organised so that there are character beats to
every scrap, plus you get to see Captain America get into fisticuffs with
Spider-Man and who doesn’t want to see that?
People
will complain of super hero fatigue, and who knows, next year will see Marvel start
upping their yearly releases to 3 films, and that might start the weariness.
However, audiences will never tire of going to see good films and the MCU consistently
put out great ones, and with Civil War
they’ve just put out their best. Next stop Doctor
Strange. (5 Stars)
No comments:
Post a Comment