Official Site

Director: Anthon Russo, Joe Russo

Writers: Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely

Runtime: 146 min

Main Cast:

• Chris Evans as Steve Rogers / Captain America
• Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark / Iron Man
• Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow
• Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier
• Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson / Falcon
• Don Cheadle as Lieutenant James Rhodes / War Machine
• Chadwick Bosman as T'Challa / Black Panther

Review: by Mia

Civil War has been one of the more highly anticipated movies of the year. Marvel has yet to disappoint in its' cinematic universe. Still, I was pretty nervous about how good this movie would be mainly because they're getting to the point where they could be exhausting the reused characters. At this point, we have encountered most of the heroes many times and it was hard to predict how they would keep them fresh this time around. Still, the addition of a few new characters had new excited to see what Marvel had left to offer. Spider-man has a lot to surpass following Andrew Garfield's rendition while Black Panther has to be just as intriguing as Iron Man in his first film, if not more. Maybe that was an unfair comparison, but it was my expectation. Black Panther is one of those characters that fell into the same group as Iron Man for me growing up.

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How would they manage to make this movie great? Who would win the Civil War? I was Team Captain myself, although on the fence considering what each side represents. In Captain America: Civil War, the governments of the world decide it is time for heroes to be held accountable for the damage they help create. This decision is helped along by the death of a group of Wakandan diplomats during a fight between Scarlet Witch, Captain America and a few other returning heroes against a returning villain. Blame is placed solely on Scarlet by the media and the king of Wakanda (and father of Black Panther for those unfamiliar), is open about the need for change and the time for Wakanda to be recognized.

He becomes one of the main representatives for The Accords. These Accords issued by the United Nations require all heroes to agree to the supervision of the United Nations to green light any action by a hero against a danger. If heroes choose not to sign The Accords, they must instead retire from duty. Any hero found still practicing without direct approval from the UN is subject to punishment. The hope is that these checks and balances will reduce the bloodshed and collateral damage caused during hero fights. Tony Stark is one of the leading supporters of The Accords still battling with the guilt he feels when responsible for any innocent lost as a result of his inventions/actions.

The Accords split the Avengers into those who will sign, those who do not trust the UN to be a proper control after dealing with the failings of S.H.I.E.L.D. when Hydra infiltrated, and those who choose to retire. At first, this split is only recognizable by those who show to support The Accords and those who don’t. This quickly changes when a terrorist attack takes the life of several at the signing of The Accords, including the King of Wakanda. This terrorist attack is soon connected to Bucky, Captain America’s childhood friend as well as the Winter Soldier. Of course, Captain America must find Bucky and determine what is going on before the heroes assigned to take him down get to him first, especially with Black Panther on a path for vengeance.

This causes the split to go from one of opinions to an actual fight for one’s beliefs. Some heroes choose to support Captain America while others feel compelled to honor the rules placed by The Accords. Regardless, the punishment for action without the UN’s approval becomes forced retirement with the threat of being labeled a criminal if retirement is not honored. Of course, Captain America cannot step down and allow his beliefs and his best friend to die.

The fight escalates and new heroes are recruited by each side. Marvel does not disappoint with the match ups and soon we get to see Avenger against Avenger as one team struggles to investigate the recent stream of crimes and the other represents the law and The Accords. Cinematically, Marvel has outdone its previous films. The CGI is impressive and almost every action scene is a poster-worthy image that awes the audience. Even with all the different heroes we must keep up with, fights are fluid and compelling and hard to predict the and of.

Despite straying slightly from the comic for obvious reasons (the X-Men cannot be shown since Marvel is not currently licensed to include them for example), the war still manages to kick off much the same way it did in the comic universe while maintaining the opening for future movies both for stop individual heroes seen as well as the Avengers as a whole. It’s hard to tell if they plan to keep the Civil War going after this movie, but I can say that after watching it, I wouldn’t be disappointed by seeing where the war could go next.

Technically, the villain of the movie was lacking, but with all the other characters and dynamics going on it’s hard to imagine how a complex villain would have managed to hold their own among the several other storylines we had to keep up with by being faced with so many heroes at once. The villain was more of a prop to move the story along although I just give him the respect of being able to use the heroes as his own props. You’ll see.

Images Courtesy of IMDB