Captain America: Civil War

Greetings, Captain America: Civil War is the third instalment in the titular heroes’ series and is the thirteenth Marvel movie to have been released since Iron Man first began the Cinematic Universe back in 2008. Civil War also started the third phase of the MCU which will see movies like Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Spider-Man: Homecoming and Thor: Ragnarok coming to the big screen in the years to come. It retains most of the cast from previous instalments of the Avengers as well as the first two Captain Americas but Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk, Chris Hemsworth as Thor and Gwenyth Paltrow as Pepper Pots were notably absent. Among new additions to the universe were Tom Holland as fan favourite superhero Spider-man in his long awaited debut as well as Chadwick Boseman who played the Black Panther.

The story follows on from the events in Avenger’s Age of Ultron and is set several months after the fictional East European Nation of Sokovia was attacked. Several members of the Avengers thwart the plan of Crossbone’s to steal a biological weapon in Lagos but things take a turn for the worst when the villain decides to take drastic measures. Crossbones, instead of admitting defeat, decides to detonate his explosives in the hopes of taking out Captain America as he is in the blast radius. Wanda quickly uses her telekinetic abilities and traps the explosive power in her force-field but she accidently destroys a nearby building, killing humanitarian workers from the fictional country of Wakanda. This accident is another event which causes the United Nations to consider passing the Sokovia Accords, an act which will keep the Avengers under check by a UN committee. It divides the Avengers with Tony Stark leading the side to follow the Accords and Steve Rodgers resisting attempts to be controlled or regulated.

The teams are divided further when the UN conference in Vienna is bombed while a committee is ratifying the Sokovia Accords. Among the casualties is T’Chaka king of Wakanda, the country the dead humanitarian workers were from at the beginning of the plot. This serves to motivate T’Chaka’s son, T’Challa, to take the mantle of Black Panther and seek vengeance on the terrorist responsible for the atrocity. It is soon revealed that Captain America’s friend and Hydra sleeper agent, Bucky Barnes, is thought to have caused the bombing. As such Steve Rogers attempts to find his old war comrade in Germany, with help from a CIA agent named Sharon Carter, before Bucky can be captured by government forces. T’Challa is also on Bucky’s tracks but all three are eventually arrested by German police during a fight, further accelerating the fragmentation of the Avengers and the formation of the two conflicting groups.

While I enjoyed the first two films in the series, I would say that this is my favourite of the three as it mixes humour and dark themes in a perfect blend. I believe that while it took a while to get going, Civil War has raised MCUs standards after it had faltered a little with Age of Ultron. One of the highlights was the introduction of Spider-man, who had quite an impressive impact on the film despite his short screen time. It was also interesting to watch protagonists fight each other rather than have them a united against an antagonist like Loki. Overall, it is a fun instalment in the series and staved off my concerns that the Marvel universe is getting oversaturated for now. I look forward to seeing how this story will continue.

Plot=8/10

Characters=9/10

Special Effects=8/10

Overall=9/10

Quote of the Day

Thats a stupid question Havoc. And when I'm Fürher, there will be changes. That day, all female officers will be required to wear... Tiny Miniskirts!

Colonel Roy Mustang

Fullmetal Alchemist