Production: Marvel Entertainment, Marvel Studios, and Studio Babelsberg
Directors: Anthony and Joe Russo
Writers: Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely, Mark Millar, Joe Simon, and Jack Kirby
Released: 2016
Rated: PG-13
Genre: Superhero action and adventure
Runtime: 146 Minutes
Cast: Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr, Sebastian Stan, Scarlett Johanson, Chadwick Boseman, Anthony Mackie, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Rudd, Paul Bettany, Tom Holland and Daniel Brühl.
Marvel true believers (and fans of superhero films in general) are in for an interesting May with the release of two movies from the House of Ideas. Later this month X-Men: Apocalypse arrives and this week we have Captain America: Civil War hitting theaters. If the quality of the later movie is any indication of what to expect from the former, viewers should be crying “Excellsior!” this Spring as Marvel tallies hundreds of millions in box office receipts.
As with all film reviews here at TGG, I’ll keep this as spoiler free as possible…
The main impetus of the action in Civil War is the initiation of the Sokovia Accords and whether superheroes should be placed under the oversight and guidance of the United Nations or remain as essentially vigilantes operating outside any form of governance. Following the wholesale death and destruction of previous events in the MCU the 
On one hand you have Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and his belief the Accords will be a great good in preventing further devastating collateral damage while deterring a loose cannon mentality to future Avengers missions. The other side of the equation involves Captain America/Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) and his reluctance to sign a document which could turn the Avengers into a blunt weapon wielded at the political whims of the powers that be.
Muddying the waters is the return of The Winter Soldier, Cap’s WWII childhood friend Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), who who also happens to be a cryogentically frozen brainwashed Soviet assassin. Can Cap offer redemption for his friend or must The Winter Soldier pay the price for his laundry list of past dirty deeds? Barnes is the trigger which finalizes the passage of the accords and pits hero against hero and friend versus friend.
It’s easy to see why each side of the divide firmly believes they’re firmly in the right.
No knock on the last Avengers movie but there was far too much Ultron and not enough Avengers. In essence Civil War plays out as the Avengers 2.5 and we’re treated to a good deal of interplay between some of our favorite MCU characters such as Natasha Romanoff /The Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Sam Wilson/The Falcon (Anthony Mackie), Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Lieutenant James Rhodes/War Machine (Don Cheadle), Wanda Maximoff/The Scarlett Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), Scott Lang/Ant-Man (Paul Rudd), and The Vision (Paul Bettany).
Although it’s a hell of a good movie Captain America: Civil War isn’t perfect as there are a few minor missteps unfortunately. While it’s very cool Spider-Man makes his first appearance in the official MCU, his screen time feels as if it’s from a completely different film; Spidey is so light and breezy the tone seems out of place in the midst of the darker and more mature proceedings. This isn’t a big deal since it certainly gets you pumped to see everyone’s favorite wall crawler when he arrives in his very own film but it’s a tad strange nonetheless.
Lastly, this isn’t a movie for those uninitiated in all things MCU. Tons of events from past films are referenced and play vital roles in the goings on. Obviously this won’t be a problem for 99% of the audience but I thought it worth mentioning if this would be your first Marvel experience as you’ll probably end up completely lost.
Small gripes aside I did enjoy Captain America: Civil War quite a lot. The Cap series always tackles issues a bit weightier than the standard superhero genre while providing a slew of action and special effects. Civil War is another great entry into the Marvel movie canon and makes for an excellent capstone on what we can consider the first Captain America trilogy.
