Shaman's Thoughts: Captain America Civil War

Can the Russo Brothers just direct every superhero movie from now on? I'm not just talking Marvel, I mean DC, X-Men, Fantastic Four. Hell, Green light a Kick Ass 3 so they can direct it... 

Greetings Ladies and Gents! It is I, The Shaman of Animation back once again here to give my thoughts on Captain America Civil War! Since this movie's announcement late 2014, everyone's been looking forward to see how the 2006-2007 Civil War comic would be adapted to film. Does it live up to the hype? Well, if my caption under the first pic is any indication, I believe so, but let me explain why I believe so as we dive into the movie!

After an accident on a mission in Lagos destroys a building a kills several people including Wakandans, the United Nations are about to pass the Sokovian Accords, which will give the government control over the Avengers. The team is split between two sides: Steve Rogers A.K.A Captain America's, who believes that the Avengers shouldn't have to answer to the government and be free to help everyone they can. And Tony Stark A.K.A Iron Man who thinks that the Avengers should be put in check. As the tension builds up in the team, Cap has to deal with the reemergence of his friend Bucky Barnes: The Winter Soldier.

I'm going to start with the negatives because it's a VERY short list and may even come across as nitpicky to some. The first being the villain of the movie (Yes, there is an actual villain in the movie). The villain actually isn't bad, his motives for doing what he does actually does add on to the story that this movie is trying to tell. But my problem is that the villain felt kind of tacked on here, and what I mean by that is if he were taken out of the film, a good eighty-five to ninety percent of the events in this film most likely would've played out the same, It felt like the villain could've been any other guy in this movie, but perhaps that was the point of the character: that he WAS just like any other person when he went through what he did and causes him to be the villain of this movie and once again plays into the film's larger narrative. Now that I think more about it, this negative isn't really as much of a negative as I thought.

Now for the second nitpick: we've gotten to that point in the MCU where you really need to see other movies to get what's going on in this movie. Civil War expects you to have seen Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Avengers: Age of Ultron.

It is a very dumb complaint, I know but the only reason I bring this complaint up is because I know there are people out there that don't watch every MCU movie. My older sister outside of Iron Man and The Avengers doesn't really care about all of these movies, she couldn't even get into Winter Soldier. So if you're one of those fans that only want to watch cause Iron Man's in it, you're gonna be a little lost. So go watch Winter Soldier and Age of Ultron, then hop on into Civil War. But with all that said and done, let's get into the positives. Oh boy those positives...

Captain America Civil War has been called by many people, myself included "Avengers 2.5" and why not? It's a movie that features all of the Avengers minus Hulk and Thor and each of these characters get a pretty good amount of screen time. My biggest fear for this film was that Captain America was going to get lost in the shuffle here, but even with all these wheels spinning, the movie remembers that first and foremost it is a Captain America movie. The movie picks up right where Winter Soldier left off and Steve Rogers's search for his friend Bucky and their friendship is a very key part in the film.

The other key part, The Civil War, is also done greatly here. It takes everything that's happened since the very start of the MCU with Iron Man and brings it into question: mainly everything that's happened since the first Avengers movie. It brings attention to the fact that throughout these films a lot of lost lives are technically on the Avengers' hands and how people are affected from it while these heroes just go home or leave to eat shawarma; it asks the question if they've really helping people like they think they are and the accords are an attempt to reel them in.

Another factor that helps the main conflict of this film is that there isn't really a wrong side in this movie. It's more about who's side do you agree more with: Steve's or Tony's. And throughout the film you see and understand both characters' motivations in their actions for the film; and because you can see where both characters are coming from, it really grabs you when you see these two argue throughout the movie (This obviously helped by the awesome performances from Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr.) and when it gets to the point you've seen in the trailers where they fight each other one on one, I felt the emotional weight of that fight, and in a lot of ways, it is on an emotional level, a sad fight. 

I also have to applause the restraint of this movie; and by that I mean that for a movie that's biggest selling point is: "Come watch the Avengers fight each other! And watch Cap fight Iron Man!" the movie devotes as much or even more time to developing characters, the stories, and building up to the big fights, which makes it that much cooler when we get to those fights. 

And since I brought it up, let's talk about the action in this movie: to sum it up briefly, it was AWESOME!! There is some shaky cam in the beginning in the movie but thankfully it doesn't stay for long. The hand to hand fighting from Winter Soldier returns in Civil War with a vengeance and is just as fun to watch there as it was here and with the amount of characters in this film you get to see a lot more of it! And that airplane scene everyone talks about, you know, the one where Iron Man and Cap's teams are running towards each other and are about to throw down? It's as great as everyone says it is. The implications in the fight are very serious, there's a good dash of comedy sprinkled in, and every character gets some shine in it. If there's such a thing as a perfect Superhero movie fight, that airport scene comes pretty damn close. 

And finally let's talk about the two new characters introduced in Civil War. First off, T'Challa A.K.A Black Panther played by Chadwick Boseman. Whether in or out of the costume, Boseman really grabs your attention whenever he's on screen; and just with his presence alone, T'Challa's character just has this royal and mature air to him that we really haven't seen from any other MCU character. Not to mention, he's a very no nonsense character as opposed to a lot of the other MCU characters who you'll see throwing out jokes or being witty. You won't see that from Panther; he's the guy that's gonna kick you in the face...especially if your name's Bucky.

And of course, what I'm sure everyone wants to talk about, Peter Parker A.K.A Spider-Man, played by Tom Holland. There was excitement and anxiety when it came to Mr. Holland's involvement in the movie because one: Spider-Man, the poster boy of Marvel, was FINALLY in the MCU and is onscreen together with the Avengers and two: this is the second live action Spider-Man in 4 years, obviously Holland would have to get over the hill of being compared to Andrew Garfield and even Tobey Maguire. I can say that in the 20 minutes he's in, Civil War gave us the definitive movie Spider-Man.

It's really amazing seeing how well The Russos establish Peter in this universe without retelling the origin or even without the use of "with great power comes great responsibility". Not to mention Holland hits that sweet balance of being nerdy and awkward as Peter and nailing the snarky, motor-mouthed Spider-Man. It's the best parts of Tobey's Peter and Andrew's Spider-Man put together into one; and Holland really makes the character his own. For those twenty minutes he's in the movie, Holland really steals the show as Spidey.

I believe that in a lot of ways, Captain America Civil War is a tragedy film. A tragedy usually deals with downfall or destruction of a character through some conflict with some overpowering force (definition taken from dictionary.com/browse/tragedy). And we do see that in the film as these characters we've been following for the last eight years are pitted against one another and we see their friendships heavily strained by this accords; it's a lot deeper than that, but I won't go much farther for the sake of spoilers.

But overall, yeah Captain America Civil War is easily one of, if not, the best movies Marvel Studios has ever done. It was a better Avengers movie than Age of Ultron (and this is coming from a guy that really liked AOU); and it raises the bar for not just Marvel but all Superhero movies and makes me excited for what the future of this universe holds. If you haven't already, go see this movie.

Til next time folks, I'm The Shaman of Animation.

Take Care...

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