Captain America: Civil War
Release Date: May 6, 2016
Directed by: Anthony Russo
Screenplay by: Christopher Markus, Stephan McFeely
Starring: Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Olsen
Rated: PG-13
Political interference in the Avengers’ activities causes a rift between former allies Captain America and Iron Man.
Today’s review is a bit different. My friend Alisha and I tend to go off on rants about movies, books, television, pretty much anything. SO, I thought it would be fun to share with you our conversation/review of the latest installment in the Marvel Universe.
There is cussing, venting, SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS. I’m posting this a week and a half after the movie was released in the hopes that most of you have seen it, but again SPOILERS if you haven’t. You’ve been warned.
I’ve also removed a few things that aren’t relevant and added gifs/commentary for your enjoyment 😉
A is Alisha
M is Me
It’s quite long.
A: It didn’t feel like a Captain America movie to me. It felt like another Avengers. Partly because almost every damn Avenger was in it, including a few extras (Ant-Man, Black Panther and Spider-Man) but Captain America is the only one whose arc didn’t grow or change throughout the movie. Every character, at some point, made a decision or did something that impacted things hugely, except Captain America. Black Widow let them get on the jet. Black Panther didn’t kill Zemo. Scarlet Witch got over her fear of the people. Vission MISSED. He missed. And Captain America started out saying “I’m going to protect Bucky. I’m not signing the Accords,” and ended the movie the exact same way.
Can I just say, how the heck am I supposed to top that the rest of the review? THAT IS REALLY HOW SHE STARTED OFF. Damn.
Enter in my not-as-so-eloquently-put response:
M: OK YES. Those are all the things I actually wanted to talk about. During the entire movie, I kept thinking THE AVENGERS – WORLD TOUR. Did you see all the places they went?! Moscow. London. Africa. Even in the middle of the god damned sea.
A: RIGHT? I know. It just didn’t feel like a Captain America movie to me. I don’t even know if he got the most screen time. Avengers: World Tour would have been an amazing title.
M: I honestly started getting confused on where they were and why they even had to change to so many foreign locations.
A: Yes! It felt a bit disconnected and hard to follow at times.
M: I think the story was a bit lacking – everything was focused on Captain America’s need to save Bucky. He literally abandoned his friends during a fight to save him.
A: And the fight scene at the end, between Cap and Iron Man, I literally thought Cap wasn’t going to stop.
M: And you know what like REALLY got me? When Cap said to Iron Man “He’s my friend” to which Iron Man replied, “So was I.”
A: OMG THAT LINE. It destroyed me. I felt SO bad for Iron Man.
M: That was just SO TRUE and it tugged at my heart-strings.
A: I thought Cap was going to kill him. It’s just a piece of metal between his face and your shield bro, chill out. Iron Man had every right to be pissed.
M: Quick question – Why didn’t Iron Man die? Cap slammed his shield into his chest. The light was going out. How did he have enough time to escape and replace it before dying? I was SO convinced he was going to die.
A: That might be a plot hole?
M: Maybe he improved the device? Or maybe just a plot hole. BUT let’s get back to Bucky real quick HOW THE FUCK DID CAP KNOW THAT BUCKY KILLED IRON MAN’S PARENTS? That was really fucking convenient. AND don’t they all know he was brainwashed by Hydra? So why did Iron Man get so butthurt?
A: RIGHT? I think that when Cap asked him about his past he probably told him. They just didn’t show it. But, yeah, it’s convenient. I’d still be pissed, brainwashed or not. You can’t, maybe, hold him fully responsible, but he’s the only one you could take your anger out on.
M: To me, logic should have kicked in and the ENTIRE fight between them shouldn’t have happened. Like, hey dudes, there are bigger fish to fry. After EVERYTHING they’ve seen and been through, it wasn’t that far-fetched.
A: The whole fight was pointless. Because Cap is stubborn and his pride got in the way.
M: And why were Iron Man’s parents even in possession of the serum?! So many questions and then conveniences just to solidify the rivalry between them.
A: I think if the plot would have had more to it than just their fight it wouldn’t have so many flaws. Regardless. I fucking loved it.
M: I think it should have stuck to the comic book because it took A LOT of liberties.
This is where I go into a few minor spoilers on what happens in the comic book. So I’m leaving it out to not spoil any of you who want to read it. And now we move on to characters.
A: Can we talk about Spider-Man?
M: OKAY YES. PLEASE. What did you think?
A: I absolutely LOVED how juvenile they kept him. Not only did he have great comedic lines, but he was legit fanboying over the Avengers. I thought that was a great contrast to all the drama and anger in the movie.
M: We have completely opposite opinions. I HATED him. He was so annoying. And his balls haven’t even dropped yet.
A: HAHAH Okay. Fair enough.
M: I wanted more Ant-Man less Spider-Boy.
A: I don’t really like Ant-Man.
M: YOU. DON’T. LIKE. ANT-MAN ?!?!?!? (back to Spider-Man) He just keeps getting younger and younger with each new franchise.
A: This is true, at least he looks the age this time. Not like a 25-year-old playing a 16-year-old.
M: (Another comic book reference that I’m leaving out). I’m just an Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone fan – and that last movie KILLED ME.
WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY !?
And now we go into a bit of a tangent on how we really wish they were continuing the Amazing Spider-Man story with Garfield.
M: Ok, did you notice Wanda’s accent kept coming and going? Or was it just me? I swear, she sounded like a So Cal valley girl sometimes.
A: HAHAH yeah, I noticed too. But her accent is definitely better than Age of Ultron. I love her and Visions friendship. I almost ship them.
M: NOO. I don’t ship them. I actually ship her and Captain America.
JUST LOOK AT THAT CONCERN FOR HER
A: I think he’s taken, but they’d be super cute together for sure.
M: Cap with the girl from Revenge didn’t do it for me. Like, what was that kiss? There was no development.
A: Yeah, I think it’s weird that she’s Peggy’s niece.
M: But him and Wanda? OH YEAH. ALSO, her being Peggy’s niece – another convenience. Just sayin’.
M: Oh, but my dreams got crushed because Cap described Wanda as “just a kid” in one scene and I cried a little inside. Because now it would be weird.
A: Maybe she’ll “grow up” in his eyes.
M: (moving on) Why did Crossbones only have TWO minutes of screen time?! He’s a huge character and he gets 2 minutes of screen time?!
A: I felt like that whole opening scene wasn’t really worth being in the movie.
M: Also, Where was Vision during the fight at the airport?! He kind of just disappeared then when he did come, he failed. What.
A: Yeah, I don’t know where he was until he fucked up. He could’ve done so much more. Also, did you notice when Black Panther and Bucky were fighting, BP’s ring reacted to Bucky’s metal arm?
M: NOOOO??? I saw it twice and didn’t notice?! I thought he was just like…admiring it.
A: Also, they failed to mention that BP’s ring is why he is BP and that it’s passed down through the men in his bloodline and only a male can be Black Panther and have the speed and power he does. Like they introduced his character and gave NO back story.
M: Yeah! They only mentioned something being passed down briefly, with not much detail. I didn’t even know who Black Panther was before this movie, so some detail would have been helpful.
A: Me neither. I was like CATWOMAN IS IN THE WRONG MOVIE.
And now we move on to things we like, because, you know, there are SOME things we liked.
A: My favorite scene was probably that little exchange between Black Widow and Hawk Eye when he said, “wait, we’re still friends right?” Which reminded us that this whole thing is pointless. I loved the fight scenes. I thought that they were well choreographed and super intense. This movie made me feel a lot of emotions, and most of the characters (looking at you Cap) had great arcs and growths within the movie. There were a lot of great punch lines. There were a few issues or flaws, but not enough to take away from my love for it.
A: OMG WAIT. We didn’t talk about War Machine. Like we said Vision missed, but can he still be an Avenger?!
M: I think Tony Stark will give him some cool upgrade or something. I kind of wish he died.
A: Whoa. Dude. That was harsh.
M: Well, all the fighting, one of them should have died to kind of drive home that they’re all so divided.
A: It would have meant more if he died.
M: The only thing I liked was the fighting. They clearly put more work into it, I feel. There was SO MUCH jumping and flips and what not. OH, and can we talk about that scene where Bucky grabs the motorcycle and it goes into slow motion and the bass drops. SO CORNY. I LOVED IT.
A: It was an epic scene. WHO JUST GRABS A BIKE DRIVING AT YOU LIKE THAT
A: Also, props to Spider-Man. Most people lose against Bucky but he caught one of his punches. That was pretty symbolic I think. And yeah, that (motorcycle scene) was so epic.
M: Right? And the slow-mo was just like FUCK YEAH. Oh and I also liked how they ran at each other in the airport. It was very comic book-y
M: How they were in a row running at each other. Throw in some BAMs and WOOSHs and it’s straight out of a comic book.
A: I think the ocean prison was pretty cool.
M: Yeah, I guess that’s the one thing I’m okay with that they changed.
A: Also, whoa, plot hole. Zemo. He set up this thing so that Tony would find out Bucky killed his parents. That’s a big assumption that Tony will get over his anger to go help Cap and show up there in the first place. If Tony wouldn’t have gone, that fight would have never happened and he would have never found out it was Bucky. That’s a big assumption on Zemo’s part.
M: I guess he was just REALLY confident in his plan. Otherwise, yeah, he would have just been caught.
M: UGH. I really didn’t like that storyline. First, it has NOTHING to do with the accords. And second, as you pointed out, it relied on a shit ton of conveniences.
A: Yeah, the more we talk about it, the more flaws I find.
M: I just didn’t find it amazing like most people did. I mean, the only thing I really liked was all the fight scenes.
A: Yeah, if you look at it separately from the comic, and don’t focus on the plot holes, it was epic. But if you break it down and analyze it; they could have done it a lot better.
M: And really, the TEAM CAP and TEAM IRON MAN thing was stupid. It was more like HELP BUCKY or SIGN THE ACCORDS.
A: It wasn’t even really a civil war because they weren’t fighting over the same problems, just used them against each other.
M: Exactly. It wasn’t about the Accords. That’s what FIRST divided them, but then it took a back seat the rest of the movie.
A: It was about their egos and pride.
M: So round up – I didn’t like the plot but the fighting was cool. I wanted more Ant-Man less Spider-Man. I ship Cap with Wanda. Go back to the Hamptons, Revenge chick. And it should have been called The Avengers: World Tour.
A: I felt the plot was disconnected and didn’t make sense for the majority of the movie and could have been written way better. (insert Ron Weasley meme where he says: she’s got to sort out her priorities) The fight scenes were epic and badass. More Spider-Man and less Ant-Man. More bro-moments between Black Widow and Hawk Eye (love them so much). More backstory on Black Panther. Definitely, should have been called The Avengers: World Tour.
M: OMG. I FORGOT. I hope Bucky and Falcon become best friends. I loved their bickering. It was like BFF material, they just don’t know it yet.
DID YOU READ THAT WHOLE THING?! YOU ROCK. HERE IS A TRAY OF FRESHLY BAKED COOKIES.
Because, yum, cookies.
OR TL;DR: READ THE COMIC BOOK
Anyways, let me know what you thought of this movie or any of the points we made!
21 Comments
I really enjoyed this review!! I didn’t read the comics, so I had no clue about the plot of the movie (and if it was going to follow the original plot or not), but I really enjoyed it. It looked like another Avengers movie to me, but I missed Thor and Hulk and I didn’t like the new Spiderman at all, too young for me 🙂 I was definitely Team IronMan and Captain America was super annoying wtf! I’m glad Tony is still alive :’)
You should definitely read the comic book 😉 (thats kind of like someone saying you should read the book lol) I did miss Thor and YAY someone who agrees that Spider-Man was way too young xD I wasn’t really team either in the movie, but team Captian America in the comic book. but YES Cap was kind of irritating lol
This is fun, I loved Civil War. And you started off with an Orphan Black GIF, so there’s that. 🙂 I guess it did feel like a Cap movie to me, but yes it was stuffed- almost too much so. I didn’t get how Cap knew about Bucky and the Stark parents either- did I miss something?? That was the biggest thing that bothered me. The other thing at the airport- they didn’t really try to talk it out, it came to blows way too fast if you ask me.
I actually kind of liked that Cap put it al on the line for Bucky. I mean they go way back and he WAS innocent-I mean he did a lot of bad stuff when brainwashed but he was framed for the stuff here. The Stark thing I see- but still he was being used, it’s not like Bucky did it as himself. I do like Cap and Sharon together but I can see the Steve/ Wanda ship too- I think they’d be a great couple! Good point about Black Panther, I didn’t really get why they could all run faster than cars lol.
I thought Ant Man was great, loved him in this one. And I wasn’t a fan of Spidey, he felt shoehorned in to me. The fight was awesome, can’t wait til it drops on Youtube so I can watch it again. 🙂 And my favorite scene is probably that Bucky/ Falcon scene in the car. I think my favorite characters in this one were Cap, Wanda and Bucky- but they did agreat job with Vision and Falcon has a huge role. I think the Russo brothers have these characters down pretty good.
Exactly! Like how did he know? Sure, Bucky could have told him in an off-screen scene BUT that’s still just too convenient for me. & that’s true, they did just fight pretty quickly.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand WHY he wanted to help Bucky but that plot line is not nearly as convincing as the comic book plot. I just wish they would have stuck to that so it could have been WAY more about the accords and less about helping one individual. If that makes sense?
I love Ant-Man so I was just happy he was in this movie. And yeah, I didn’t like Spider-Man. I do love Wanda though!
It is fun to think about what the story would have been like if the had stuck to the comic plot. I think the Russo’s said at one point they always intended it to be different because the comic version has so many more players, and they wanted to finish the Winter Soldier arc- but having said that, I agree that if they had more faithfully adapted the actual accords story it would have been fantastic! 🙂
And it REALLY bothered me that somehow Cap knew about Stark’s parents- and didn’t tell him? That seemed out of character.
It does have a lot more characters but I feel like they could have put a LITTLE more focus on the accords or registration from the comics.
Even though I absolutely loved Civil War to pieces, this review was brilliant, haha! I loved reading it. I definitely understand what you mean about Cap not being as featured. I was actually confused when they were using Civil War for the next Cap movie, because it features so many Marvel characters. It would have made so much more sense for it to be an Avengers movie. That said, I am glad it was a Cap movie because the Russo brothers are brilliant. I felt that unlike Age of Ultron the characters were actually in character.
I did have a few little issues though like I wish Wanda wasn’t the scapegoat for the building being destroyed and it would have been nice to see her talk about Pietro. I knew who Black Panther was before this, but I think some more background information was needed too for those that didn’t. And I was so confused by the whole Crossbones thing. It seemed almost pointless. The way he was hyped up I thought he was going to be the main villain.
STEVE AND WANDA, YES! Not gonna lie, I ship it. Did you know that it’s comic canon at one point too? I’m definitely not a Vision fan, haha.
Antman was brilliant, one of the highlights of the movie. I’m kind of sick of the Spider-Man story. I wish they’d made it a bit more diverse. Can’t we get a Spider-Woman? But I really liked the kid they chose. He really reminded me of comic!Peter. That said though I’m definitely going to miss Andrew Garfield.
I actually really hated the Civil War comic so I’m glad in a way that they changed it up, haha.
Well, they turned it into a Cap movie by straying from the original plot & using Bucky xD
I agree about Wanda being the scapegoat! I think they didn’t even need that opening scene and they still would have had enough damage to show the Avengers in that meeting.
Crossbones is a HUGGGGEEEE character in the comic so I was like WTF? Two minutes?! It seemed unfair lol
Also, I did know! I was going to include some art I found in this but I decided to just include the gif. That look Cap gives here. So good. Ship it xD
I didn’t like how he just keeps getting younger. I mean, in the comic he’s older & married. But every time they cast Spider-Man, they choose someone even younger than the last. I want them to go back to Andrew Garfield.
Oh, I really liked the comic. I liked that it was about registration for all super heroes. It makes more sense to me to choose sides for that.
Haha! I’m like Bucky trash so I didn’t mind that ?
Definitely! It felt like they were just trying to fill their “explosions and fight scenes” quota, haha.
Oh my god, yes! That look ?
Yeah, the continuouty is definitely out of whack because kid Peter is origin Peter not the one from this event.
I don’t know what it was, I just couldn’t connect with it. I think the way it happened in the comic made a lot more sense. That was another reason why I was confused when they announced Civil War, because it was all about Shield in the comics and the MCU destroyed Shield so I was like ??? haha
I feel like the comic makes WAY more sense than the movie. The motivations are much more convincing, to me. I mean, I didn’t HATE the movie. It was fun, I just didn’t like the story xD
Oh yeah, definitely! I might try and reread the comic and see if my opinion changes.
Can I just say… I really like this review. Just saying 🙂 And we all know, deep down, we loved this movie. We will buy this movie when it comes out. And we will keep supporting the Marvel Universe. Because hello. SUPERHEROES. 🙂 Thanks for letting me co-review this with you! Had a blast 🙂 <3<3
I wonder why you like it…hmmmm xD lol ALSO, yeah, basically, I’ll buy it probably the day it comes out too sooo….. I guess I can’t complain hahah
Also, people seemed to have enjoyed it, so we should totally do another one like this.
Hahaha same.. I think we’re going to see it again this weekend, some of our friends haven’t seen it and they’re skeptical, I’m like WHY. BATMAN V SUPERMAN ALREADY CAME OUT AND THAT WAS LIKE … a fraction as good as this movie, AND YOU LOVED THAT. Lol.
If you would like to, I would be honoured 🙂
Haha this chat was so great to read! Had a blast! 😀
I reaaally enjoyed the movie!
hah thank you xD Overall, it was an entertaining movie. I just had continuity issues lol
Always those continuity issues I know the feeling! It’s just sometimes too hard to know so much background about so many characters. I didn’t really know a lot about Black Panther (I’ve only heard of that character before but nothing more) and everyone else in the cinema was like “OMG but there’s so much missing about him” and I just sat there like *I’m just gonna slip into my chair because I don’t actually know what they’re talking about*
But yeah, I’m actually quite happy about everything. Too many flashbacks or alternative universes / earths and whatnot would be too confusing for my movie pleasure. I’m already struggling with the X-Men movies so that’s enough for me 😛
I didn’t know who Black Panther was really, either. They should have included more background information on him in the movie to help out people like us lol
Yes, but I’m totally going to check out the comics now 😛
Ahhh this was super fun to read! XD I LOVED IT. I’m probably going to wait till this is out of cinemas to see, but I’m kinda nervous. I’m 100% #TeamIronMan and I don’t even really like Cap??? Like he’s always annoyed me? Hmm. BUT ANYWAY. I super enjoyed your discussion!
Thank you! I’m not a fan of Cap but when it comes to the comic book I’m Team Cap but then the movie comes out and I’m not really team anyone xD Stupid Cap.