The True Culmination of the Marvel Cinematic Universe
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has been pretty good about one film having an effect on another, and Captain America: Civil War more than any other relishes the notion that heroes' acts have ramifications far beyond what we and they know. Directors Anthony and Joe Russo's film is rooted in consequences from previous Marvel adventures, and it's not afraid to show what happens to a team of super people when they're confronted with the collateral damage of their actions. Prompted by a mission in Nigeria with unfortunate consequences—and following devastating attacks in The Avengers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Avengers: Age of Ultron that, though foiled by the Avengers, still left many dead—Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) decides to endorse the creation of an international law that would put the Avengers under the control of a United Nations committee. Captain Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), wary of trusting oversight from any large organization after SHIELD had been infiltrated by HYDRA in Winter Soldier, refuses to come aboard, fracturing the Avengers into two camps.
The Russo brothers return to direct along with their Winter Soldier screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (who also wrote the first Cap film), and together with Marvel producing guru Kevin Feige they have crafted a film bursting at the seams with characters and plot that still manages to be Marvel's most assured extravaganza yet. Rogers and Stark's motivations are clearly defined and rooted in their past films and personal histories, as are, for the most part, those of the various Avengers that join each of them.
The Russos bring their flair for quick, brutal action back to the MCU in Civil War, particularly in the film's spectacular act II fight at a Leipzig airport in which they balance the feuding Avenger teams in what will stand as one of, if not the greatest Marvel action set piece yet. Following that clash of the titans is no easy feat, but the Russos do so handily by scaling down the film's finale to an emotional superhero mano a mano between Captain America and Iron Man, which is a welcome breath of fresh air after four of the last five MCU films concluded with battles involving massive floating objects colliding with one another (and often the Earth). The Russos would do well to include more wide and enduring establishing shots in their action, as much of it is jittery cutting that, though fast and coherent, isn't exactly beautiful. It lacks the fluidity Joss Whedon brought to his Avengers films, but it thrills nonetheless.
Making not just fine action heroes but also great performers are Chris Evans and Robert Downey, Jr., each providing real emotion and dimensionality to their respective characters. Captain America isn't unlike Superman, with a do-gooder attitude and an all-American, clean-cut look, which Evans continues to play with perfection. Since his first outing as the character in 2011's Captain America: The First Avenger, Evans has continued to deepen Rogers beyond those surface-level characteristics. Civil War finds him in top form as he wrestles with not only a divide in his own ranks, but with the pursuit of his best friend turned villain Bucky. Like Christopher Reeves to Superman, Evans is a perfect fit for his character, and he continues to demonstrate why.
A similarly blissful marriage between actor and character is Downey and Tony Stark, and though he's never rested on his Marvel laurels, Civil War features without a doubt Downey's best turn as Stark. He's hilarious when the moment calls for it, but he shines in the serious moments. Though he has made himself irreplaceable as the impish Stark, here Downey is given a greater emotional burden to bare than ever before, and he carries it with true passion, not just a cavalier attitude. Ironically, Tony Stark reemerges in this film as the MCU's most compelling character. Evans' Cap was giving him a run for his money—and Civil War is still most certainly a Captain America film—but Downey arrives the hero who's watched things unfold since the beginning of the MCU with 2008's Iron Man, and he feels every bit like a superhero vet because of it.
Though the film is chiefly about Rogers and Stark, every single character gets a memorable moment. Pre-established characters like Sebastian Stan's Bucky, Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow, Anthony Mackie's Falcon, Elizabeth Olsen's Scarlet Witch, Paul Bettany's Vision, Jeremy Renner's Hawkeye, and Don Cheadle's War Machine all feel like lived-in characters, and each has a true role to play here. Chadwick Boseman, introduced here as Black Panther, makes a strong first impression with relatively few scenes (a film of his own is in development), and he feels as much a part of the Marvel fabric as the other characters while retaining his own ability to pop. Paul Rudd's Ant-Man is a funny scene-stealer building on his introductory solo film in 2015, though when the big fight comes it's another bug-inspired hero who steals the limelight.
Spider-Man, after two previous non-MCU big screen incarnations, is home in the hands of Marvel Studios (though that's not a slight against the Tobey Maguire films). Tom Holland, the first actor to actually be a teenager while playing one as Peter Parker, makes his iteration a talkative, frantic nerd, and he's absolutely perfect. Spidey's introduction to the Civil War story is barely necessitated by the film's events (it serves more as a prelude to a forthcoming film), but his scenes at home in Queens are a good deal of fun after a jam-packed, often serious first half, giving the film a place to catch its breath before launching back into action. Though Spider-Man's introduction to the MCU has been perhaps the most hyped element of this film, credit is due to the filmmakers and cast that I was so engrossed in the conflict between Rogers and Stark that I forgot all about the web-slinger until he appeared on screen.
Joss Whedon's 2012 smash The Avengers was considered the culmination of Marvel's early plans to bring disparate heroes from separate films together into one movie. Following a second set of solo adventures, Whedon's Avengers: Age of Ultron aimed to do the same, but failed to live up to that same kind of potential. It continued the status quo without doing much to broaden or deepen the MCU, but it did set the stage for Civil War, which feels more than any Marvel film before it like the sum of what's come before. It's like a crackerjack finale capping off a terrific season of television, and it leaves me anxious to see what comes next.