It’s the good guys vs. the good guys in “Captain America: Civil War”
Too many costumed avengers can’t spoil the froth in Marvel’s latest film
The new thing among big-screen superheroes is to air their differences by beating the snot out of each other while the public wrings its collective hands over how much collateral damage these fabulously dressed people cause while fighting supervillains, aliens and other assorted monsters.
Earlier this year, we saw Batman blow a gasket at Superman after the Man of Steel leveled much of Metropolis, including Bruce Wayne’s building.
Now, we have the world holding The Avengers accountable for their destructive ways in “Captain America: Civil War.” The backlash causes a schism in the gang between those willing to let the United Nations control the superheroes (Team Iron Man) and those who believe that nobody should be in charge of The Avengers except The Avengers themselves (Team Captain America). I see both sides. Here’s why: I’ve have always wondered what these inflated egomaniacs are thinking when they destroy everything in
their path to take out a bad guy. It’s like the cops who go screaming down the highway at 110 miles an hour, putting others in danger, to nab a single speeder. I like that someone is throwing up a stop sign and saying, “Wait a minute, who says you guys get to do this to our world?”
Then again, if you want a superhero to open up a can of justice on bad guys intent on ending the world, understand they’re going to have to demolish some stuff in the process.
In any event, it’s a thought-provoking premise that gives the film an extra dimension.
But the filmmakers don’t help by throwing so many superheroes in the mix, presumably because Marvel wants to give all of its marketable heroes as much face time as they can get. Sometimes here, it’s nearly impossible to know who is fighting whom.
The film opens with the Avengers, now led by Captain America after Iron Man takes some personal time, again wreaking havoc while chasing baddies. The world has had enough. Various leaders come up with a plan to put The Avengers under the oversight of the United Nations.
Captain America (Chris Evans, showing some real heart) is absolutely opposed, but doesn’t offer much resistance — until his old buddy Bucky (Sebastian Stan), also known as The Winter Soldier, returns to seemingly assassinate someone pushing hard for Avengers oversight. While the world chases down Bucky, Cap assembles some allies and tries to prove Bucky was framed.
Here’s where the infighting begins, and the ridicu- lous meter begins to climb. Sometimes, you just have to go with it, even when 20-30 superheroes (way too many) are destroying an airport while throwing vehicles and one-liners at each other. New heroes are brought into The Avengers mix and confuse things even more, though I love the scene where the new Spider-Man (played by 19-year-old Tom Holland), tries keeping Iron Man alter-ego Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) away from his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei).
It’s also fun watching Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) receive just as much respect as you would expect from the other Avengers. But it also gets tedious after a awhile, as you try to keep track of all the costumed craziness and become numb to the violence (only one superhero gets seriously hurt, which is insane, considering what they’re doing to each other). The climactic scene, when a revelation is made about Tony Stark’s parents, sees Captain America and Iron Man really trying to kill each other, and it’s somewhat hard to watch, considering how brutal the former friends get with each other.
It’s hard to tell in the end how this fractured Avengers team will effect the future movies. But no worries, there’s still too much material for Marvel to mine, and “Civil War” is a good jumping off point for more of the new Spider-Man and other standalone films. In the race with DC Comics (and its recent, poorly reviewed and humorless “Superman v Batman” film), Marvel still comes out on top when it comes to fun.