The Marvel Cinematic Universe has come a long way since 2016, and an even longer way since 2008. However, Captain America: Civil War is pivotal in setting up the Russo Brothers as the only choice to direct the (current) culmination of the Avengers franchise - Infinity War and Endgame.
The opening set piece in Lagos offers a neat way to showcase our new Avengers, flaunting their honed powers and flashy new gadgetry. However, this action sequence suffers most by having our heroes go up against Crossbones - Brock Rumlow from The Winter Soldier. When Crossbones was foreshadowed in the prior film, it seemed his vengeance would result in a lot more pain and consequence for Cap, yet within five minutes he had been reduced to a pile of ashes. The Lagos sequence didn’t deserve Crossbones as the antagonist; it could’ve been one of hundreds of minor criminals from the Marvel comics. Rumlow’s character was built up so nicely in The Winter Soldier, it’s such a shame to see him wasted as an average ‘villain of the week’.
I would, however, like to mention how impressive the calibre of action is in this movie and the previous Russo Brothers directed Cap film. The Nick Fury car chase in The Winter Soldier is one of my favourite action set pieces in all of film and it made me so happy to see them bring this kind of action over into the next film.
After Lagos, we are subjected to quite a bit of exposition and plot building (Hello, Thaddeus Ross). While it all feels important and necessary to lead our heroes to eventually come to blows, a lot of it does seem to drag on. However, things spice up with the introduction of T’Challa aka Black Panther. Even in his debut, T’Challa feels like one of the most rounded off characters in the MCU, imbued with nobility and a sense of righteousness we haven’t felt with any other heroes thus far.
Now, the airport sequence. Easily one of the best superhero set pieces, especially in its time. Every hero gets to strut their stuff in this sequence and even though there are clearly some Avengers stronger than others, they all have their advantages and powers against each other. The only thing that let it down was the lack of threat. Even the Rhodey death scare was quickly dealt with. Most of these people are friends and don’t actually want to hurt each other; something Scarlet Witch points out to Hawkeye after his scuffle with Black Widow.
One thing most critics agree on is that Marvel consistently provides us with weak villains. Crossbones fall into that category, but for me Helmut Zemo, played by Daniel Bruhl, was actually one of my favourite villains. He wasn’t the typical villain; he had no powers and, for the most part, he stayed out of our heroes way as he conducted his own mission, tracking down the other Winter Soldiers. He simply ended up being the mastermind of the final skirmish between Tony and Steve; a fight which had tragic consequences in subsequent movies.
The MCU continues to go strong, especially now with it branching out in TV format on Disney Plus. Civil War remains one of the better installments and I hope the influence of the Russo Brothers continues to be felt in the next chapters.
Score: 78/100