General, now Secretary of State, Thaddeous Ross (William Hurt) brings an ultimatum to the Avengers: place yourselves under the control of the United Nations or retire. Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), feeling guilty over numerous actions, agrees that they need to be put in check or more innocents will die. Steve Rogers (Chris Evens) sees this as a dangerous attack on their liberty. When his old friend Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) is blamed for an explosion that kills many, including the king of Wakanda, the Avengers split into two group.
Civil War is partly a sequel to The Winter Soldier and partly one to Age of Ultron. It is a huge, sweeping film packed with action of all kinds while still managing to be a personal story about characters. Its two hour and twenty-six minute length is never felt as it whips along. This is a epic popcorn movie with heart.
Still, I was looking for a home run and got a double play. Civil War isn’t a story, at least not a complete one. It is a bridge between other movies. By its end, nothing is finished, and in fact, nothing really happens of note after the first twenty minutes. Lots of combat, lots of flying about, and plenty of amusing or dramatic discussions do occur, but if you removed them all, it wouldn’t change a thing. The main plot, of the split in The Avengers over the UN accords and Bucky, goes nowhere. And the smaller threads, of Bucky’s future, the success or failure of Baron Zemo’s revenge, Tony’s emotional state, and all of the relationships, are left dangling. They didn’t have to cross all the “T”s, but I would have liked to see something closed up.
I also have mixed feelings on the big action set pieces. Some, like the Avenger vs Avenger showdown at the airport, were marvelous, but others were too frenetic, and filmed too close and too shaky. Of course if one big, superhero confrontation isn’t to your liking, another is just around the corner. There’s a lot of fighting in Civil War.
There is also a tone problem, caused by making the funniest character, Tony, serious and broken. Tony Stark is an ass. Always has been. But like Loki, we like him anyway because he’s charming. A broken Tony isn’t charming. Which also knocks out the great debate of the film. When one philosophy is supported by an unlikeable fascist (Ross) and an ass, and the figurative imprisonment becomes literal, it’s clear which side we should choose. No one ever presents the Accords as a reasonable choice. The closest is a grieving mother, but her son would have died anyway. It’s quite noticeable that no one ever points out that in each case, things would have been drastically worse without The Avengers intervening and not a single soul who died would now be alive. There is a case to be made for controlling The Avengers, but this film doesn’t attempt to make it.
Which leaves us with the rest of the characters, and there things go well. Captain America is once again surprisingly engaging as is most of the rest of the crew. Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Agent 13 (Emily VanCamp), and Falcon (Anthony Mackie) may not get a lot of screen time, but they use it well. Vision (Paul Bettany) comes off as a fool, but he’s got a few funny moments. Bucky fights more than speaks, but he looks good in those fights and War Machine (Don Cheadle) is fine as background. Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) becomes the emotional heart of The Avengers and easily carries that. I always cared about her. And the newly introduced Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) is a winner. He’s suave and violent and I look forward to his solo movie.
The standouts are Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) and Spider-Man (Tom Holland). Both are minor figures in the film, but they own the screen. Both add needed levity, normally while punching things. After a run of bad Spider-Man movies, it was rewarding to see the character done right, and having seen it, I now can’t figure why Sony failed so miserably.
The villain of the piece, Zemo (Daniel Brühl) is an afterthought and I could rewrite the script without him. The conflict comes from within The Avengers. But I liked him. For his scant screen time, he’s an effective villain and a relatable one. It’s easier to choose his side than Tony’s.
So, a mixed bag that adds up to a good movie. Not the great one I was expecting, but that’s on me. They can’t make The Avengers every time. It just seems like a very long wait until a lot of questions get answered (2018 for both Black Panther and Avengers 3).