“Civil War”: The Audience Is the Winning Side

Release Date：May/06/2016
Genre：Action/Adventure/Sci-Fi/Thriller

Director：Anthony Russo、Joe Russo

Cast：Chris Evans、Robert Downey Jr.、Scarlett Johansson、Paul Rudd、Elizabeth Olsen、Anthony Mackie

Viola's Rating： 8.4

After scoring two blockbuster hits with “Zootopia” and “Jungle Book”, Walt Disney goes for the trifecta as it unleashes the next installment from The Marvel Cinematic Universe in all its red white and blue glory, “Captain America: Civil War”.

Based on Marvel’s 2006 comic book storyline Civil War, the adventurous action thriller is set after the events in the “Avengers: Age of Ultron” feature film. Contentious political interference in the Avengers’ activities, aroused by the United Nation and US government, causes a rift between former allies Captain America (Chris Evans) and Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.).

As a sequel to Captain America series, “Civil War” does an amazing job introducing all the characters from both sides similar to how it was done brilliantly in “The Avengers”, and while balancing the on-camera time of everyone, the film still focuses on Captain America. Since Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) has a profound effect on Captain, as many enthusiasts expected, the winter soldier plays a pivotal role in the flick. 

Besides Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr. playing the lead, Golden Globe nominated actor Daniel Bruhl adds more thrill to the motion picture and catches the audience’s eyes with his incredible acting skills.

Since both Captain America and Iron Man refuse to budge, there are several fantastically constructed fight scenes in the movie. Instead of tracking, “Captain America: Civil War” utilizes craning to make some shots more convincible and immersive. The camera location brings the audience into the core of the fight as if everyone in the theater is avengers' battle companion, while some moviegoers might find it difficult to catch what is happening which takes away some excitement of the fight scenes.

Although “Captain America: Civil War” is still as amusing as other Marvel franchise pictures, the usually comical Iron Man has less witty dialogues. Instead, Spiderman grabs more of the funny lines. 

In addition to including heroes such as Ant-man, Black Widow, Falcon, Hawkeye, Scarlett Witch and Vision whom fans might already know through previous franchise feature films, “Captain America: Civil War” introduces a new character Black Panther to The Marvel Cinematic Universe. An individual film on him is now scheduled to be released in 2018.

For non-Marvel enthusiasts, there are some plots that might be confusing, but no matter which side of the conflict you stand on, “Captain America: Civil War” won’t let you down. The audience is the winning side, but still, which side are you on?