Captain America: Civil War

And so it is Captain America: Civil War that triumphs in the Marvel vs. DC 'versus' movie battle. Not a huge surprise considering Marvel have had 12 films to set this one up but a satisfying victory for them nonetheless and one which leaves DC under a lot of pressure to soup up (pun intended) The Justice League. This is as much Cap' 3 as it is Avengers 2.5 and our focus is on Mr Rogers for the duration. This may be a 'civil war' but Marvel just veer on the side of The First Avenger over Iron Man; partly because it's his film, partly because these 'inhumans' need to be kept separate from government for future instalments and, lastly, because, ironically enough, it's harder to sympathise with Cap' in this movie and his siding with super-soldier Bucky Barnes (dig that twist at the end!) It's Barnes and Daniel Bruel's mysterious tinkerman Helmut Zemo who push the story along in the absence of a conventional villain and, whilst Zemo's plot thread is rather fortuitous and convoluted, it's an original premise and a welcome glimpse into the 'real-world' problems these characters are causing. The inevitable scene we're all waiting for arrives midway through and the six-on-six mega-brawl that ensues between our heroes is so worth the wait; probably the best 20 minutes of celluloid Marvel have ever produced. The cheesy pan along the two 'teams' is spine-tingling, every character is given plenty of screen time and, brilliantly, Marvel creates reasoning for them all to be evenly matched. This scene alone lifts the film an extra star. At the crux of things though, not much really happens across the bum-numbing duration. It seems disingenuous to say but therein lies Civil War's inherent problem. It's a spectacle, we get some nice character development (Falcon suddenly becomes a valid and, frankly, awesome member of the team) and, of course, the introduction of their two new stars (Black Panther and Spider-Man rightly steal this film completely: the Black Panther suit is awesome, his introductory chase-sequence breath-taking and his backstory solid enough to round him as a character yet still open for his standalone picture. Spider-Man is up for debate but it could well be third-time lucky on this one; Tom Holland looks a good fit and his quips and patter in the fight sequence is a breath of fresh air). We also get some breathtaking cinematography (the climactic, small scale Iron Man vs. Cap' scene is beautifully done; akin to the Obi-Wan/Anakin fight in RotS) and a steady leave off into the upcoming Infinity War. However, you can probably swing into Phase 3 whilst still bypassing this completely; Marvel are still reluctant to kill any characters off (despite at least three glorious opportunities to do so here) and things are really getting clogged up now (especially with more to be introduced) and, whilst it's great to not resort to the same 'fight-a-massive-alien-horde-or-infinite-numbers-of-mech-suits' ending the lack of a Big-Bad does stunt the film somewhat and (SPOILER ALERT) killing the remaining Winter Soldiers is a very silly decision considering the challenge they would have posed. The hype and critical consensus seems to place this at the summit of all Marvel have achieved and, whilst certain parts can stake a claim for this, I'm considering, in their own way, the first Avengers and The Winter Soldier to rank just above it. It's a nice tease for the start of Phase 3 though and easily shrugs off the challenge from DC (for now). Marvel's ability to juggle these characters into a cohesive whole though must be applauded.

4 stars ****