A Geeky Viewpoint

Mostly Spoiler Free

I was sitting in my movie seat and after a great scene I took a quick look at my watch, I figured we had to be maybe an hour into the film, maybe 75 minutes, nope we were just under two hours. It is that kind of movie, a two and half hour movie that feels like it is 90 minutes long. Captain America: Civil War is a 2 hour and 26 minute long spectacle of a movie.

Many reviewers and audience members are suggesting it is the Avengers Sequel we deserved and I have to be honest while it is a good if not great movie it is not an Avengers movie, it is a Captain America movie and that is why it is good. It has a clear focus and even though many Avengers are in the movie it rarely deviates from Captain America perspective.

As an aside I want to address the other aspect of the Avengers Sequel we deserve philosophy; The Age of Ultron was an overly broad and complex story line, whose 2 hour and 21 minutes were far too short to cover the whole story. Age of Ultron could have been 3 hours and 21 minutes and not had enough screen time to tell the entire story that Josh Whedon wanted to tell. Age of Ultron suffered from the under telling of the secondary stories. Yet Age of Ultron did setup the story of Captain America: Civil War, in a similar fashion to how the story of Iron Man 3 was born out the original Avengers film. Without Age of Ultron you could not have anywhere near as compelling of story in Captain America; Civil War.

Captain America: Civil War is a re-envisioning of the 2006/2007 Marvel Comics crossover storyline Civil War. The story centers on conflict between Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans) and Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr) on whether or not the Avengers Initiative should have Government Oversight or not. Tony Stark is in favor of Governmental Oversight and Steve Rogers is not.   The film looks at many of the other known MCU super heroes as they come to terms on what side of the equation they belong.

The Film makers, not only the directors of Joe and Anthony Russo, but the scriptwriters Christopher Marcus and Stephen McFeely have done an excellent job of giving everyone a believable reason to be in the film, no one is simply there because they are a Marvel character. Every character contributes to the story and some answers are given to others who are not in the story.

Everyone I think can agree that Chadwick Boseman brought T’Challa/Black Panther to life in a way that people will be excited to see his standalone film. Tom Hollland as Peter Parker/Spider-Man will either be hit or miss amongst the audience.
 The actor or character that I found that advanced themselves, for the lack of a better term, was Paul Rudd as Scott Lang as Ant-Man.

Marvel’s diehard fans will appreciate the nearly 2 dozen Easter Eggs or subtle references to comics and prior Marvel Films, not all of which are in the MCU. I suspect as the film get more playtime more Easter Eggs will be spotted.

While I think Captain America: Civil War is a good movie, it is not a great film.

Certain directors have the ability to frame a Comic Book fight between super heroes, Captain America: Civil War could easily have been Cold War Spy Thriller in terms of action. It is hard to explain but the action lacks that certain something that makes it Comic Book Super Hero film.

The Marvel Comic Book storyline is one of the best story lines over the years, AVX and Secret Wars being the others, the film is not as good as the comic book story line simply because you don’t have 12 cross over issues and dozens of other comics to tell these stories in.

I am a big fan of cinematography and soundtracks in films. I want moments that make you ow and ah and marvel at what on the screen. I don’t want to say this film lacked those moments, but those moments weren’t as good as past Marvel films.