CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR
Rating: 4/5
CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR asks the cinematic question “What would
happen if we took a whole passel of superheroes from the Marvel Comic
universe and tossed them together into one film?” But wait, what if we
pitted them against one another over a fundamental difference of opinion
about ethics, and then added a dash (or more) of guilt and anguish over
accountability when it comes to the massive collateral damage incurred
when saving the world? What would we get? In this case, a rip-snorting
action adventure with a clever plot that appeals to both the fan-boy and
fan-girl, as well as an intelligent consideration of the uses and
responsibilities of power. Indeed, if there is a flaw, it’s that at
times it plays like two different films, the mood shifting for swaths of
time from pratfalls and punchlines, to gritty suspense. Yet the shifts
never become an insurmountably contradictory jumble, which is a neat
trick in and of itself.
Captain
America (Chris Evans) has his name in the title, but the film is an
ensemble piece featuring many of the Avengers we’ve come to know and
love, including Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr), Natasha
Romanoff/ Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Sam Wilson/Falcon (Anthony
Mackie), Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), Vision (Paul
Bettany), and James Rhodes/War Machine (Don Cheadle) all facing the
aftermath of their exploits in Sokovia from AGE OF ULTRON. The price of
saving the world that time was collapsed buildings and civilian deaths.
Their latest mission, the one in Lagos that starts the film with a
bang, also incurs property damage and civilian deaths on a lesser scale,
but the pattern of destruction is such that the world has become
nervous about these enhanced beings operating with no supervision. Hence
the Sokovia Accords, drawn up by 117 very uneasy countries and
administered through the United Nations. Hence, too, the rift among the
Avengers, some who don’t want to ask permission to act, and others who
see signing the Accords as a way to earn back the world’s trust, and
also coping with their sense of guilt. Lacking the empirical evidence to
convince each other who is right, Captain America retires from the
public arena, taking Falcon with him.
Of course that’s not going to stick.
Cap’s old pal from World War II, The Winter Soldier, aka Bucky Barnes
(Sebastian Stan), aka the silver-armed puppet of subliminal
programming, begins to wreak havoc. Rather than let the authorities kill
him, Cap and Falcon take matters into their own hands, setting up the
eponymous Civil War, and introducing us to an intriguingly amoral rogue
agent without portfolio (Daniel Brühl), and his stalwart mirror-image,
T’Challa / Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), who does the wrong things
for what he is convinced are the right reasons. Thus amid the special
effects extravaganza, issues of loyalty, duty, rigid ideologies, and the
thirst for vengeance become the driving force for everything that
ensues. The assorted mayhem of big explosions, epic chases, and various
vehicles crashing with flaming abandon is window dressing for the real
fireworks. That would be the inner conflicts that leave psychic wounds
far more damaging than mere lacerations, bruises and broken bones.
Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany
Downey gives another emotionally compelling performance, grounding,
as do the others’ performances, the hyperbolic fantasy elements into
something palpably human. A scene with Stark being confronted by the
mother (a devastating Alfre Woodard) of a dead son killed in Sokovia is
as shattering to us as it is to Stark thanks to Downey’s ability to
convey his character’s own vulnerability beneath the swagger and the
barbed quips and bon mots. There’s also an unexpected sweetness to the
budding relationship between the android Vision and guilt-scarred
Scarlet Witch, as he tries to lift her spirits with home cooking and a
discourse on the pitfalls of the amygdala.
CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR has the courtesy to bring up the missing
Avengers (Hulk and Thor) and to do it in such a way that it becomes a
minor but satisfying plot point. Ditto the absence of Tony’s true love,
Pepper Potts. Sure, we miss (most) of them, but this is such a slick and
smart flick, it’s not a problem. Rife with plot twists, surprise guest
superheroes, and superb pacing that leaves us breathless, but never
winded, it’s also more than just exceptionally good looking, charismatic
people killing time between action sequences. It fearlessly and lucidly
addresses complicated social issues and makes them an integral part of
the whiz-bang action.
