Captain America: Civil War

Captain America: Civil War put the fun back in super hero movies (unlike Batman vs. Superman which was dark dark dark) while at the same time going beneath the surface of the characters. The main theme of the movie is what happens when super heroes can do just about anything they want and there are no consequences to their actions. This becomes crystal clear in the opening scene when Cap and his team are trying to stop terrorists from stealing a bio weapon. While stopping the bad guys, they are unable to prevent a bomb from going off that kills innocent people.

Back in the US, Tony Stark is giving a speech at MIT. As he’s leaving he runs into a woman who works at the State Department. She shows a picture to Stark of her son. A son she lost when the Avengers battled Ultron.

The upshot is a series of accords is going to be assigned which will put the Avengers under the control of the United Nations. A committee will decide when and where the Avengers will be used. Stark is for it while Captain America is against it. The other Avengers take sides. At the signing of the accords a bomb goes off killing many people (this is how Black Panther is introduced). It seems that the terrorist who set the bomb off was none other than Buck Barnes, Caps old friend.

Cap cannot believe his friend could have done this. He sets out to save his friend and the civil war had begun. A climatic battle takes place between the two sides at an airport. It is nothing short of amazing. There are a couple of additional characters here. Ant-Man and Spider-man.

What Cap finds out is that there are other winter soldiers like Buck. And someone is going to try and revive them. Cap and Bucky escape the airport and head off to stop this. Stark figures this out to and heads to help the two out. This is where the major twist of the movie happens and you’ll just have to go and see it to find out what it is.

This movie makes the Marvel characters much more three dimensional. This is especially true of Cap and Stark. But each is presented with the dilemma of which side to choose. The person who has the problem choosing sides is Black Widow in the end she splits the difference between the two. And she shows how what looks black and white in reality isn’t always that way.
There is a great deal of humor in this movie. This is especially true when Paul Rudd as Ant-Man meets Captain America. The hero worship on Rudd's part is very funny. The same goes for Tom Holland who plays Spider-man.

This is a very well done film. It puts the fun back in super hero movies. Yet at the same time adds a level of character development and complexity not seen in other Marvel movies.