The Avengers are divided in a blood feud over a debate on their civil rights. In “Captain America: Civil War”, the third installment in the trilogy, Marvel’s “Captain America: Civil War” finds Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) leading the newly formed team of Avengers in their continued efforts to safeguard humanity. But after another incident involving the Avengers results in collateral damage, political pressure mounts to install a system of accountability, headed by Secretary of State Thadeus Ross (William Hurt) and a governing body to oversee and direct the team. The new status quo fractures the Avengers, resulting in two camps-one led by Steve Rogers and his desire for the Avengers to remain free to defend humanity without government interference, and the other following Tony Stark’s (Robert Downey Jr) surprising decision to support government oversight and accountability. The result puts our world in danger of being overtaken by villains because of the duo’s increasing tensions. “Captain America: Civil War” is written and directed by The Russo Brothers, and is rated PG-13 for sequences of violence, action and mayhem.

“Civil War” serves as the third installment in the Captain America series, but its two-and-a-half hour run time possesses a stage for the many characters under the Avengers label. Everybody’s favorite characters are perfectly represented, with some new introductions stealing the show. The film’s mood also supplies the audience a grand scale of mixed emotions that really takes us on a roller coaster with plenty of surprises behind every corner. This movie really focused more on the adult themes that “Winter Soldier” only teased with, and that continuance never sacrifices its characters for adult material. Instad, the film takes us through the very hell of war, and what great losses are suffered because of such a fate. In addition to this, “Civil War” Completes itself with fight choreography and sound mixing that makes this superhero one that everybody can believe in.

First of all, the movie’s material hits a home run on every front. This is a movie that has to fill that long run time, and while it does feel a little jaded during the second act, this is a movie that knows where its meat is, and that is with the on-going tensions between the two main protagonists. The movie starts us right in the thick of things with an action sequence for a major villain in the comic world, setting the tone appropriatly for all three acts that never slow down for one minute. My lone problem with the material came in the second act when the movie begins to feel a little tedious and repetitive. This doesn’t do a lot of damage, but new characters are introduced just at the right time before the movie starts to repeat its familiar setup. I want to talk a little bit about the even playing field between the two sides in this movie. The Russo Brothers do a dutiful job creatively in stacking the expositional pro’s and con’s for each side respectively. Coming into the movie, I sided with Iron Man because I enjoy his character more, but I would side with Captain America because his stances make more sense for superheroes. What I didn’t know was that the movie would flip my choice on more than one occasion, and The Russo Brothers do an unbelievable job of always keeping their educated audience guessing.

On the subject of action, this movie leveled me with some top-notch camera work, sound mixing, and fight choreography that unleashed a physicality even on a man like me who is safe in a movie auditorium. One vast improvement over the camera styles of “Age of Ultron” is the film’s lack of shaky-cam work when it comes to chase scenes. I was never a fan of this style, and felt that it made the resolution of each fight blow harder to register. Luckily, The Russo’s take the time to frame each fight scene perfectly, so the audience never misses a beat. Of course the biggest scene of the movie for me is at the end of the second act when the two sides have the highly anticipated showdown, and trust me when I say it doesn’t disappoint. Sound editor Manfred Banach captures an equal enjoyment of humorous character retorts in each of our many character fights, as well as expressing spine-tingling audio for the impacts of every shot. There were many times in this movie where i fidgeted in my seat because I easily got lost in the very brutality that our heroes encountered. With so much of the movie’s three-act structure being dedicated to these bone-crunching fights, the movie keeps the idea of conflicts fresh with painful and even creative concepts for the very in-sync chemistry of great fight choreography.

Where do I even begin with performances? Because there are plenty. Chris Evans once again captivates (See the pun?) as the title character, providing an equal display of charming wits and boyish good looks to sport the ultimate American icon. Robert Downey Jr serves as kind of the grown up of the movie, but it never feels like a character change for what makes him great. Downey’s intelligence, in addition to a sarcastic delivery as Stark makes him difficult to hate even on the times when you don’t agree with his character’s moral stances. The chemistry of four movies together between Evans and Downey make their rivalry easy to believe, as both serve as that kind of alpha leader for the group, each possessing differences in their moral stigmas. On the subject of new additions, two people easily steal this show and they are Chadwick Boseman as Black Panther, and Tom Holland as Spider-Man. Boseman hypnotizes with a silent rage that proves a superhero doesn’t have to be loud to be menacing. While pulling off a perfect African accent, Chadwick shows an equally greater side of class that makes his role as royalty that much easier to believe. Holland did in twenty-five minutes of screen time what Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield couldn’t do in five total movies between them as the web-slinger. In Tom’s performance, he showcases the essential naivity that comes with being a teenager. He’s starstruck to meet these real life heroes that surround him, and that goofy side to Parker is what makes his character so intriguing from the rest. He has so much room to grow, but we don’t mind getting lost in the very awkward phases of being a teenager. Holland has so many one-liners that steals the focus of every scene, and I for one am now fully on board with the “Spider-Man: Homecoming” film due out in 2017.

My only problem with the performances comes in an antagonist played by Daniel Bruhl. Daniel doesn’t do a terrible job or anything. He’s quite compelling as Zemo, in a way that makes you understandable of his bad intentions towards this team. I’ve always said that the best villains are the ones that you can reason with for their madness, and that is definitely the case here. My problem lies in the fact that we don’t get a lot of time with his expositional backstory. A lot that has to do with him deals in the surprises of the third act, and I can understand that, but he feels out of place in a film where the title expresses why we’re here in the first place. The movie goes long spans of time without showing him, and this led me many times to forget that he was even in the movie. I know the film is called “Civil War”, but that doesn’t mean that we should forget about an equally important antagonist that has more to do with the characters that meets the eye. It was refreshing to see a villain with no superpowers like Loki or Ultron, but the film’s lack of screen time makes his appearance in the film almost pointless. That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy Bruhl, but the movie could easily be edited to play out without his character, and you would cut about fifteen unnecessary minutes from the mildly cluttered run time.

Overall, “Captain America: Civil War” is a butt-kicking good time that brings back the fun again to superhero movies after the disappointment that was “Batman Vs Superman”. The Russo Brothers score with the first action-packed blockbuster of the Summer movie season, complimenting adult themes with the fun of being a kid again with superhero dreams

9/10