Movie Review: Captain America: Civil War

Source: Marvel Facebook Page

NERDGASMIC. AWESOME. INCREDIBLE.

These are just some of the words that I can use to describe Captain America: Civil War after seeing it yesterday at Trinoma.

Based on Marvel's Civil War comic book storyline, Captain America: Civil War revolves around the creation of a law that requires individuals with special abilities (or tech in Falcon's and Iron Man's case) to work under the supervision of a governing body and how it divides the Avengers based on the opinion of each member towards the said law.

As with most movies that take place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Captain America: Civil War makes a lot of references to previous Marvel flicks especially Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Avengers: Age of Ultron. Although seeing the aforementioned movies are not pre-requisites to enjoying CA: CW, having done so will help the viewer get a better grasp of the film's conflicts.

Although based on the Civil War comics, CA: CW separates itself from its source material by using a different jumping-off point for the law that divides the Avengers. Some hardcore comic book fans might be bothered by this matter, but as someone who has read the CW comics and has some idea with the licensing and budgetary issues that Marvel has to deal with just to get this movie done, I think the jumping-off point for CA: CW was pretty clever.

Outside of comic book extremists, most movie goers would it find hard to say anything bad about CA: CW because it has everything you could ask for from a superhero movie: well-choreographed fights scenes, eye-pleasing visual effects, humor and lots of superheroes, perhaps the most in one film at the moment.

With its all-star cast, CA: CW gave us characters worth talking about for weeks. As usual, Robert Downey Jr. was a natural as Tony Stark/Iron Man and Chris Evans once again delivered as the morally upright Steve Rogers/Captain America. It is really hard to tell if all the Avengers got a fair share of the limelight, but as far as I can tell, each received the adequate screen time that their respective roles called for.

What caught me off guard were the performances of Paul Rudd and Tom Holland, Ant-Man and Spider-Man respectively, as they delivered witty and funny dialogues that had me laughing out loud along with other movie goers. I really do not remember Ant-Man being all that talkative in the comics but Rudd somehow makes it work. As for Holland, he captured the youthful exuberance and chatty nature of the Peter Parker from the comics, something we have not seen from Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield. If Holland's performance is any indication, we can expect Marvel's Spider-Man to be another blockbuster.

In summary, Captain America: Civil War may not be a perfect superhero movie but it comes pretty close to being one. Aside from the visual spectacle, well-written script and the praise-worthy performances of its cast, the film tries to give a lesson on accountability, which is what superhero flicks are supposed to do. For those have not seen this movie yet, I encourage you to do so. I promise you that you will have one heck of a good time, plus you get to sit in an air-conditioned room for more than two hours and that is a great way to beat the summer heat.

Rating: 4.8 out of 5