Captain America: Civil War Non-Spoiler Movie Review

Captain America: Civil War is full of as much action entertainment fun as superheroes. Loosely based on the Marvel comic book mini-series of the same name written by Mark Millar, the movie sees a wedge form between Avengers members Captain America/Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) and Iron Man/Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) over a disagreement about whether the Avengers should sign what is known as the Sokovia Accords, essentially a way to bring the team under UN control. Stark feels obligated to sign the accords following several missteps the team has made including the events seen in Avengers: Age Of Ultron - events that have left him guilt-ridden over unintended consequences. Rogers is hesitant to sign the accords because he fears bureaucratic red tape may prevent the team from acting in the best interest of humanity or may be sent on missions they believe are wrong. Tensions between the two escalate when the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), formerly Steve Rogers' best friend, is accused of a crime he may or may not have committed causing tempers to flare and sides to be taken.

The movie feels more like an Avengers movie than a solo Captain America movie with a lot of familiar faces including Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Falcon (Anthony Mackie), War Machine (Don Cheadle), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), Vision (Paul Bettany), Ant-Man (Paul Rudd), Agent 13 (Emily VanCamp) and even Thaddeus Ross (William Hurt) whom we hadn't seen since the Hulk solo film. The movie also introduces a few new faces with Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) and Spider-Man (Tom Holland), both of whom will go on to their own movies soon.

I enjoyed the movie immensely and found all the fight scenes to be well choreographed including the big one that takes place at an airport. Both Boseman and Holland did great jobs portraying their characters and really stole the show in large part, especially Holland as Spider-Man. The movie also was filled with a number of the comedic and light moments that Marvel movies are known for. I will say the overall story plot line was a little weaker than I would have liked. Compared to the Russo brothers' Captain America: Winter Soldier, this one was not nearly as compelling. In part I think it's because this movie tried to do a lot more, and I also think the main villain played by Daniel Bruhl was less interesting. Still there was far more to like about this movie than dislike, and I think folks both young and old will enjoy it. The movie incorporates another great Stan Lee cameo and features two after credit scenes that fans should enjoy.

Grade: B+