Movie Review: “Captain America: Civil War” Pits Iron Against (Superhuman) Flesh

[yasr_overall_rating]
 

Political interference in the Avengers’ activities causes a rift between former allies Captain America and Iron Man.

The success of Christopher Nolan’s “Dark Knight” trilogy signaled a drastic change in the approach to comic book movies. Lots of darkness – both internal (hero trauma; existential rumination) and external (dimly-lit, grisly scenes that pushed PG-13 to its limits) – became requisites. The most prominent theme that seemed to have spawned from the Caped Crusader’s tortured journey, and consequently formed a thread through all the consecutive graphic novel adaptations, seems to be the duality of good vs. evil, the meaning of heroism, the internal struggle of an ultra-powerful being (see: “Avengers: Age of Ultron”, “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice”). This motif is perhaps best exemplified in the current, second season of Netflix’s “Daredevil”, which has an entire episode centered around the titular character and The Punisher, debating whether vigilante justice causes even more violence instead of resolving it.

Anthony and Joe Russo’s follow up to their first Captain America directing gig, the popular-but-overrated “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” continues the trend, the film’s central concept being the dubious actions of the Avengers, and whether the amount of casualties in their epic stand-offs require regulation. As Secretary of State, Thaddeus Ross (played by a somnambulant William Hurt), dryly comments (and I’m paraphrasing, as the theater was very dark, and I had trouble scribbling dialogue verbatim in my 3-D glasses): “While a great deal of people see you as heroes, some prefer the term vigilantes.” “Captain America: Civil War” splits the beloved Avengers team into two opposing gangs, with sometimes entertaining, but mostly wearying results.

To start, the narrative hops between locations like it’s just done several rails of cocaine. BOOM: we’re in Lagos, where Captain America and his team create chaos trying to stop a biological weapon heist from taking place. BOOM: Iron Man’s at MIT, giving a solemn speech about the “correlation between generosity and guilt” and oh-so-generously gives a grant to every student’s project (let’s hope none of them is a Robert Oppenheimer in the making), just to be tearfully confronted by Miriam (Alfre Woodard), whose son died in Sokovia. “He’s dead, and I blame you,” she says vehemently, “victory at the expense of the innocent is no victory at all.” (Central theme of film spelled out right there.) The events of New York, Washington D.C., Sokovia, and now Lagos have led to 117 countries calling a meeting at the U.N. to assign a panel that would tightly regulate the Avengers’ actions.

BOOM! We’re in Cleveland, where Evil Zemo (Daniel Brühl) obtains the Winter Soldier’s (Sebastian Stan) activation codes, as well as other classified docs that will later lead him to…well, a discovery, deep in Russia. In the meantime, Steve Rogers’ and Tony Stark’s confrontation begins, at first verbally: Cpt. America: “If we sign [the U.N. agreement], we surrender our right to choose.” Stark: “We need to be put in check.” Both act uncharacteristically, but my guess is that’s intentional. The Avengers quickly start splitting into factions: Team Stark and Team Rogers. BOOM: the film takes us to Vienna, where the U.N. summit, just as a peaceful resolution is about to be reached – yes, BOOM! – explodes, and the blame immediately falls on Bucky (a.k.a. The Winter Soldier, for those of you a bit lost). BOOM: welcome to Bucharest, where Cpt. America catches up with Bucky, instantly believes his spiel about how he “wasn’t in Vienna” and he doesn’t “do it anymore,” and together they attempt to escape a slew of Avengers, joined by a new masked vigilante called Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman).

From this point on, the film keeps dashing wildly between Berlin, where Bucky gets captured, escapes with Caps, and Iron Man gets 36 hours to find them; Queens, where Stark enlists Spider Man (Tom Holland) to help him track Caps; Leipzig, where the Showdown occurs: Caps, Falcon (Anthony Mackie), Ant Man (Paul Rudd), Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), Bucky and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) vs. Stark, Black Panther, Spidey, War Machine (Don Cheadle), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Vision (Paul Bettany) (I hope I got this right). After quite a few minutes of this violent-but-pointless showdown, the film propels us to the blistering Siberian wilderness for the final, even more “intense” showdown, where two lifelong friends beat the living crap out of each other, for reasons not that well defined (c’mon, sit down, spark one, get laid, violence can’t be the only way, dudes).

One of the issues is: the stakes are quite low. Yes, it’s kinda awesome to see the Avengers go at each other, but they are never truly provided a compelling enough reason to bash the living hell out of themselves – it’s almost as if they all sniffed some powder and went berserk – or an extension of that Thor vs. Stark sequence from the original “Avengers’. I get that Tony, after messing up (to say the least) in “Age of Ultron,” is all for regulation (though it does go against his character), and Cpt. America, the virtuous spirit that he is, seeks justice – but is that reason enough for them to engage in an extended, SFX-laden sequence, where nothing is at stake, which diminishes the intensity to an almost-zero-degree (spoiler alert: NO ONE dies during that episode).

Another issue is the central character. Chris Evans has always been a non-presence for me, a step above James Franco and two below Ryan Reynolds, whose one “shining” moment, at least for me, will always remain the sequence in “Snowpiercer” where he talks about eating babies. He resembles Chris Pine, who can’t carry a non-“Star Trek” film. To me, Chris Evans, with his formidable-but-expressionless features, fails to infuse an inherently-blank, overly-righteous character with any zing or, for lack of a better word, pepper (speaking of, Potts is sorely missing from “Civil War”). He’s the embodiment of the American Patriot Hero, and hey – audiences lap it up.

In contrast, Robert Downey Jr. continues his sardonic shtick as Tony Stark / Iron Man, and at least he’s got energy and wit – but even his drollery is wearing thin. By far the best line in the film he utters is about 75% through the film, to Bucky, who keeps a sniper rifle aimed at him: “Hey, Manchurian Candidate…there’s a truce going on over here, all right?” Tom Holland as the new Spidey (#14?) comes off as kinda wimpy, but does boast some exhilarating moments…Not to be a complete hater, but I am pointing out again: it’s not so much the actor, as the wizards behind the computer screens, and millions and millions of dollars, with perhaps a dash of creative input from the directing duo.

The rest of the characters fare better than others (deep breath for the upcoming run-on sentence): Scarlett Johansson finally has more than one line and a single fight sequence; Anthony Mackie gets a few quips in as Falcon (although his costume really does resemble a flamboyant, bird-like drag queen from the future); Paul Bettany strains to emote through layers and layers of make-up as Vision (like, wtf is this character’s deal, by the way?); Don Cheadle is way underused as the injured War Machine (check him out in “Miles Ahead,” currently out in theaters, instead); Sebastian Stan frowns and smolders as Bucky; Chadwick Boseman gets the silliest, hate-filled lines as the Black Panther; Elizabeth Olsen, normally a reliable presence, fails to connect here, especially with her Russian accent (general point here: come on, Hollywood, hire some native Russian speakers for your $200+ mil productions!); Daniel Brühl, so memorable in “Rush” and “Inglorious Basterds,” makes for a surprisingly bland villain; and, finally, Paul Rudd makes a welcome, albeit short, appearance as a (spoiler alert!) gargantuan Ant-Man. (Okay, this one’s for the ultra-nerds: there’s a new, sorta-kinda character called Red Wing, Falcon’s “sidekick”, whom Black Widow refuses to acknowledge, as did I).

“Deadpool,” flawed as it may be, at least thought outside the box, broke the fourth wall, added violence and an acute commentary on the ridiculousness of tent-pole comic book movies. Made for a fifth of “Civil War”’s budget, Tim Miller’s film proved that less is more, and it’s not the effects that are impressive, but the way they are sparingly used. When it’s an assault on the senses, as we witnessed in “Age of Ultron,” “Man of Steel,” and its recent bombastic sequel, no amount of pseudo-intellectual rumination on the effectiveness of superheroes can compensate for what is essentially a polished turd. All this critic talk of Marvel infusing the film with “moral and emotional conflict” (Russ Fischer, The Playlist) makes it seem like we should be joyously grateful for a tiny bit of thought inserted into the mix, while it should simply be a given. Nolan’s “Batman Begins” pulled it off with aplomb.

Also, can we just agree that, after several Hulks, Fantastic Fours, Spideys, War Machines, the (for now?) parallel X-Men universe(s), and all the other inconsistencies, the Marvel universe makes no sense? There’s really no point in piecing the puzzle bits together, as hard as the studio tries to make it all fit. It’s really a “shut-your-brains-off-and-gape-at-the-spectacle” sort of entertainment, overstuffed with eccentric characters, one-liners and top-of-the-line SFX, with a spontaneous dash of pretentious, oh-so-serious polemic now and then. If that’s your thing – and no judgement there, we all need to shut down our brains from time to time – “Civil War” is right up your alley. Thing is, once you’ve seen one Marvel bash-‘em-all-to-hell PG-13 sequence, no matter how inventive it is, you’ve pretty much seen them all. “Civil War” definitely feels like a minor step back into all-too-familiar territory, which is unfortunate, after films like the aforementioned “Deadpool,” or even “”Guardians of the Galaxy” that had quirky tidbits, like a rocking’ soundtrack, a mad raccoon and a talking tree.

I just watched “The Lobster,” Yorgos Lanthimos’ Cannes entry, which will be released on U.S. screens on May 13th. It stars a chubby Collin Farell in a dystopian, absurdist society, where relationships are determined based solely on compatibility, people hunt each other with tranquilizer guns – oh, and you get to pick an animal to turn into, if you fail to find a partner. Made for a fraction of “Civil War”’s budget, the film – also flawed, mind you – is exponentially more epic, affecting, morbidly funny, nerve shredding and yes, entertaining (at least for “cinefiles” like me) than the whole Marvel cannon put together so far. If it weren’t for the likes of “Ant Man” and “Deadpool,” I’d be tempted to say I’m at a point where Marvel is losing me, and it’s sad, considering I am a graphic novel lover. Let’s hope the upcoming “Sandman” adaptation (if it ever happens, dammit!) saves the day.

In theaters May 6th