Marvel’s trainwreck: Captain America Civil War is MIA.
The title should have been ‘Captain America 3: Bruised Egos’, because the movie had nothing to do with one of the better comic book story arcs written in the 21st century dubbed “Civil War”. I really wanted to love this movie. And now . . . utter disappointment. This article has SPOILERS for those who have either not seen the movie or read the books that the trainwreck of an adaptation was supposed to represent. Where was the Civil War that shook the Marvel Universe to its core? It was nowhere to be found in this movie. Where was the Registration Act for which Tony Stark fought for and Spiderman gave the first surprise revealing of his identity, which really screwed with Peter Parker from that point on? I will say the new movie portrayal of Spiderman was awesome and I look forward to seeing more of him, should there be a story to back up his witticisms and web slinging. So I get why Marvel – who just got back the rights to use their most famous character – would not ruin Parker’s life and secret identity in the movies yet, as it is a key element for many decades of his story in the comics before the Civil War comic book outing. And that is one of many reasons why this movie should just have been Cap 3 and the Civil War should have occurred years from now. The Civil War should have come after people grew tired of Cap and Spiderman and Iron Man and then relished in their being turned against one another. Fans are still falling in love with these characters in the movies and you run all of them through the mud to literally destroy the Avengers and reduce a newly forming group to a disparaged heap of rubble, for no reason. The war makes little sense in the movie. One man, Zemo, causes the entire thing based on one year of harboring revenge in his heart against the Avengers and plotting. How does Zemo, one remote soldier, follow Captain America for only a single year and yet find more secret information on Bucky and Hydra than anyone else living, including the Avengers? It makes little sense. Why tease a Cross Bones character, who is supposed to kill Steve Rogers during the shocking climax of the Civil War story (in the books), only to literally disintegrate Cross Bones at the very start of the movie? How does Zemo brainwash Bucky only to have Captain America fight Iron Man over the dead bodies of a Winter Soldier death squad that would have been far more fun to watch on screen then the dropped shield and broken Iron Man suit? Why? The ending could not have been more anticlimactic. The battle in the parking lot (okay it was a parking lot in an airport) was the only really great scene for strife with the heroes pitted against heroes, but it was still underwhelming, except for Giant Man’s entrance (maybe). Why does Captain America live in this movie? The weight of his fight for the freedom of privacy has dire consequences in the book, but Cross Bones is already too dead in the movie to cast a mortal blow. Why is there no Registration Act, symbolizing the Patriot Act’s privacy violations, separating all of the Marvel superheroes into those in favor of freedom and those crying out to fight terrorism with transparency? That intelligent focus on conflicting views is a large part of what made the books great. But I guess Marvel has given up on anything that might be considered political, even if it is even-keeled, in favor of fluff, fighting, and more fluff. Often times a loosely interpreted book to movie adaptation leads to a common verb: the film was Hollywooded. Those movies that capture the spirit, and not necessarily word for word either, like Shawshank Redemption or V For Vendetta, they are masterpieces of the silver screen as they were on the page, despite the art transcending two different mediums. And then there are movies, like The Hobbit trilogy and Captain America Civil War, that bastardize the entire storyline, gut the entire source material and leave no reason to retain the title, which is the only thing that the movies share accurately with the books. Marvel could have properly done the “Civil War” storyline in ten years when Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans were too old to CGI any longer and fans would have relished a real impactful and meaningful Civil War that forever blew up everything in the Marvel world. If the Russo brothers made one of the best Marvel movies and all-time great comic book movies in Captain America: the Winter Soldier, then they have now made Marvel’s worst film to date . . . by far. I hope Marvel stops Hollywooding their films and ignoring decades of excellent source material from comic books. And for the record these types of comic books have more pictures than words and so leave plenty of room for screenwriters and directors to take creative liberties and still make good films that capture the spirit of their adapted works’ stories. The future Marvel tales, especially the Infinity War movies, better get closer to the actual story from the books that millions of readers love and cherish, because it is quite a challenge that they have upcoming. How the Infinity Gauntlet will find its way to Thanos without integral characters, like Mr. Fantastic and Dr. Doom and others from the books that Marvel does not own the rights to is anyone’s guess? The Marvel Universe was just bruised in a confusing and forlorn manner, making DC and their Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice look a hell of a lot more planned out and intriguing story-wise for those of us that actually enjoy a story alongside the action in a “superhero” movie. REVIEW GRADE: D+
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