Week 74: Captain America: Civil War

In hindsight, either Marvel got lucky that this movie was so good, or Team Russo-Markus-McFeely really did have a magic touch. Over the years, Marvel's movies have tended to feel bogged down with the weight of supporting other titles in the franchise, especially in recent years, which dilutes the story and drains the fun out of them. This movie is one of Marvel's most heavily interconnected to others, and yet it remains entertaining from start to finish, albeit depending on your tolerance for the bleak finale. Their good luck making this probably persuaded them that the trick could be replicated elsewhere, and that was not always true. But this is a blast, with one of the all-time most satisfying action set-pieces in Marvel's history at its center, and a story of real emotional stakes lurking underneath until it cannot be ignored any longer. I liked this on initial release, and I loved it on re-watch. (8/10)

Scattered thoughts:

• The catastrophe in Sokovia can and should be blamed on the Avengers, although I would argue that it's really just the fault of Tony Stark, and to some extent Bruce Banner who Tony browbeat into helping. But the attack on New York? Why would anyone blame the Avengers for that? It was S.H.I.E.L.D. that dug up the Tesseract and experimented on it and kicked off Loki's invasion. Thor being a dick to his baby brother is the most blame that you could put on the Avengers for that, unless I missed something.

• Watching this the first time, I generally didn't trust government authority with significant power, so I was "Team Cap" as they say. But today, after watching three seasons of the unethical Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. abuse their power and report to no one, I'm firmly Team Iron Man, despite the shit job that the movie does at explaining Tony's side. I'm of the opinion that while government officials are often corrupted by their power, there's at least *some* accountability in having publicly elected officials dictate the Avengers' actions, which is preferable to the *no* accountability that Steve proposes. It's wonderful that Steve Rogers and Vision have such flawless moral compasses, but even they can make mistakes by not seeing the whole picture sometimes (as Baron Zemo demonstrates), and if they thus shouldn't be trusted with so much power, then how can any of the rest of the team? The Sokovia Accords are too heavy and broad as a framework, a fire hose when a Waterpik would have been appropriate, but I think they're definitely the right thing for the Avengers. What do you think?

• If this movie has any major flaw, it's that it feels rushed, hurrying to get from one plot development to the next because it has so very much ground to cover. I was kind of surprised at how little time passes between its big action sequences. Almost nothing could be cut for time, with the possible exception of that Sharon Carter kiss scene, which just felt creepy and out of left field; have Steve and Sharon even had one conversation that wasn't work-related?

• I love the bleak final battle, because for once it's about personal conflict instead of giant 'splosions, and because you can really feel the intensity of these men trying to kill each other. (The tonal difference from the airport battle is palpable.) And yet, I would have been tempted to write the scene a little differently: Instead of Steve fighting to save his friend Bucky Barnes from death, I'd have written Steve fighting to save Tony from himself. Tony becoming a murderer (not counting terrorists and such) would have permanently broken him and the Avengers. Bucky's murders can be forgiven because he didn't have a choice, but Tony's murder of Bucky would not be forgivable. There's a moment in Spider-Man: No Way Home when one Peter Parker is about to become a murderer and another Peter Parker risks his life to stop him, and that's the tone that I would have (slightly) preferred in the Steve-Bucky-Tony fight.

• My least favorite line in the movie might be when Bucky says, "I did not kill your father!" and T'Challa asks, "Then why did you run?" Well fucking *duh*, he ran because there were armed forces trying to kill him, and so were you T'Challa, so what did you expect? You're literally asking him that question with your clawed glove around his throat.

• This movie is the closest that the Netflix Defenders characters ever got to appearing in other MCU productions during their original runs. Both Daredevil and Jessica Jones were involved in the airport battle at one stage of development. They were cut because the filmmakers felt like each one would have to be reintroduced for a wider audience, which would have meant more scenes and more subplots in a film already overstuffed with too much going on. As a fan of each, I would have loved for them to participate, and I'm curious what sides they would have taken. I assume that Daredevil would have been Team Cap due to his preference for anonymous vigilantism, while Jessica would have been Team Fuck Off until one of them (probably Tony) persuaded her to put down the whiskey because it was for a good cause. What sides do you see them taking?

• Peter fighting alongside Tony makes a lot of sense, except for the part about how it would mean registering his secret identity. That was a huge plot point in the "Civil War" comic-book story: Tony talked Peter into going public, Peter did, it ruined his life, Peter changed sides to fight with Steve, and eventually Peter made a life-altering and marriage-ending deal with Mephisto to make the world magically forget his identity, a story later adapted as No Way Home. It's not really addressed here what the ramifications of Peter's alliance with Tony would be, which is probably for the best, since it lets us focus on the emotional bond between Tony and Peter, which became an MCU highlight.

• Speaking of unaddressed plot holes, it's kind of amazing that Steve and Bucky can fly from Germany to Siberia only slightly faster than Tony can fly from Germany to New York to Siberia, isn't it? And Zemo's plan has a lot of problems; Honest Trailers did a funny and thorough breakdown of them.