Our very strength invites challenge. Challenge incites conflict. Conflict breeds catastrophe. . . . Oversight is not an idea that can be dismissed out of hand.
Paul Bettany as Vision, addressing the Avengers, Captain America: Civil War (2016)
This week, I have criticized Captain America: Civil War (2016) more harshly than many of the earlier Marvel Studios films, which might seem ironic to the reader who has been closely following these essays. Please make no mistake, I think it is one of the better films in the MCU, and it is because of its high quality that explains why I think it can handle the criticism. Today, on the other hand, I want to praise Captain America 3‘s many fine qualities, and I have to start with the story. Until this point, the MCU has slowly been building up the roster of the Avengers team, and while only twelve of them are represented in this film, it’s a fun mix (Black Panther and Spider-Man both finally make their first appearances, and the supervillain Zemo makes his first appearance.) But, in the context of the larger Infinity Saga, the dramatic tension among the Avengers is perfectly timed—at what screenwriters call the Midpoint. Civil War sits at the top of Phase Three, but it comes right in the middle of the second act if we think of all twenty-three movies in the Infinity Saga collectively as being a fifty-hour movie.
A fifty-hour movie with a well-documented three-act narrative structure, and complete story arcs for both Tony “Iron Man” Stark and Steve “Captain America” Rogers. The feat that was accomplished making the MCU, it’s unprecedented. It’s astonishing. At an approximate average production cost of $200M per movie, that’s $4.6B total—employing many thousands of people for millions of hours over a fifteen-year period. The accomplishment is truly epic in its scale, and it’s not even finished yet. The Mycenaean fleet’s eastward voyage to Troy, the Great Wall of China’s construction, the Allies’ Normandy invasion, launching a rocket into space and docking it at the International Space Station—the production of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is on a similar scale.
Yet, it’s on the smaller scale of each individual’s spectatorship that the MCU shines brightest, and Civil War brings it. All of the performances are great. All of the top-billed returning players (Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Don Cheadle, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Jeremy Renner, Paul Rudd, Emily VanCamp, and William Hurt), they all brought their A-games. Also, both Chadwick Bosworth and Tom Holland (the best Peter Parker) nailed their performances, as did Frank Grillo (what a great villain), Martin Freeman, and Daniel Brühl as Helmut Zemo. I can’t wait for Brühl to appear in “Falcon and the Winter Soldier.” Although I took exception with a line or two, there wasn’t a single performance I feel comfortable criticizing. Downey’s pain at the injury of Stark’s best friend Rhodes was palpable.
The acting was only one aspect of the movie, but seriously, the Russo brothers are fucking geniuses. Directing movies is not easy. I’ve been behind the camera a few times, and it is tough. It demands concentration, discipline, and patience; it takes a lot of confidence, too, and while it helps to have great collaborators and expert crew, it can’t be easy getting a good night’s sleep during productions that can last for weeks or months, like these big budget Marvel movies. Oh, and for an action movie, it seemed like Civil War was packed with great action sequences. When I saw Captain America: Civil War in the theater, it knocked my socks off, and I only became more impressed as the rest of Phase Three unfolded.
Hey, if you’re reading this, I hope you’re in a safe place. I hope you’re happy and healthy, and that you and your family are all weathering through the storm of this crazy coronavirus. If you’re out in the protests, I hope your voices are heard, and that you feel more valued tomorrow than you did today. Soon, I hope everyone else sees, hears, understands, and values you as much if not more than the value I have for myself and my family. We don’t know each other, but we are all definitely family. A couple hundred thousand years ago, we were all one big family, and we’re still one slightly larger family today. If you can, stay home, stay healthy, stay safe. One love.
Rosliw Tor Raekül 