Captain America Civil War review: Watch and learn, Batman v Superman

Captain America: Civil War review
Director: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
Cast: Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, William Hurt, Anthony Mackie, Paul Rudd, Don Cheadle
Rating: 4/5

What happens after superheroes like Captain America and Iron Man do their superdeeds, vanquish the baddies and head home for a quiet supper? People count their dead. It seems governments of the world (and we, the audience) can look away no more. In Captain America: Civil War, collateral damage not only catches up with the Avengers, it leaves them divided in the middle.

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While Captain America (Chris Evans) believes you can’t save them all, Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr) is ready to become a soldier controlled by the United Nations. Enter the unity-destroying Sokovia accords, play the requiem for an end of a friendship. Make it friendships.

Let the Civil War begin.

More Avengers 3 than a Captain America sequel, directors Anthony and Joe Russo manage to keep superheroes snappy and smart in the film while ensuring a fast-paced, emotion-driven summer firework.

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Civil War is so crackling because it is intimate. Instead of flabby action scenes a la Age of Ultron, set pieces in Civil War – just like the stakes – are personal. Downey Jr tones down his hyper-verbal shtick, Chris Evans makes Captain America’s reasons compelling and Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow is more about dialogues than smouldering looks.

The sweetest scenes are the ones introducing the new entrants. Chadwick Boseman’s Black Panther is a class act but it is Tom Holland as high-on-hormones, unusually chatty Spider-Man who is the pick of the lot.

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Civil War doesn’t hold back its punches in either the action or the script department. Just when things start getting rough, along comes a witty one-liner or a rousing speech. And it has that secret weapon that Batman v Superman sorely needed – charm and wit that can cut through all the grandstanding.

Watch the trailer of Captain America: Civil War