Captain America: Civil War (2016)

Summary

Things start getting political in Avenger-land, resulting in a "Civil War" with Captain America and Iron Man on opposing sides.

Director

Anthony and Joe Russo

Downey Factor

Medium. In typical Avengers fashion, too many characters fight for screen time.

Character

Tony Stark, world-weary man in a metal suit

Looks

Battered but stylish.

Performance

In between the quippy one-liners and Stark smugness, he does at least give us a window into Tony Stark's pain.

Line

Sometimes I want to punch you in your perfect little teeth.

Love & Sex

None in this one, Tony flies solo.

Dies, Gay or Villain

No, still no, depends on how you look at it.

Cast

Chris Evans, Jeremy Renner, Scarlett Johansson, Anthony Mackie, Elizabeth Olsen, Martin Freeman, Paul Bettany, Don Cheadle, Tom Holland, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Rudd, William Hurt, Marisa Tomei, John Slattery, Hope Davis

Connection

Chris Evans in The Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.

Anthony Mackie and Elizabeth Olsen in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.

Jeremy Renner in The Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron and Avengers: Endgame.

Tom Holland in Spider-Man: Homecoming, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame and Dolittle.

Scarlett Johansson in Iron Man 2, The Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Chef, Spider-Man: Homecoming and Avengers: Endgame.

Don Cheadle in Iron Man 2, Iron Man 3, Avengers: Age of Ultron and Avengers: Endgame.

Hope Davis in Charlie Bartlett.

William Hurt in The Incredible Hulk, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.

John Slattery in Iron Man 2 and Avengers: Endgame.

Alfre Woodard in Heart and Souls and The Singing Detective.

Marisa Tomei in Only You, Chaplin and Avengers: Endgame.

Chadwick Boseman, Paul Rudd and Sebastian Stan in Joe and Anthony Russo's Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.

Paul Bettany in Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Iron Man 3, The Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.

Stan Lee in Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Iron Man 3, The Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron and Avengers: Infinity War.

Kerry Condon in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Avengers: Infinity War, Spider-Man: Homecoming and Avengers: Endgame

RDJ Says

[Marvel] said to me, "If we have you, we can do this, or Cap 3 has to be something else." It's nice to feel needed. And at this point it's about helping each other, too. I look at it as a competition and I go, 'Wow, maybe if these two franchises teamed up and I can take even a lesser position, with people I like and directors I respect, maybe we can keep things bumping along ... In a way it's Captain America 3 but for me it's like my little Iron Man 4 and then it's back to the thing we all recognize. Everything pulls over to the side of the road when the thunder of an Avengers thing comes through ... If we're going to [turn Tony Stark into a villain], then we've got to save it for my swan song. I would still like to keep a general audience and mildly be in their favor somehow ... Cap and Iron Man are like the frontmen in a band that's had some hits, but been playing together too long. It's also to who's trying to grab the mic and take center stage because they think they can sing the song better. So. I'm like, 'That's not a bass line, give me that!' ... The biggest question is, for Chris and for Cap, how do we bring Cap to a place where people go, 'Man, I never thought I would see such a vast change in Steve.' ... I adore Chris Evans, I can't even tell you why. He's a Boston guy, he's technically such a brilliant actor but he also doesn't take himself seriously. He's flaky but he's the first guy you would want to have your back if something went down. We're different enough by being who we are and both having those characters — I thought Civil War was a special moment in the arc of the Marvel films ... It's natural to change your views. The main thing to me is, what sort of incident could occur, and what sort of framework could we find Tony in? The clues about where we might find him next are in Age of Ultron. But what would it take for Tony to completely turn around everything he's stood for? Joss brings this up all the time. It's kind of weird that these guys would have all these throwdowns all over planet Earth and yet when the movie's over, nobody minds. What would the American government do if this were real? Wouldn't it be interesting to see Tony doing something you wouldn't imagine? ... Ultimately [Tony has] never been in a status position over Cap. It's a crappy deal for Tony. It has been from the time he came out. I think he's actually been pretty civil, all things considered. When he tries to bring lightness into the fact that he actually, at certain points, has the real upper hand; he just can't help himself. Because it's just been simmering for years and it's very unrequited ... I've always thought of it in some ways that Tony is the antagonist to himself in his own story, so this isn't a problem. This guy understands problems 'cause he is a problem. And he tends to create problems … [At the beginning of the movie, Tony is] thinking about where he went to school. He's thinking about his folks. He's thinking all this dough he inherited wasn't really just meant for him and he should be trying to do something with it. He's not a kid anymore. He's thinking about the back nine. Obviously, he has this kind of tragic childhood where his folks die and all that stuff. He mentions it in the first film. He never got to say goodbye to his dad.

Lit Reference

Marvel's Civil War comic book series

Time & Place

Present day, too many locations to list.

Gossip

In this film we learn that Tony Stark is 7 years younger than Robert Downey Jr.

Availability

Released in theaters May 6, 2016; now on DVD and Blu-ray in all regions.

Foreign Titles

Bulgaria: The First Avenger: War of the Heroes (English translation)
Russia: The First Avenger: Confrontation (English translation)

Rotten Tomatoes

Captain America: Civil War

Critical View

A.O. Scott, The New York Times: Captain America: Civil War is like the last number at a big benefit concert, when a mob of pop stars squeezes onto the stage to sing This Land Is Your Land or whatever. Some performers sing a whole verse. Others shake maracas for the cause and stare off into the middle distance ... A more honest title would have been "Captain America: Collegial Misunderstanding" or "Captain America: Intramural Pick-Up Game."

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: It turns out to be a longer slog than you may anticipate unless you are a Marvel true believer who lives and breathes these characters' every quirk and qualm.

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: Thoughtfully acted and often refreshingly amusing, Civil War injects doses of much-needed fun into a genre of filmmaking that's become mired in dour pretentiousness.

2 Reasons to See It

1. This is basically the last Iron Man movie
2. Tony Stark's interaction with Peter Parker and Aunt May.

Overall

Though it's overstuffed with characters and shameless promos for future Marvel movies, this one tries pretty hard to stay grounded and gives a few nice moments of emotion.

If You Liked It

You might also like every other Marvel movie.

Photos

Video