The thirteenth movie in the franchise known as the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), “Captain America: Civil War” is most definitely a unique product of movie making in both good ways and bad. While this particular installment of this ongoing saga benefits greatly from many hours worth of character development spread over numerous movies, it also has that feeling of being not so much a complete movie but more of a big budget half step, just another episode in this hugely expensive serialized story. If you haven’t seen the other twelve Marvel movies, then just walking into this movie is very much like picking up a random comic book and just reading a story that is in media res, with characters and callbacks that just come out of nowhere and make no sense in a vacuum. In that way, this movie can not exist on its own in a meaningful capacity without the “Iron Mans” and “Captain Americas” and “Avengers” that came before it.

After a fight in a public space causes casualties, the Avengers are asked to sign an agreement, ratified by a panel representing 117 countries, that says they would be beholden to this international committee, who would decide on a case by case basis as to whether or not this group of mostly American superheroes should be deployed. Basically some official oversight to keep them in check, acknowledging that their actions in previous movies, while meant to save people, also cost many innocent lives. In their attempts to save billions, they have still killed millions. Tony Stark a.k.a. Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) feels much guilt when confronted by a grieving mother, and coupled with everything else going on in his life, sees this agreement as a decent solution to an obvious problem. Steve Rogers a.k.a. Captain America (Chris Evans), still feeling burned by the government from his last movie, refuses to become beholden to some panel, no matter the intentions. This causes a rift in the group as some people agree to sign and others do not.Continue Reading …