 ***PLEASE NOTE: A Blu-ray 3D disc is only compatible with 3D Blu-ray players.*** Tagline: Divided We Fall The most explosive clash to ever rock the Marvel Cinematic Universe ignites a firestorm of conflict in the game-changing epic, Captain America: Civil War. In the wake of collateral damage, government pressure to rein in the Avengers drives a deep wedge between Captain America (Chris Evans) and Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), causing a catastrophic rift that turns the two friends into bitter enemies. Against a backdrop of divided loyalties, their fellow Avengers must deal with the fallout. Pick a side in this spectacular adventure, packed with mind-blowing action and suspense. Storyline: With many people fearing the actions of super heroes, the government decides to push for the Hero Registration Act, a law that limits a hero's actions. This results in a division in The Avengers. Iron Man stands with this Act, claiming that their actions must be kept in check otherwise cities will continue to be destroyed, but Captain America feels that saving the world is daring enough and that they cannot rely on the government to protect the world. This escalates into an all-out war between Team Iron Man (Iron Man, Black Panther, Vision, Black Widow, War Machine, and Spiderman) and Team Captain America (Captain America, Bucky Barnes, Falcon, Sharon Carter, Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, and Ant Man) while a new villain emerges. Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Martin Liebman, September 7, 2016 War is a messy thing, and so too is saving the world. Trey Parker and Matt Stone might have had tongue planted firmly in cheek when they once sang, "freedom isn't free; there's a hefty f---ing fee." But there's a lot of truth in that. Battling evil and oppression, as much as one would like to believe there's another alternative, requires sacrifices of man and material. Wouldn't it be nice if conflicts could be settled with the shake of a hand and an understanding between the differing parties? History says that's not how it works, and no matter how many documents are signed, conflict resolution probably never will work quite like that. Somebody needs to stand up, and bad things will happen as a result, even at the hands of those fighting with the best intentions in mind. Guaranteed. No individual can legislate away the casualties of war, nor can any governing body. But that's what's happening in Captain America: Civil War, a story of a fractured Avengers, with one side willing to give up control of the group -- the decision-making process of who to fight, where, and when -- to a worldwide governmental body, while the other side would rather retain autonomy and take the fight to the enemy without any oversight beyond the group's innermost circle. The Avengers have done their part to save the world on countless occasions, but the dirty truth cannot be ignored any longer: their actions are costing lives. Collateral damage has skyrocketed in each of their battles against impossible odds and challenging foes. The world is ready to put a stop to that. The United Nations has drafted a proposal that would place the Avengers under its own control, bureaucratically deciding when they fight, where, and against who or what. The team understands the destruction they've wrought, much of it inadvertent, and laments every loss of life under its watch. Some, like Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.), Vision (Paul Bettany), Rhodes (Don Cheadle), and Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) sign off on the deal. Captain America (Chris Evans) and Falcon (Anthony Mackie) stand against the idea and refuse to put pen to paper. With much of the group now under UN control, it's sent in to interfere with a mission Captain America, Falcon, and others have undertaken to track down The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) who is believed to be behind a bombing at the United Nations conference in Vienna, where the accords are to be signed, which killed the Wakandan king, father of the man known as "The Black Panther" (Chadwick Boseman). Captain America: Civil War may be the smartest Superhero movie yet, building on the greater Marvel Cinematic Universe and dealing with the consequences of the Avengers' actions on a much larger scale. Other films -- from Marvel and DC both -- have not shied away from looking at the consequences of action, but it often seems on a more intimate, personal level, where soul-searching, not world government mandate, is at at the center of the conflict. Here, the movie presents two very disparate, yet related, ideas: give up control of oneself or maintain the very thing for which they fight: freedom. The film centrally pits Iron Man against Captain America, the latter long established as someone who has shied away from the weapons of war that made his company a fortune but who still, even through his wise-cracking antics, fights the good fight against evil and in the pursuit of the very ideals of freedom and self determination for which Captain America now stands against his friend. Captain America, easily the franchise's deepest and most fundamentally interesting character -- someone who may be out of time but whose ideals withstand the test of time -- leads the fight against governmental oversight, championing the idea that the world cannot afford for the politicians to pick and choose the battles they wage but, perhaps more important, the world cannot afford a governmental body dictating the actions of superheroes, particularly should they, as they always seem to do, choose to use their arsenal of champions for more underhanded operations. The film is very transparent in its commentary on bigger ideas like globalization and one-world government. Much like The Winter Soldier, the political overtones shape the movie but don't necessarily weigh it down, enhancing the deeper narrative while still operating under the general excitement the Superhero genre provides. To be sure, Marvel hasn't shunned action in favor of intrigue. While broader political overtones and intimate personal details and crises define the movie in its broadest scope, this is still a Superhero film and there's no shortage of exciting action sequences in play, including a monster of a battle between the warring factions that's as creative as it is intense. The action flows from the cause-and-effect drama, as the sharply divided lines between them grow increasingly jagged and their allegiance to one another more fragile as their allegiance to ideals grows stronger than friendship and team camaraderie. The film, minus Thor and Nick Fury most obviously but plus relatively new franchise characters in Vision and Ant-Man, as well as a visit from their friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, who until now had not been part of the "Marvel Cinematic Universe" proper (at least in the Paramount/Disney iterations), puts together endlessly exciting action that sees each superhero living up to their full battle potential, each of them making unique contributions to battle that both play to their individual strengths and the larger group dynamics in play. As expected, the film boasts impeccable visual effects, top-end production design, and all of the holdover qualities -- beautiful costuming, consistency in cast -- that have made the Marvel films fluidly seamless and attractively dynamic as one of the most impressively constructed, thorough, smart, and enjoyable franchises in cinema history. Civil War may not be the best pure film of the bunch, but it's more than a worthwhile entry with plenty of good ideas and a storyline that's a game changer going forward. Captain America: Civil War interweaves global politics, personal ideals, and impressively crafted action into one of the most complete Superior movies in the Marvel canon. It's deep, smart, and intense, a genuinely strong picture that seamlessly meshes high concept storytelling with near flawlessly crafted baseline excitement. It's sure to leave an indelible mark on the Marvel universe in the coming films, serving as, easily, the biggest game-changer yet in the series. Disney's Blu-ray 3D release is very enjoyable, featuring well-versed but slightly flawed video; great, but not quite reference, lossless audio; and a nice allotment of extra content. Currently, the 3D presentation is the only way to see the movie's signature action sequence at the larger format aspect ratio. Recommended. [CSW] - 3.8 - Civil War is a very colorful, action packed adventure with great CGI. This film expertly juggles action, drama, humor and multiple character storylines in a way that almost makes you almost forget that this is the longest Marvel movie to date. The plot is compelling and the actors play well off of each other. The ending isn't as satisfying as I had hoped it would be, and you have to have seen at least Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Avengers: Age of Ultron to fully understand what is going on, but overall this is one of the best movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Cast Notes: Chris Evans (Steve Rogers / Captain America), Robert Downey Jr. (Tony Stark / Iron Man), Scarlett Johansson (Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow), Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier), Anthony Mackie (Sam Wilson / Falcon), Don Cheadle (Lieutenant James Rhodes / War Machine), Jeremy Renner (Clint Barton / Hawkeye), Chadwick Boseman (T'Challa / Black Panther), Paul Bettany (Vision), Elizabeth Olsen (Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch), Paul Rudd (Scott Lang / Ant-Man), Emily VanCamp (Sharon Carter), Tom Holland (Peter Parker / Spider-Man), Daniel Brühl (Zemo), Frank Grillo (Brock Rumlow / Crossbones). IMDb Rating (07/10/16): 8.2/10 from 253,050 users Top 250: #154
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
{3D}_1.jpg)
