Nerds That Geek Movie Review – ‘Captain America: Civil War’

Written by Scott Edwards

I must admit that I was a little hesitant to see what would happen to one of the most powerful stories that Marvel put out when this one was released a few years back. In fact, I even took the time to talk about my concerns about the potential changes to this story, many months before it hit theaters. I wanted to how would the registration act would work, how we would have a battle start between heroes since we have already killed off all of our villains and the lack of villains in the Marvel movies as a whole. But thankfully, I wiped the slate in my mind clean before walking into the theater and I am happy that I did, because the writing team of Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely captured our hearts once again with a fantastic script, along with directors Anthony and Joe Russo who were able to help bring this story to life.

Tony Stark is making a groundbreaking address to the students at MIT, and he announces that all of their projects will be funded for this year. When leaving the school however, Tony meets an upset mother who lost her son in Sokovia during the Avengers battle with Ultron. It is hard for anyone to walk away from a mistake this large, but the Avengers are able to do so without any repercussions. Not ever being confronted by anyone that has lost someone in one of the battles that he has been a part of, this hits Tony where it counts and now after another large blowup in Lagos, he knows that something will need to change. 

Being called in by Thaddeus Ross, the Secretary of State, the Avengers are told to put on the breaks and even though they have saved cities, states, countries, even the world, they need to be governed, especially when it comes to the loss of life in the battles that they are not being held accountable for. Tony and James Rhodes believe that this is the right idea for the team and while being given their orders by the United Nations may not be the optimal situation for the team, they need something to change.  Steve Rogers however has a completely different thought about this and with all of the problems that S.H.I.E.L.D. had encountered in the past and with Hydra still heavy in his mind, he will not take orders from anyone any longer.  Refusing to sign the new Sokovia Accords, any person with advanced powers will have to retire from saving the day and all is well until a bomb goes off at the signing conference in Vienna. 

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As footage of the bomber is played on the news, Bucky Barnes is implicated as the sole man responsible, but Steve knows that his old friend cannot be behind it. Wanting to reach Bucky before the authorities do, Steve comes out of retirement and tears up the streets and is joined by another vigilante on the hunt for Barnes, The Black Panther, who is looking for revenge for his father’s wrongful death at the conference. Being apprehended by War Machine, Steve, Bucky and Sam are taken to the holding facility, but they have no idea what problems this has in store for them. While Tony tries again to talk sense into Steve, a new player comes into the game as Zemo is looking for revenge as well and is able to activate The Winter Soldier to kill everyone that stands in his way. Seeing that his friend is in trouble, Steve tries to talk to him, but when Bucky is in his special berserker mode, there is no way to stop him without a fight. 

As sides are picked on who will follow the new rules that the Sokovia Accords have laid out, the battle lines are drawn.  While Tony is looking to follow the rules and be directed to where he needs to be, Steve is trying to do the right thing in his mind to stop the madness that might be unleashed upon the world. Knowing that both sides will need more help, the recruitment for reinforcements begins and while Iron Man is able to locate a new hero known as the Spider-Man, Captain America is able to get Hawkeye out of retirement, free Scarlet Witch from the compound and bring Ant-Man to his side.  While the hunt for Zemo is on the top of Captain America’s mind, he knows that his team will have to go all out to get past his former friends that are trying to stop him. The battle begins and does not end gracefully as the injuries are more horrific than anyone would like to admit, but with a group of Winter Soldiers on ice that are about to be released on the world, Captain America cannot afford to lose any more time, much less friends.
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I was very impressed how this movie was able to pull me in, and even though it did not follow the original story from the comics, it did serve its purpose. Watching as Steve Rogers was willing to be the villain was downright amazing to me, especially in a movie under his shield. I loved watching as every hero was able to use their powers to the fullest and I must admit that a reboot of Spider-Man needs to be done with Iron Man watching over his shoulder, because he is a great snappy character and no movie has been able to capture that side of him properly yet. The characters that we have not seen in the Avengers movie stole the show this time with Spider-Man and Ant-Man, along with Black Panther and there is nothing wrong with that in my mind. One of the things that I have always loved about this Marvel Universe is how they are able to be put into awful situations and still be able to joke about what is happening and while Spider-Man is geeking out, Ant-Man is able to become Tony Stark's ‘conscience’, just fantastic. After all these years though, I am still on #TeamIronMan, just as I was back then, and that stance caused a little Civil War here at NTG since Shae is all about that Cap, but hey, we duked it out on a podcast and everything is better and it has to be, because every nerd out there needs to stand with the Avengers come next week.​

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