SHOULD I TAKE THE KIDS - Captain America: Civil War

THE DETAILS:

Rated: PG-13
Running Time: 147 minutes
Genre: Action
In Theaters: May 6, 2016
Starring: Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Don Cheadle, Jeremy Renner, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Rudd, William Hurt
Director: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo

THE PLOT:

The United Nations, frustrated with the collateral damage of the Avengers, seeks to control this superhero team with a new accord. Tony Stark/Iron Man, troubled about having too much power and not being able to save everyone, is eager to sign. But Steve Rogers/Captain America feels differently as he knows being under U.N. control would change his plans of finding his friend-turned-cyborg-soldier, Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier. Captain America goes rogue and assembles his team of heroes to recover Bucky before the Avengers and the world governments can get to him first. The battle lines are drawn for a war of heroes versus heroes with a sinister force orchestrating it all.

CONTENT:

Unlike last year’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War features lots of close-quarters combat. This means that every fight scene has lots of punching and kicking with bodies flying off roofs and smashing into walls. Plenty of guns are fired by both heroes and villains. One antagonist sacrifices himself as a suicide bomber during combat. All of this violence is bloodless, but the assaults on the body are relentless and edited in a way that many of the adults were wincing at how much of a beating these characters take. One hero takes a brutal fall from the sky that leaves him crippled. Probably the most graphic display of the movie features one victim who is forcefully punched to death, only cutting away a few times to prevent the scene from being too shocking. The language is mostly tame with minor cursing, but never features a pause to punctuate. The sex is even tamer as the plot only has time for a minor love interest with Captain America and a CIA agent that results in little more than a kiss between combat.

SHOULD I TAKE THE KIDS:

NO: 8 and Under
The action is a little more intense than most Marvel movies with plenty of hard punches, bodies crushed into walls and by cars. They may also find it distressing and confusing that these heroes are fighting each other and not a clear bad guy.

MAYBE: 9 -11
While dealing with some heavier character arcs, some kids will delight in the sight of seeing all these superheroes on screen battle one another to put the schoolyard debates to bed. There isn’t much sex or cursing to be had, but the bloodless violence is rather relentless for long stretches of scenes with lots of physical action. If the kids can handle the excessive amounts of combat from The Winter Soldier, they should be okay with this one.

YES: 11 and up
Older kids will be more easily invested in the conflicting motivations of Team Captain America and Team Iron Man and how their personal politics play into the conflict. They’ll also get a real kick out of the engaging action sequences that make great use of practical combat and special effects.



Photo: Marvel Studios

REVIEW:

The directing duo Joe and Anthony Russo proved how perfectly they can make a Captain America movie with The Winter Soldier and now they’ve proven they can handle ensemble hero pictures. Civil War operates flawlessly as a sequel to The Winter Soldier and Avengers: Age of Ultron. All of the paranoia that Tony Stark has been brewing over security and the government-questioning of Steve Rogers boil over beautifully as these two figures clash. The dark turn in their relationship thankfully doesn’t sacrifice their charisma which holds up rather well.

There is an absurd amount of heroes piled into this picture, but it’s surprising how many of them are given decent arcs. Wanda Maximoff struggles to come to terms with her dangerous powers and Vision does his best to adjust to human life. Newcomers Black Panther and Spider Man have a surprising amount of development that goes beyond quick cameos. There is such a big presence heroes that there is hardly any time for the villain Zemo. While Zemo doesn’t have any long rants, legions of murderous henchmen or a doomsday machine, he does make great use of his resources to manipulate the heroes into fighting each other.

The Russo brothers sure have a lot of tones, arcs and characters to juggle in this picture and some don’t hold as well as others. It does seem rather odd that the quirky Spider Man and Ant-Man would even want to be involved with this fight they have no stake in. But it’s surprising just how much of this material remains solid with the story’s entertainingly progressive pace. In its attempt to be a political thriller, a parade of pathos, a hero-versus-hero showcase and a quipping comic book sensation, I was amazed at how exciting Civil War turned out to be.

OVERALL:
Captain America: Civil War serves its purpose of popcorn fun while still being a challengingly dark narrative in trying to make these superheroes more unique and emotionally driven. It treads into darker story elements than previous Marvel movies, but still maintains its energy and personality. Think of it as The Empire Strikes Back of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

GRADE: A

COMPANION FILMS (for viewing with the kids at home):

It goes without saying that the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe work well as companion films to Civil War, especially the movies of Phase II (Iron Man 3, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Avengers: Age of Ultron) which establishes the roots of these clashing ideals. But if you’re looking for more superhero movies that challenge the sense of justice and friendship, it’d be worth taking a gander at the DC Comics animated movies Superman vs. The Elite, Justice League: War, and Justice League: Doom.


Mark McPherson has been writing about movies since 2010 for various websites and is the author of The Great Animated Movies. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Media Arts and Animation and lives in Minnesota. You can learn more about Mark by visiting his professional website Madness Mark.