KEY TAKEAWAYS/SPOILERS:
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Crossbones, Peggy Carter and T'Chaka are the only main comic book characters to die in the film.
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There were more "Winter Soldiers" created after Bucky (no, they are not clones) that are stronger, faster and more lethal. However, there's an interesting twist to how they're used in the film.
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Zemo is a very complicated (and clever) villain, whose motivation stems directly from the catastrophe and casualties from Age of Ultron.
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There's only one post-credit scene that plays about 60 seconds after the credits begin rolling [Editor's Note: I saw the film back in April at a screening that only had one, mid-credit scene]. If you're hoping for a second one, at the very end of the credits, you'll be disappointed (though, Marvel could have decided to not include the second one for the early screening, a la Deadpool).
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Tom Holland is the best Peter Parker/Spider-Man to date. Spidey's not in the film for very long but he's incredibly funny. While all the heroes are focused on fighting one another during the incredible airport battle, the wall-crawler is talking and hurling quips NON-STOP, annoying the more stoic characters like Bucky and Steve. By the end of the fight, his incessant chatter has even worn out Tony Stark's patience.
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Yes, there's a homemade suit Spidey wears before he gets an upgrade from Iron Man.
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While Spidey provides the humor on #TeamStark, Ant-Man provides the laughs on #TeamCap. However, Lang gets his moment to shine when transforming into Giant Man to turn the tide of the battle.
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In the closing moments of the airport battle, Rhodey is mistakenly shot by Vision and is paralyzed. Tony builds him an exoskeleton that allows him to walk but it appears that his days as War Machine might be over.
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The film cleverly plays with your expectations - ultimately, the movie ends up where you thought it would but the route you take to get there is refreshing and genuinely inventive.
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By the end of the film, there's still two, separate teams of Avengers, led by Tony and Steve respectively. Steve and his team (Hawkeye, Ant-Man, Wanda, Falcon and (possibly)Black Panther) are essentially international criminals and are hiding out in Wakanda. Bucky volunteers to be put back on ice until Wakanda scientist can find a way to remove all the Hydra brainwashing triggers. It's unclear but presumed that Stark and his team (Vision and a critically-injured War Machine), who still support the Accords, continue a loose affiliation with Ross and the government. It's unclear if Spider-Man joins Robert Downey Jr.'s team full-time or if his participation in the airport battle was just a one time thing. This will likely be explored in the solo Spider-Man film. Black Widow ended up betraying Stark and helping Cap but she doesn't make it to Wakanda with the rest of them and is on the run, by herself (hence, that scene in the TV spot where Stark tells her 'They're coming for you.")
REVIEW:
Captain America: Civil War is every bit as gripping and immersive as The Winter Soldier. However, it's a vastly different film that just so happens to be set in the same fictional universe and made by the same creative team. Where The Winter Soldier is very personal to Steve Rogers, Civil War masquerades as an intimate film that's really more concerned with addressing the fallout from the two previous Avengers films. Such an ambitious endeavor could have been a disastrous move by Marvel but the nearly-flawless execution from directors Joe & Anthony Russo and screenwriters Stephen McFeely & Christopher Markus produced a film that ranks up there with the The Avengers and Iron Man.
The promotional material would have you believe that the conflict between Iron Man and Captain America is brimming with physical hostility and...make no mistake, it is. However, there's an ideological conflict at the root of the film which elevates Civil War above your standard, visually exhaustive popcorn flick. Do the Avengers need oversight from the world's governments? When they make a mistake, what are the repercussions? If they're tied down by bureaucracy, are they going to be able to act in a timely manner to save innocent civilians? This theme is the core of the movie, it's present in the opening number and still relevant by the closing credits? Wait..? Yes. For all of the witty dialogue, incredible characters debuts and jaw-dropping action pieces, the film doesn't truly answer its thematic question. At the end of the film, the same conflict still exists between Captain America's team and Iron Man's squad. This lack of full-closure is what ultimately keeps the movie from being the very best yet from the house that Kevin Feige built.
Aside from having an outstanding structure (plot, dialogue, action), Captain America: Civil War delivers the best performances we've seen from several of its main stars. Chris Evans has never been better as Steve Rogers and Robert Downey Jr. hasn't oozed this much charisma as Tony Stark since the first Iron Man film. The new additions of Chadwick Boseman's Black Panther and Tom Holland's Spider-Man showcase proof that the future of the MCU remains supernova bright. Even the tricky introduction of Paul Rudd's Ant-Man is handled with precision and deftly woven into the overall fabric of The Russo's story. As excited as fans were to see what the former Community directors would craft after the surprise of the Winter Soldier, fanboy nation will be absolutely salivating to see what happens in Infinity War.
RATING:
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