In Captain America: Civil War, the Avengers
are forced to sign a treaty with the United Nations that will prevent them from
interfering with bad guys unless specifically conscripted by individual
nations. This causes a rift between the Avengers, some of whom (including Black
Widow, played by Scarlett Johansson) consider it a necessary evil, while others
(among them Captain America, played by Chris Evans) see the treaty as a form of
surrender that will tear the Avengers apart. The latter eventually happens, and
we see multiple Avengers fighting each other in a mostly light-hearted
sequence. It’s lighthearted because so little is at stake: we know that none of
the Avengers is actually going to be killed. Usually in any narrative, low
stakes are a reason not to care about what’s happening, but in this case, the
low stakes are a relief.
I found
myself enjoying this scene all the more because it wasn’t an excuse for rampant
destruction of whole city blocks. Instead, the writers and directors punctuate
this scene, which takes place at an airplane hangar, with a flurry of
mini-conversations between all these characters (Captain America, Iron Man,
Falcon, Hawkeye, Black Widow, etc) as they spar with each other. Ant-Man (played
by Paul Rudd) cuts every moment down to size with a dumb joke. (He may be the
least respected and most undervalued of all superheroes.) And the sequence
showcases the amusing, cocksure arrogance of a young Spider-Man (Tom Holland).
Of
course, the great heretofore unacknowledged joke of most superhero movies is
that the heroes end up destroying the city in an attempt to save it. We see
some all-powerful evil agent smashing cars and toppling buildings, and the
heroes are forced to add to the destruction, though we assume it’s out of
necessity. These movies gleefully stage enormous battle sequences that should
kill thousands of human beings, but because the films are targeted at kids,
we’re supposed to be okay with it. And, conveniently, nothing too horrible ever
happens to a discernable human being. (Don Cheadle does get hurt pretty bad in
this one, but he’s one of the heroes, not some innocent bystander.) It’s nice
that Captain America: Civil War incorporates this joke/problem
into its story.
The
rest of the film vacillates between mindless, sped-up action sequences and
little dramatic exchanges reminiscent of The
Young and the Restless. The Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) is traumatized
when she uses her powers and accidentally destroys a whole building. (This is
the impetus for the disputed U.N. treaty.) Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) is
still haunted by the deaths of his parents. Captain America has a little
romance brewing with CIA agent Sharon Carter (Emily Van Camp, who has a real
screen presence). There are others, but I’ve already forgotten them. These
dramatic moments don’t ever really pop, perhaps because they’re cloaked in
sameness. The film certainly has a rhythm, and directors Joe and Anthony Russo
are smart enough to give the audience little breaks between all the fighting.
But they seem to have only two approaches to a scene: make it fast or make it
slow. Perhaps we wouldn’t need so many breaks from the action if it were
meaningful and not mindless, if it were artful and clever and exciting and not
merely overwhelming and predictable.
I tried
hard to discern what was going on during those moments of fighting between
multiple characters. The action is sped up so much that it’s impossible to sort
out what amounts to a jumble of images. Is this supposed to be entertaining? Don’t
people find it chaotic and therefore impossible to connect with or enjoy? I
realize that these films appeal to viewers as mindless entertainment, but how
is it entertaining when you can’t even tell what’s happening? Whenever
filmmakers overly rely on shaky cameras and rapid editing, my assumption is
that they’re covering up their ineptitude, hoping we’ll give them credit for
putting something up there, whether
it possesses visual logic or not, whether it’s well-choreographed or not.
Action—whether
derived from a comic book or not—doesn’t have to be this way. See John Wick, and you’ll see how to make a
mindless action movie with real visual elegance. Of course, John Wick is also R-rated, and it’s
likely that the need to make a PG-13 rating prevents movies like Captain America from reaching the
glorious heights of violence that John
Wick enjoys. But sanitizing the violence in order to make it
kid-appropriate is actually worse: it diminishes the shock factor. A movie like
John Wick never ceases to shock me,
to convey the reality that violence can wreak havoc in people and places and
cause real physical pain. What we need are more real, sharp comic book movies
and less of this vague, “cleaned-up” drek.
But at
least there are lots of familiar faces that unexpectedly pop up. Jeremy Renner
appears (as Hawkeye) in the last third of the movie. As irritating as it is to
see a character (played by such a great actor as Jeremy Renner) introduced so
late in the film, his presence filled me with gratitude. And Tom Holland makes
a good impression as Peter Parker. (Even though Andrew Garfield was terrific in
the role.) The scene where Tony Stark enlists Spider-Man’s help is the best one
in the movie: it’s funny and revealing and has some shape to it. We see Peter
Parker coming to grips with the nature and the implications of his power; we
see Tony Stark at his most desperate, making a trip to Queens to ask for a high
school kid’s help. (But aren’t we all tired of Robert Downey, Jr.’s shtick by
now? He’s been playing the smart-ass smart guy for over a decade.)
Somehow,
Scarlett Johansson gets lost in all this. She’s a terrific actress, and
certainly skillful in her many fight scenes, but she—like so many others—gets
relegated to the sidelines as the film introduces more and more characters. The
end result: it’s forgettable but intermittently amusing. Anthony Mackie, who
plays Falcon, is a pleasure to watch. Mackie has charm to spare, and he always
seems to be having a good time whenever he’s on screen. With Don Cheadle, Paul
Bettany, Chadwick Boseman (as the Black Panther), Sebastian Stan, Frank Grillo,
William Hurt, Marissa Tomei, and Daniel Brühl.