Captain America: Civil War, film review – Let the battle commence

 The plotting is tighter and more plausible than in Batman v Superman, but only just, says Charlotte O'Sullivan

The pagan in me loves the latest trend in superhero movies; the more gods the merrier. And thanks to the length and breadth of the “Marvel cinematic universe”, directors Anthony and Joe Russo have umpteen gods to choose from for their third Captain America yarn.

One household name, in particular, has been pumped full of zip. When Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans) falls out with Avengers leader Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr), the latter seeks help from a YouTube sensation whose number one priority is “homework”. Andrew Garfield was perfectly decent in Sony’s The Amazing Spider-Man but 19-year-old Tom Holland’s Peter Parker/Spidey is a delight. He’s giddy with callowness. He’s young-school.

It’s also great to see Paul Rudd’s Antman — recruited by Captain America — rubbing up against the big guys during a spectacularly inventive fight sequence. And Chadwick Boseman, as vengeance-fuelled T’Challa/Black Panther, is superbly poised.

Even Iron Man, whose smug and jaunty schtick was overused in Avengers: Age of Ultron, becomes a permanent source of pleasure, mostly thanks to scriptwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. A CGI effect allows us to see a false memory of Stark’s younger self. The old man of the group has a character arc that’s poignant. When he goes to war, it’s thrilling.

True, it takes a long time for him to go to war. The plotting is tighter and more plausible than in Batman v Superman, but only just (there’s an everyman baddie with limitless funds. I should be such an everyman).

As for our titular hero... With Stark becoming the surprise poster-boy for big government, Rogers — desperate to protect his friend and one-time Soviet stooge Bucky (Sebastian Stan) — is forced to fly the flag for libertarianism. Unfortunately, the captain himself has become a big, fit nothing. In fact, only the presence of his charisma-free love-interest Sharon (Emily VanCamp) saves him from being the dullest person in the room.

The central debate is topical but it cries out for input from some of Marvel’s newer creations (if only there was space for Ms Marvel, aka Kamala Khan, a Pakistani-American teen from New Jersey). You can’t help wishing, too, that the film-makers had been allowed to think outside the toy box. In Marvel comics, super-heroines never look a day over 30 and, as a result, middle-aged actresses never get to smash shit up on screen. But imagine if Meryl Streep were parachuted into the proceedings. She’s played the Iron Lady; why not Iron Woman?

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1/99

Marisa Tomei (as Spidey’s sexy Aunt May) quips that “aunts come in all shapes and sizes”. The superheroes in this movie are certainly the most diverse we’ve seen so far, yet the status quo remains unchallenged.

Of course, I’d be happy to revise this opinion if the Cap and Bucky were to become a romantic item in Avengers: Infinity War. Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed the way Bucky looks at Cap! Such a move would probably create civil war among comic book fans. But isn’t it time superheroes joined the (real) modern world?

Cert 12A, 147 mins

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