'Captain America: Civil War' is too much of a pretty good thing
With so many superheroes to choose from, 鈥淐aptain America: Civil聽War鈥� is a veritable Marvel smorgasbord. Most of it goes down聽easy, although the film is too much of what is, at best, a pretty good thing.聽The advantage of having all these Marvel characters in the same movie is聽that, if one subplot is not working, another, possibly better, one is sure to聽follow.
The story line centers on who should have control of the superpowered 鈥撀爐hemselves, or the governments of the world. At odds are Captain聽America (Chris Evans), who bristles at any world oversight, and Iron Man聽(Robert Downey Jr.), who begs to differ. Choosing up sides is everybody聽from Scarlett Johansson鈥檚 Black Widow to Paul Rudd鈥檚 Ant-Man. Even聽Spider-Man, looking distinctly boyish as played by Tom Holland, gets into聽the act. The film鈥檚 funniest moments come when Spidey, ever the聽fanboy, must square off against a few of his icons.
The action, directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, is thuddingly effective聽without being terribly imaginative, but at least it鈥檚 not in the clobber-the-audience 鈥淭ransformers鈥� category. Downey Jr. persists in trying to give a聽real performance in these Marvel movies, and, against all odds, succeeds.聽I wish he would try to act more in movies that don鈥檛 require him to stand聽in front of a special-effects screen and wear a plastic suit. Grade:聽B- (Rated PG-13 for extended sequences of violence, action and mayhem.)
