MCU Commentary Rewatch: Captain America: Civil War
(Art by Matt Ferguson, for lobby posters. https://www.cakesandcomics.com/)
I first saw this movie in a tiny art-house with some of my closest friends, on a writing retreat weekend that revitalized my creativity.
I left the theater unsettled and unsatisfied.
I’ve seen it a few times since and I’m still not sure how I feel about it, but I am looking forward to hearing what the Russo Brothers think I should think.
TL:DR;
Commentary Ranking: #1 of 13
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_America:_Civil_War
Added bonus reference: My preferred cover artist Matt Ferguson weighs in
https://x.com/Cakes_Comics/status/1114511997247291392
Commentary Takeaway
So here’s the deal. I haven’t seen this movie as many times as other MCU offerings. Twice in the theater, once, maybe twice on disc after home release. Never on cable, and when streaming it never bubbles up to the top of the list.
I am shocked at how strongly I responded to this film’s message after four years of Donald Trump. There is so. much. Hope, and an equal amount of fear.
And R-R-M-M knew it going in. They speak repeatedly to that fact, and how they had to rein the script in to “just enough under too much.”
(And before some gets up in arms about it, yes, that is the correct rein to use here.)
This commentary was amazing from the jump, and got better the longer it rolled along. Even something simple like praising Paul Bettany’s performance under makeup we didn’t actually get to see, so that the effects artists could make him fantastic later on, or how actors running around in Atlanta heat sold the idea that they were in Siberia, or little details like Wanda’s nail polish being cracked.
It’s a well-engineered piece of cinema, and the directors and screenwriters love it just as much as the rest of us.
To the tune of 1.1 BILLION dollars worldwide.
I feel I’ve definitely turned a corner in my own appreciation not only of CIVIL WAR, but of the franchise in general. And since this team is responsible for roughly a third of the MCU, we may see another lead change in the coming weeks.
Also, no nap time. Which says a lot about the other films I’ve watched so far as well.
Commentary Ranking:
1. CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR
2. CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER
3. THOR: THE DARK WORLD
4. GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, VOL. 1
5. CAPTAIN AMERICA: TFA
6. ANT-MAN
7. AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON
8. IRON MAN 2
9. INCREDIBLE HULK
10. IRON MAN 3
11. MARVEL’S THE AVENGERS
12. IRON MAN
13. THOR
Several changes in the list, in that not only has THE WINTER SOLDIER been dethroned, ANT-MAN lost its spot in the top five less than twenty-four hours after pushing THE FIRST AVENGER out of it.
I’m not 100% sure that’s going to stay that way, but my gut says it’s the right thing to do.