'Captain America: Civil War' Is the Greatest Movie I've Seen in, Like, EVER!!!

Okay.  The title of this review might eventually turn out to be excessive.  But this movie has put me in such a high (I’ve never had this kind of excitement and elation since the first Avengers) that it’s what I feel at the moment: Captain America: Civil War is the best movie I’ve ever seen.  All throughout, I was either grinning in delight or open-mouthed in awe.  Now, I might think differently in retrospect at a future time, once the high wears off.  But even then, I can be sure that I will contend that it’s – at the very least – the greatest comic book movie of all time.  Civil War is like a comic book mega-event popping out perfectly to life in the big screen.

As what can be expected from its premise, Civil War is quite dense.  But it impressively keeps itself comprehensible and well-developed.  Characterizations never suffered.  And it has tons of surprises and epic moments without being bloated and overdone.

DC can really learn from this movie.  A superhero movie can be packed, gritty, and grounded without being messily-written and joyless.  So, DC, it’s not too late to do right in your next film.  Please take notes.

Civil War’s inspiration, the mid-2000’s comic book event of the same name, had fascinating elements but was noticeably flawed.  Good thing the movie’s screenplay adapted what were thought-provoking and exciting about it, and polished or revised what were flawed.  Thus, though the scale is smaller, the movie pulls off doing something infinitely more gratifying than what the source material was able to accomplish from the concept.

All the superheroes in this movie – both oldies and newcomers – are fantastic.  No one suffered as a “background” character.  All have their moments to shine.  However, though there are various instances where particular characters own the scenes they’re in, there aren’t any threat of Cap being completely overshadowed.  This is still, at the core, Captain America’s movie.

Lastly, if you found the action of Winter Soldier incredibly kickass, Civil War’s is a whole new level.  The fight scenes and visuals are beyond spectacular.  My favorite part is, of course, the airport battle between Team Iron Man and Team Cap (gonna watch that sequence over and over and over again once I have my own copy of this movie).

For me, Captain America: Civil War is wonderfully perfect (but, again, the flood of overwhelming, rapturous emotions I had from watching it has blurred my eyes to notice flaws)!  Though it’s still early in the year, it has probably already clinched the number one spot of my list for best movies of 2016.

Miscellaneous musings - with some mild spoilers!:

• My hats off to the Russo brothers.  Slow clap.  They did a tremendously phenomenal job helming this film.  Their next Marvel project is Avengers: Infinity War – presumably Marvel’s biggest movie yet.  Everyone in the MCU – both from film and TV – is expected to be in it.  It’s going to be surely crowded, but from what they’ve accomplished with Civil War, we can be confident that they will do a great job handling it.
• During the final Cap/Bucky vs. Iron Man battle, a shot mimicked an iconic Cap vs. Iron Man pose in the comics.  It even did a slow mo to emphasize it.  It was a nice wink to comic fans.

• Tom Holland is amazing!  He’s probably the best live-action Peter Parker/Spider-Man to date!  Can’t wait for next year’s Spider-Man: Homecoming.
• I was expecting for Spidey to switch sides, like in the comics.  It was an important moment in the original story.  Didn’t happen.  I’ve some feeling of mild disappointment about it, but I understand that it won’t exactly work considering what the plot is going for.
• In the comics, Cap had a powerful speech about doing right to Spidey.  The words made it into the movie, but it was Sharon Carter who uttered them.  It was nice to have that, but it would have been much better if that particular Cap-Spidey moment had been adapted.
• Ant-Man goes giant mode.  It’s awesome, but I find it surprising that Marvel didn’t reserve its debut on his solo movie.
• I understand that that this movie is already packed with heroes, and it even had to debut Spider-Man and Black Panther.  But I wish Evangeline Lily’s Wasp also made her debut in it.
• And yet, on the other hand, I actually don’t mind that Thor and Hulk aren’t in it.  I think the battle will become too destructive if they had participated, too.
• Also, it would have been a mindblowing surprise if it showed Gen. Thunderbolt Ross becoming the Red Hulk. Lol.
• Next: Doctor Strange!