So Civil War was alright. Always hated the comic event, but this one just kind of took its name rather than the story itself, so it's not so bad. Still, one of the reasons I hated the comic was that there was an obvious "right" side and an obvious "wrong" one to the conflict, and that element is still very much intact. In order to force the story into motion, you have to make some of the characters side on the "wrong" end of things, and that in turn hurts the characters.
The comic story made me hate Iron Man, when previously I fucking loved Iron Man. The movie doesn't quite hit that extreme, necessarily, but it definitely steps in that direction. Tony Stark is a fucking prick, and not even a fun one anymore. Even with all his Robert Downey Jr.-ness and witty witticisms and whatnot, he turns into a total asshat in this movie. The biggest reason being
his total willingness to recruit a child to act as a soldier for him.
Yeah, Spider-Man is fucking fifteen years old , and Tony Stark sees no problem recruiting him to fight another team of superheroes. He doesn't even present the political issue to him and convince him onto his side; he just uses his identity as rich Mr. Stark to friggin' peer pressure Peter Parker into it. The only reason Peter goes with him is to impress him, because "holy shit, celebrity!"
No two ways about it, Tony Stark is exploiting a child. He's Solidus Snake.
Not to mention that blaming the destruction of the previous movies on the Avengers is moronic (well, ignoring the fact that Ultron was Stark's fault anyway), and with so many super-threats to the world out there, the Avengers are the only protection the world has. So regardless of the casualties the world has suffered (which were the fault of the villains, not the heroes), limiting the Avengers is a dumb fucking idea.
So yeah, motivation-wise and all that, I have some issues with the way it damages certain characters. Same problem I had with the comic story.
But regardless, the action is still great, and most of the characters are still fun as hell. Captain America, Spider-Man, Hawkeye, Ant-Man, Falcon; all friggin' gold.
Iron Man, War Machine, Black Widow, Black Panther, and Scarlet Witch however; all either as boring as, or as dumb as a bag of rocks. Dear god, Elizabeth Olsen does quite possibly the worst attempt at an Eastern European accent I've ever heard in a movie.
Waitaminute, that spiraled into negativity faster than I meant for it to...
It's a fun movie with problems. Good popcorn stuff.
But I think Winter Soldier was better.