Captain America: Civil War

Batter Up!! This is the kick-off of the summer film season and what a better film to kick-off that season than that of "Captain America: Civil War". This is the quintessential grandiose summer big-budget, high adrenaline, explosive type of film we all look forward to at this time of year. Demographically, the producers are targeting that 18-34 single male group-- get them in those seats-- ca-ching, but others will find this a great way to escape the trappings of such a complex world in which we live.

With many people fearing the actions of super heroes, the government decides to push for the Anti-Hero Registration Act, a law that limits a heroes actions. This results in a division in The Avengers. Iron Man/Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) stands with this Act, claiming that their actions must be kept in check otherwise cities will be destroyed, but Captain America/ Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) feels that saving the world is daring enough and that they cannot rely on the government to protect the world. This escalates into an all-out civil war between Team Iron Man (Iron Man, Black Panther/T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman), Vision (Paul Bettany), Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson), War Machine/Lt. James Rhodes (Don Cheadle) and Spider-Man/Peter Parker (Tom Holland) and Team Captain America (Captain America, Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), Falcon/ Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), Sharon Carter (Emily VanCamp), Scarlett Witch/Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen), Hawkeye/Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) and Ant-Man/Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), while a new villain emerges.

Others to round out the cast are Daniel Bruhl as Zemo, Frank Grillo as Brock Rumlow/ Crossbones, William Hurt as Secretary of State Thaddeus Ross, Martin Freeman as Everett K. Ross, Marisa Tomei as May Parker, Peter Parker's aunt, John Slattery as Howard Stark, Tony Stark's father and Hope Davis as Maria Stark, Tony Stark's mother.

This was directed with incredible energy by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo ("L.A.X. 2194"  (TV movie) '94, "Pieces" '97, "Welcome to Collinwood" '02, "You, Me and Dupree" '06, "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" '14). These guys are a directing team and know a thing or two about big-budget films, especially those that delve in the fantasy, escape fare. If you like their style, you can see their work in the upcoming "Avengers: Infinity War Pt. 1 & Pt. 2" in 2018 and 2019 respectively. More madness ahead. This was written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely based on characters by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby which is based on the Marvel comic book by Mark Millar. With all the different scenes incorporated with the plethora of visual effects, this script was delineated about as good as one could get, not that is was without flaws--it had a couple of slow moments (believe it or not) and it got a bit confusing to differentiate the super heroes of which 'team' they were on. Otherwise, it was the superhero summer flick we've all come to know and love. Certainly, of all the big-budget films out there that utilizes visual effects companies, this film probably used a record number of them--I lost count at 17 different companies. 17!! While ILM (Industrial, Light & Magic), Double Negative and Method Studios were the companies that were used predominantly for its visual effects, the others were undoubtedly utilized well. In fact, there were so many visuals implemented, between those and the stunts that were incorporated, the tendency to overshadow the story and script was certainly evident. I know these films use a good deal of visuals, but this was in-your-face about it.

Hey, if you're a fan of these Marvel Studios films, don't get me wrong--there were certainly enough in this installment of this franchise to keep one, whether a fan or not, glued to that proverbial seat all the way through the end titles which go on forever. This has got to be seen on the large screen--if for no other reason than that of the visuals, amazing sound and the nifty IMAX and 3D format. Grab the popcorn and start your escape!

Out of 4 Stars: 3.5                                Rated: PG-13                                  146mins.