Captain America – Civil War, Blu-ray 3D (2016)

by | Sep 13, 2016 | DVD & Blu-ray Video Reviews

A noisy cgi-filled adventure with Marvel comic book characters.

Captain America – Civil War, Blu-ray 3D (2016)

Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Don Cheadle
Directors: Anthony & Joe Russo
Studio: Walt Disney Studios/Marvel 135201 (9/13/16) 3D (2 discs)
Video: 1.29:1 for 16:9 screens HD color 3D
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1, French DD 5.1, Spanish DD 5.1
Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
Extras: Audio commentary by directors and screenwriters, “United We Stand, Divided We Fall – The Making of Captain America: Civil War”- Part 1 & 2, “Captain America: The Road to Civil War,” “Iron Man: The Road to Civil War”, Sneak Peak at Marvel’s Doctor Strange, Gag reel, Deleted & extended scenes
Length: 147 min.
Rating: ***

All the reviews at Amazon are very positive, but not being a Marvel comics fan or even having seen previous Avenger movies (only the Iron Man pair) I found it confusing, overly violent, too explosive and full of various super-heros about which I knew nothing. I had no idea that many of them could become suddenly very tiny or Godzilla-like giants, which only added to the confusion. Don’t expect anything to do with the American Civil War. I think the best summary of the film is just to copy some of the jacket summary:

“In the wake of collateral damage, government pressure to rein in the Avengers drives a deep wedge between Captain America (Chris Evans) and Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), causing a catastrophic rift that turns the two friends into bitter enemies. Against a backdrop of divided loyalties, their fellow Avengers must deal with the fallout. Pick a side in this spectacular adventure, packed with mind-blowing action and suspense.”

There is a strong villian, which at the beginning only Captain America knows about, in a group of five “winter soldiers” which have been created by the Russians to be killing machines whenever a certain sequence of words is spoken to them. He refuses to be loyal to Iron Man, who agrees with the 117 nations who want to control the Avengers. The film opens with them fighting some terrible foe in Lagos. Of course they win but there is extreme “collateral damage” to innocent citizens, and this starts the wanting of controls on them to prevent their fights resulting in damage to others.

There is one fast-moving fight after another, with lots of cars flying thru the air and explosions. The 3D effects were OK but sometimes they just didn’t seem to work right. I don’t know whether this was shot originally in 3D or a post-production effort but it is definitely not one of the best 3D movies. It’s unfortunate for the medium that there have been so few. I’m sure Marvel comics fans and Avengers fans will love all the extra features with a whole “behind-the-scenes” look at the Marvel universe. If you go to the IMAX showings of this, you better be prepared or you might want to leave in the middle.

—John Sunier

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