I’ve owned a copy of last summer’s blockbuster Captain America: Civil War (CACW from here on) for many months now and consider the previous Captain America film, The Winter Soldier, which was also directed by the Russo Brothers, one of the best superhero films ever made.

Yet I’ve actively avoided seeing CACW until last night.

Part of the problem lies in the fact that all I’ve read about the film suggests its plot is incredibly similar to that of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, a film that got almost no love at all from critics and even today harshly divides fans.  If you’ve read my blog here for any length of time, you’ll know I love BvS and feel in time it will come to be regarded as one of the better superhero films made. (Just for context, my three favorite superhero films  at this point in time are Superman (1978), Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Batman v Superman.)

The backlash against BvS was so damn strong in some parts that, against my better judgment, I found myself defending the film against its critics in some comment boards.  A silly thing to do, I know, as opinions are just that and can be strong and ingrained and implacable.  Nonetheless I attempted to express my opinions while not slamming others’ yet one thing recurred:  People compared BvS with CACW, with CACW being held as a great feature while BvS being belittled by those who hated it as crap.

So as much as I wanted to see CACW, in time I feared these comments/comparisons threatened to taint my opinions of this movie.  To put it bluntly: I worried that because I enjoyed BvS while others gleefully ripped it apart -and professed such love for CACW– I might take the opposite track and head into CACW with a far more critical eye than I should.

It’s happened before.  I’ve had experiences where “everyone” says a film is great and you go into the theater carrying high expectations only to be disappointed because the film wasn’t as great as you thought/hoped it would be.  On the other hand, I’ve also experienced occasions where “everyone” tells you a film is crap and you wind up being pleasantly surprised by what you’ve seen.

The bottom line is that I I don’t get to see as many films as I want to and when I do, I’m hoping to enjoy myself, not look for defects or carry burdensome expectations both pro and con.  Thus I avoided seeing CACW because I feared the opinions revolving around the movie and its “rivalry” with BvS might impact my own enjoyment of it.

So time passes and yesterday turns out to be really rotten, weather-wise.  It’s rainy and grim and the wife and I ventured out only once earlier in the day and were hunkered down at home for the rest.  Come 7 P.M., we’ve seen some stuff we’d recorded on the DVR and its too early to head to bed and we’re wondering what to do.

I decide its time, finally, to see CACW.

As the movie opens, the inevitable comparisons to BvS start.  Though I already knew this to be the case from so many spoilery blog entries, I’m nonetheless still surprised by how remarkably similar these stories are as they both involve our heroes dealing with the ramifications of the destruction they’ve made and ending in their confrontation.

In the case of BvS, the fight Superman had against General Zod in Man of Steel is witnessed first hand and on street level by Bruce Wayne (Batman), and after seeing this fearsome display, and the many thousands who died due to it, these visions unhinge the man to the point where he decides Superman has to go…something Lex Luthor is more than happy to exploit.

In CACW we have the Avengers being called out for the destruction they’ve caused in the previous films (and the current one) and they are told (not asked) to sign the “Sokovia Accords”, which will place them under a World/UN-type supervision.  Captain America isn’t interested in signing the agreement while Tony Stark (Iron Man) is and this, along with the fact that evidence suggests the Winter Soldier is involved in some terrorist activities, drives a wedge between the superheroes.

What follows is a broad, filled-to-the-brim Superhero spectacle that was very enjoyable to watch, even if it didn’t reach the levels, to me, of Captain America: Winter Soldier or -gasp!- Batman v Superman.

The first problem is that unlike Winter Soldier, I couldn’t help but feel this particular plate was over-filled.  CACW isn’t just a “Captain America” film and is too filled with characters to be an “Avengers” film.  It is perhaps the first “entire Marvel Universe” film.  I suspect that had the movie’s makers the ability to do so, we’d have seen the Fantastic Four and the X-Men in here as well…

…and it wouldn’t change the fact that this film’s plot, when all is said and done, isn’t all that great nor warrants such a large cast.  The two biggest “new” add-on super-characters are The Black Panther and a “new” Spider Man but unlike others who loved seeing them I found their appearance OK at best though it was an interesting choice to have Marisa Tomei play the venerable Aunt May.  Considering her character has always been presented in comics and film as a very old, very gray grandmotherly-looking person, the choice to cast Ms. Tomei is certainly interesting.

William Hurt and Martin Freeman also show up for what amounts to cameo roles and while Mr. Hurt’s Thaddeus Ross finds relevance in the story I felt Mr. Freeman’s Everette K. Ross didn’t need to be there other than to lock up the other half of the Sherlock duo into the Marvel film universe.

Going back to the movie’s plot, it is best not scrutinized too terribly much.  While the villain of the piece has a genuinely good -perhaps even great!- reason to want to break up the Avengers, the way he goes about it involves so many things working out so very well that its impossible a single person, even a gifted intellectual one, could devise and execute this plan.  Worse, am I wrong but I don’t believe his character knows, at least until close to the end of the film, if that one last piece of information (MILD SPOILERS: a video) which he hopes to use to break the “friendship” between Captain America and Iron Man, even still exists?  He has gone through this insanely intricate process to get not only himself but the main heroes to place X to find and play said video without knowing if it is still there or has deteriorated to the point of being un-viewable.  Had that been the case, then what?  Did he have a plan B?!

Despite this, CACW is a fun, if sugary, roller coaster ride whose highlight is an airport fight between the various superhero factions.  Unlike BvS, the movie’s makers never go as “dark” as that film and while the characters fight they did so in such a good-natured way and while issuing wise-cracks that you never took anything too terribly seriously…until the last fight that is, which is presented in a more “serious” manner.  The movie ends on a curiously unresolved note and that, too, bothered me a bit as I wonder if these plot points will be dealt with later on, especially considering the next Avengers films seem to be going in the direction of outer space.

CACW is a good, if not quite outstanding chapter in Marvel’s highly successful movie universe.  It’s not a bad way to spend your time but one can’t help but feel but the Rousso brothers took a step back from what they did the last time around.