Heroes fight heroes in aptly titled 'Civil War'

Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr. star in "Captain America: Civil War". Image courtesy Disney.

In most other years I’d be much more elated to see “Captain America: Civil War.” It’s mostly what I want from a superhero film, a smart film with well-done action sequences and one of the most fascinating villains the Marvel franchise has produced. Timing is part of the film’s issue, with the spate of comic book flicks wearing me out as a viewer, and the film does possess some of the issues afflicted “Avengers: Age of Ultron” and especially “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.” That “Civil War” remains an entertaining, exciting flick despite those problems is a testament to the filmmakers’ talents and to the performances of Chris Evans as the eponymous hero and Daniel Brühl as the villain Zemo.

Offering too much of the plot in this case

At the heart of “Civil War” is the question of what the world should do with beings of enormous strength and talents who traipse around the world doing as they please. The solution in the film is to rein in the heroes with a third party, in this case the United Nations, providing oversight and control to these beings when they fight aliens, gods and insane robots. It’s a solution that splits the Avengers, with one camp led by a perpetually guilt-ridden Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) in favor of some control over them: he’s joined by War Machine (Don Cheadle), Vision (Paul Bettany), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Spider-Man (Tom Holland). Evans’ liberty loving Captain America opposes the concept and is wary of government agendas: he has Black Falcon (Anthony Mackie), Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) in agreement. Conflict between the camps arises after Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) is accused of bombing a United Nations meeting, pitting Captain America’s old friend against Iron Man’s crew and a vengeful Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman). Is everything as black and white as it seems though? And what, exactly, is Zemo up to on the periphery of the heroes’ internal struggle?

My main regret with the otherwise very good “Civil War” is the diminished presence of the eponymous hero. Evans has grown into the role beautifully since his first outing, establishing why he is the leader of a band of loners featuring a god, a rage-fueled beast, and a lovable alcoholic narcissist. Yet the almost two-and-a-half hour run time features almost as much Tony Stark – a character with three films to himself – as it does Steve Rogers, and there is much more to mine from the character. Perhaps rerouting Stark's visit to Queens to meet Spider-Man (a line or two of dialogue would have covered it) into Rogers' story would have helped. As it is, “Civil War” is a better “Avengers” film than a feature on Captain America, and I’d still like to see another entry devoted to Evans’ Steve Rogers.

It's a symptom of a larger problem with these superhero films, the need to incorporate as many characters as possible to build to the end game. A film purportedly about Captain America spends a sizable amount of time introducing characters like Spider-Man and Black Panther – both of whom have their own movies scheduled for release in 2017 and 2018, respectively – while balancing screen time for established characters like Black Widow (who still does not have her own film), Scarlet Witch, Ant-Man, Black Falcon, Bucky Barnes, Sharon Carter (Emily VanCamp), Vision, Hawkeye, War Machine, Iron Man and Cap himself. The villain also must receive a modicum of attention to keep the plot moving, although not quite enough to make him as vital as he should be (Brühl can only do so much with so little time). “Civil War” is a hefty film, but it isn't long enough to offer adequate time for all these characters and the regular plot machinations without some trimming, leaving Brühl's Zemo and Hawkeye a little left out and cutting down the quality time spent with Cap and Black Widow – a the high point of “Winter Soldier.”

“Civil War” nearly pulls it all off though thanks to some terrific writing and the directing talents of Anthony and Joe Russo, who know how to stage a good, satisfying fight scene between super powered protagonists and keep the film going with ease. Even with so much time diverted to the plethora of characters the filmmakers always focus on telling a complete story with depth and nuance and one heck of a twist at the end. And Brühl's Zemo makes for a compelling, quiet villain who succeeds without the aid of super powers or impossible technology. He's cunning and ruthless and daring, yet oddly sympathetic because he fights such powerful figures without powers or even henchmen to throw at them. It’s a nice change of pace from the textbook big bads in the other Marvel properties.

“Civil War” is a victory for comic book fans and the millions of people who will flock to theaters this weekend to see it. The film is on the upper end of what the genre has to offer, offering a good balance of smarts and brawn while effectively setting up the massive two-parter three years down the line. It's still admittedly a slight step down from “Winter Soldier” – arguably the best of the recent Marvel films – but “Civil War” is still a damn good superhero movie.

Review: Four and a quarter out of Five Stars

Click here to see the trailer.

Rating: PG-13

Run time: 146 minutes

Genre: Action

Ask Away

Target audience: Pretty much anyone willing to pay money to see Marvel superheroes fight.

Take the whole family?: There is a fair amount of violence in this, so perhaps keep kids younger than 10 at home.

Theater or Netflix?: Definitely good enough for a theater trip. It's also much more fun with an audience.

Why can't DC do films like this?: Some of it is on Marvel/Disney, who are smart enough to build up to its main selling point instead of tossing two vital characters fight on the first shot. “Civil War” is a logical progression of the relationship between Captain American and Iron Man, with a modicum of third-party puppetry thrown in; “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” features two idiots too dumb to talk to each other and avoid their battle royale.

Watch this as well?: The first two “Captain America” films are among the best to come out in Marvel's recent spate of releases, while the first “Avengers” and “Guardians of the Galaxy” are a lot of fun as well. Feel free to skip “Howard the Duck” though.

Blurring the thin blue line

Anthony Mackie and Clifton Collins Jr. in "Triple 9." Image courtesy Open Road Films

Most of my time watching the almost entirely forgettable “Triple 9” was spent thinking about the many other better movies I could be watching at the moment. “Deadpool,” after all, was just a theater away, or I could have gone home and put on “Rififi” or “Dog Day Afternoon.” I sat through “Triple 9” anyway, waiting for something unique or noteworthy to occur and hoping beyond hope this thing could contribute something more to society than contrivances, racism and Aaron Paul doing crack once again.

That moment never came though, largely due to a plot dreamed up by a bored Homer Simpson and written by an overeager freshman film major. “Triple 9” opens with a successful bank robbery – because it's always a bank robbery – perpetrated by Paul, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Clifton Collins Jr., Norman Reedus and Anthony Mackie. The big twist? Everybody except Paul and Ejiofor are cops for the Atlanta Police Department pulling the job for Russian mob boss Irina Vlaslov (Kate Winslet pulling out an atrocious Russian accent from a secondary orifice) who happens to be the sister of Ejiofor's ex (Gal Gadot). One job isn't enough though, and the crew is recruited for another heist that will free Winslet's husband from the Gulag or something like that. (It was tough to tell because the dialogue was in Russian and the subtitles were cutoff on the bottom of the screen.) This new job is difficult, as robbing from a Homeland Security building will draw lots of unwanted attention.

Unless, that is, someone kills a cop – a titular code 999 – which will distract every officer in the area. And who better to murder than Mackie's new annoying partner Chris Allen (Casey Affleck), nephew of daffy but well-regarded investigator Jeffrey Allen (Woody Harrelson), who happens to be investigating that first heist. Mackie and company come up with a plan to slaughter Affleck for their own means, but the best laid plans in such films never work out so well, and things start to fall apart from there amid shenanigans involving Latino gangs, booze and women filled with malice.

In other words, pretty much the general plot of most heist films stuffed into less than two hours of run time, even though director John Hillcoat and writer Matt Cook clearly need more time to establish characters and coordinate plot machinations. “Triple 9” is far too short for it's ambitions – it feels like someone slashed off 15 minutes or so indiscriminately – although it still somehow lasts too long after the second heist when all the loose ends have to be wrapped up. One of the worst places a film can be is in that zone of being too long and too short, and “Triple 9” finds itself right smack dab in the middle of the dull zone. Then again, a longer film would mean having to watch even more of “Triple 9,” which isn't a very exciting proposition. It's not a visually stunning movie nor a particularly well executed one when it comes to its action sequences, most of which are filmed in a workmanlike fashion with little to no ownership. Even the moments theoretically meant to invoke suspense come off as funny and light instead of serious; the audience literally laughed at what was clearly the point of greatest tension of the entire movie.

None of this would be overly bothersome; forgettable films come and go like the tides or the next great presidential candidate. What makes “Triple 9” stand out though is a discomfiting vein of racism directed toward its Hispanic characters. Hillcoat and Cook go out of their way to establish a backstory for just about every character to offer some justification for their actions; it’s the main reasons why the plot is so overstuffed. Ejiofor has a kid he's trying to see again, Mackie is torn between loyalty to his partner and his comrades, and Paul is mourning for much of the film. Clifton, the lone Hispanic member of this group, is a remorseless killer though, a very bad man whose motivations are rooted solely in dollars and self preservation. He's an extension of the way the filmmakers portray the Hispanic community, a group that in this film is violent, uneducated, crude, cruel, slightly atavistic, and borderline subhuman. “Triple 9” is a film built to justify white people's fear of Hispanic communities, which is such a weird angle for a film otherwise devoted to themes of loyalty and moral quagmires.

It's that aspect that shoves “Triple 9” into the problematic realm, a film unwilling to shake clichés both damaging and useless because they might look cool. It tries ever so hard to be smart, to be a head spinner on par with a Tony Gilroy flick. But as “Triple 9” proves, trying too hard to be smart really makes you look pretty dumb.

Review: One and a half out of Five Stars

Click here to see the trailer.

Rating: R

Run time: 115 minutes (One hour and 55 minutes)

Genre: Drama

Ask Away

Target audience: People who want an unnecessarily convoluted cop flick.

Take the whole family?: A ton of dudes get shot in the head in this one, so stick with the rating suggestion and send your kids to “Zootopia” next week.

Theater or Netflix?: Stream it.

Who do you want to win the Academy Awards?: Brie Larson for “Room” and Rooney Mara for “Carol” would be terrific choices for Best Actress and Supporting Actress, respectively. On the male side, Leonardo DiCaprio is the best choice from the options granted, while I'd really like Mark Ruffalo to win for “Spotlight.” If I had my druthers, George Miller would win for directing and “Mad Max: Fury Road” for Best Picture, although neither will probably occur.

Watch this instead?: Considering “Triple 9” tries to be a cop film and a heist film, recommending from both genres makes sense. Both “Bad Lieutenant” and “Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans” are fascinating films for the former category, while “Inside Job” (also starring Chiwetel Ejiofor) and “Asphalt Jungle” are terrific heist films.