With "Captain America: Civil War" hitting home video, I got a chance to watch it again after seeing it in theaters back in the early summer. During this time I had time to reflect, analyze and grow even more as a film lover, and I can for sure say that I got lots of new things to say about this movie; specifically, ways to make it better.
Although it's pretty good – 7.5/10 if you ask me – there are lots of things that could have made it even better. Although infinitely better that "Batman v Superman," "Civil War" could still use some fixups. Some of these I thought about the first time I watched the film, some of them came to me after rewatching it.
So, here are the 5 things I'd add to "Civil War" to make it better. Spoiler alert, obviously.
1. Stick a bit more to the source material
Marvel movies have a history of creating original stories with different elements of the comics, and so far it has worked fine. And it works perfectly well in this movie, except for one thing: the Sokovia Accords.
In the original graphic novel, the Civil War is started after Tony Stark decides that the government should keep a record of those with super powers, in order to prevent serious casualties. Captain America disagrees, and so the Civil War begins. During the whole ad campaign for this movie, I repeatedly stated that I was Team Iron Man all the way; after watching the first 20 minutes of the movie, I had switched teams completely.
Seriously, the reasoning behind the Sokovia Accords and what they represent are f*cking stupid. The government controlling the Avengers' actions? Blaming them for all of the destruction caused in recent events where they actually saved the world from complete destruction? Get out of here, that's just dumb. And having Tony feel all guilty because a guy whose name he knows died in Sokovia is even dumber; like, it's not like you purposefully killed him, yo.
By sticking to the original reasoning behind the Civil War, it would have given the whole conflict a lot more weight and seriousness.
2. Make Baron Zemo Relevant
Marvel has a serious problem with the villains in their movies, and, sadly, Zemo isn't different. Baron Zemo is a mid-sized villain in the comics, but here he's reduced to just being a very bad guy with some knowledge about defunct Soviet programs. Come on, Marvel, you can do better than that.
You know what would've been cool? If Zemo escaped at the end. Sure, he's alive and imprisoned, but wouldn't it be a lot better if he escaped and he remained a possible threat for movies to come? I think it would.
Baron Zemo is known as a master strategist and combat expert, wearer of a badass purple mask and leader of an evil organization. Where is all of that? The film's Zemo seems almost like a fanboy of the real Zemo, trying to do him a favor by defeating Captain America.
You kept him alive, now do something with him in the future. And not just kill him like you did with Baron von Strucker, but actually do something.
3. More conflict amongst the characters
Did you know that the only time there's any real conflict amongst the heroes is the airport fight? Yeah, kinda lame. A "Civil War" is supposed to be full of heartbreaking betrayal and casualties, but instead limits itself to a stake-free fight between the heroes that ends with Cap and Bucky escaping and nothing else of relevance.
It would've been great to see something else happening, like Natasha and Clint actually get angry at each other; you know, something called "consequences." I know Tony imprisons Cap's team and all, but they get out by the end of the movie, so it doesn't even matter if they just literally disappeared into outer space for the rest of the movie.
Even in concept art, Hawkeye is useless
Although I think the last fight between Tony and the Super Pair is excellent and hits all the right notes, I think it'd have been even better if Zemo joined in somehow, like maybe a three-way fight.
All of this acts as a great segway to my next point.
4. KILL SOMEBODY
Not Zemo, though.
Seriously, if the MCU has one problem is the lack of stakes in its movies. Nobody dies, ever. How disappointed was I in "Age of Ultron" when Cap fails to save the family in the car but Thor comes to the rescue at the last second. Having people actually die makes everything realer, stronger, more powerful. I almost laughed out loud when General Ross was showing the videos to the Avengers and the casualties in Sokovia where less than a thousand people – hell, I think less than 500, even. Come on... KILL SOMEBODY!
You know what would've given Tony Stark real edge? If Rhodes actually died after falling from hundreds of feet high with a deactivated suit. Seriously? He couldn't have survived that. That suit was basically just a bunch of metal wrapped around Rhodes' body; if anything, his bones should be ash. But no, he survives and gets rehabilitated quickly. So boring, so predictable, so safe.
5. Make Peter Parker a lot nerdier
You know what made Andrew Garfield's Spiderman suck? Apart from the crappy villains, crappy CGI, crappy scripts, lack of vision and a focus on romance instead of anything else? Andrew Garfield is way too pretty, too cool, and too confident to be Peter Parker. Peter Parker is supposed to be the Megavirgin Supernerd of his school, but Garfield looks like a model for Ray Bans.
The new Spiderman, Tom Holland, did lots of things right, starting with looking like an actual teenager. Nevertheless, there was something that really pissed me off when I first watched the movie, and it's Peter Parker's "millenial comment" at the airport fight.
When they're fighting Giant Man, Spiderman suggests that they use the technique from that "super old movie," referring to "Star Wars." This is just the writers screaming "LOOK, SPIDERMAN IS SO YOUNG HE THINKS STAR WARS IS OLD," which is some major bullsh*t. Peter Parker is supposed to be a geek; I'm pretty sure he would love Star Wars and know that the "walking thingies" at called AT-ATs and the "snow planet" is called Hoth. Hell, "The Empire Strikes Back" would probably be Peter Parker's favorite movie of all time.
So that's what I think would make "Civil War" a lot better. Hope Marvel gets some balls and starts killing some folks. Not like the new Batman, though; that's just sick.
Peace out.
