One of my biggest concerns about superhero movies is that the main characters zip around, crashing and bashing bad guys, and leave a trail of collateral damage and decimated cities in their wake. No one seems to address that…until now. In fact, taking responsibility for the casualties is the very essence of Captain America – Civil War, and the humanity in that is what makes this film one of the best Marvel Comic movies yet.

Since Steve Rogers/Captain America (chisel-profiled Chris Evans) is a WWII hero, we expect more good old-fashioned values from him and less tech, which makes his clash with Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.) all the more interesting. Here it seems the world powers-that-be are concerned about the heroes taking justice into their own hands without being held accountable for the lives and property lost in the process. So this league of nations has come up with a pact to regulate and oversee the superheroes’ actions. At that point, it becomes all about those Marvels who wish to submit to the pact, versus those who don’t. And if you don’t already know who’s on which side, I’m not going to tell you, because half the fun is seeing how the heroes align.

Also great fun is the recruitment of other superheroes from the Marvel universe to bolster each side. Even Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) joins the fray, as does Spiderman (Tom Holland). I can just imagine the legal finagling it took to borrow the webbed wonder from Sony, which owns that particular franchise. Many characters are back from Avengers: Age of Ultron and the previous two Captain America flicks, so if you want to be on top of things, you might want to take a few minutes to quickly review those films. Or at least look up Vision, Winter Soldier and Scarlet Witch.

Even if you don’t, you’ll catch on soon enough, and still have a rollicking good time. This is one for the whole family, and even worth the extra investment to see it in IMAX 3D. Yes, you will flinch as Captain America throws his mighty shield. And while you might find some of the scenes a bit stretched out (the film is almost two-and-a-half-hours long), you’ll certainly get your money’s worth.

Rated PG-13

2 Hours 26 Minutes

Get times and tickets at Fandango.com

CAPTAIN AMERICA – CIVIL WAR Review — One of Marvel’s Best and Brightest

by Lisa Johnson Mandell