


You can sense the movie plumbing the depths of its own history with a 1991-set opening flashback, in which James “Bucky” Buchanan (the brooding Sebastian Stan) is sprung from cryogenic deep-freeze by Russian soldiers, who proceed to activate the cold-blooded, metal-armed killing machine lurking within known as the Winter Soldier.

CAPTAIN AMERICA MOVIE EFFECTS SERIES
Buoyed by hearty critical support, 3D ticket premiums and enormous fan-ticipation, Disney’s May 6 release should have little trouble outperforming 2014’s “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” ($714 million worldwide) and could land in roughly the same commercial arena as the “Avengers” pics, both of which earned north of $1 billion globally.Īs directed with escalating confidence by sibling filmmakers Joe and Anthony Russo (who helmed “The Winter Soldier”), and intricately scripted by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (who have been with the series since 2011’s “Captain America: The First Avenger”), “Civil War” is nothing if not a testament to the benefits of continuity this is the rare Marvel sequel that feels like not just a continuation but a culmination. Very much an “Avengers” movie in scope and ambition if not title (the conspicuous absence of Thor and Hulk notwithstanding), this chronicle of an epic clash between two equally noble factions, led by Captain America and Iron Man, proves as remarkable for its dramatic coherence and thematic unity as for its dizzyingly inventive action sequences viewers who have grown weary of seeing cities blow up ad nauseam will scarcely believe their luck at the relative restraint and ingenuity on display. The shaming of “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” will continue apace - or better still, be forgotten entirely - in the wake of “ Captain America: Civil War,” a decisively superior hero-vs.-hero extravaganza that also ranks as the most mature and substantive picture to have yet emerged from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
