'Captain America: Civil War’ is the movie ‘Batman v Superman’ wanted to be

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"Captain America: Civil War" is a much better version of "Batman v Superman."

Not only does the film juggle a dozen major superheroes pretty seamlessly, but it somehow manages to tell a cohesive story while not making the film feel too stuffed or overcomplicated.

After a NYC screening of "Civil War" ended Monday evening, the man on my right declared that this was the movie "BvS" director Zack Snyder thought he made.

I had that very same thought while watching the film.

Now, that's not easy for me to say. I love Batman. And while I did not detest Warner Bros.’ big budget "Batman v Superman" movie as much as most critics, I couldn’t shake the feeling that "Civil War" was the movie Warner Bros. wanted to make. 

That’s mostly because, on paper, these two movies are essentially identical. If I was to tell you a quick, rough summary of either movie, it would read the same:

The superheroes deal with the fallout of their previous big action flick ("Man of Steel"/"Avengers: Age of Ultron"). After one more mishap, the government gets involved to enforce superhero regulation. As a result, the superheroes are pit against each other for the entire movie only to learn in the third act that a madman mastermind orchestrated everything with the intention of the heroes tearing each other apart.

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"Batman v Superman" was about playing catch up to Marvel’s big Cinematic Universe. In doing so, a lot was thrown into the film. Some things worked, like Ben Affleck’s Batman. Many others — Doomsday, the insertion of extraneous superheroes for future films, and that random bathtub scene with a nude Lois Lane — didn't.

"Civil War" did everything "BvS" tried to do in a big superhero film pretty effortlessly, and while catering to a larger rotating cast of characters. When you put a group of beloved superheroes on a large stage together, you shouldn’t just have them fighting each other for the sake of fighting. As a viewer, you want to see characters who don’t know each other meet for the first time. What would it be like if Spider-Man met Iron Man? How would Ant-Man get along with Hawkeye? "Civil War" answers those questions and more.

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Where "BvS" failed to deliver fun, witty dialogue between its trinity of heroes in costume, "Civil War" succeeds ten-fold. Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man fanboys over meeting Captain America (Chris Evans), Ant-Man messes with Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), and Spider-Man (Tom Holland) comments on the logic of Captain’s shield.

Falcon and Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) also have a fun love-hate relationship. At one point, the two are seated in a hilariously tiny Beatle. They look hilarious in it. When Bucky asks Falcon if he can move his seat up, without looking at him, Falcon adamantly says no. That received the biggest laugh at my screening.

That’s something Marvel is so good at doing — injecting a sense of humanity into its films through a mixture of humor and empathy.

"Civil War" is about more than just superheroes going to battle and it’s not all fun and games. It becomes a question of whether superheroes should be granted unlimited freedom to act without government supervision. When Captain America’s former best friend Bucky is wanted for a crime he didn’t commit, he sides with him against a majority of the Avengers. The question for him becomes how far do you go for a friend? What are you willing to risk for something that you believe in — your freedom? Your reputation?

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The Avengers really don’t want to go to battle because the people on each of the two sides see each other as an extended family of sorts. They care about each other, whether they’ll admit it or not. That’s evident when Steve Rogers asks Tony Stark about his uncertain relationship with Pepper Potts and when Black Widow and Hawkeye are facing off. The two friends don't try to kill one another. They don’t even give it their all, and Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) calls Hawkeye out on that.

Where the film really pays off is with its big action sequences. Though we’ve seen a majority of them teased in trailers and television spots, they are some of the best of any Marvel movie. Pretty much every review talks about the big airport scene teased in the film’s trailers. That was hands-down the most satisfying scene of any Marvel movie I’ve ever watched. Others have said this, but I would watch that scene on loop several times over and it would still not be enough. I’m not even going to say anything more about it because it should just be experienced in theaters.

And that’s not the only large fight sequence to get excited about. There are multiple superhero team ups and takedowns throughout the film for fans to enjoy, including a showdown between Iron Man, Captain America, and The Winter Soldier.

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Chadwick Boseman’s Black Panther is a commanding presence any time he's on screen as the prince of the fictional African nation of Wakanda. He’ll be getting his own standalone movie in 2018. And once again, Vision (Paul Bettany) is a wonderful comedic relief. For whatever reason, his AI wears a few sweaters in the film. Whoever thought to put clothes on the AI, bravo. It’s so distractingly delightful.

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The overall scene stealer is Tom Holland’s Spider-Man. The film wastes no time trying to tell the webslinger’s backstory, he’s just inserted into the fray, and it works. After five Spider-Man films since 2002, if you don’t know his origin story by now (bitten by a radioactive spider, gets spider-like abilities) then you’ve probably been living under a rock. But unlike the previous men in the role (Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield), Peter Parker — who’s a teen when he gets his powers in the comics — is finally being played by, you guessed it, a teen.

And he refreshingly acts like a young kid with superpowers would. Unlike the other heroes, he’s overly chatty in fight sequences. His rapport with Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark on screen is the kicker: Stark refers to him as Spider-ling and Spider-Boy while inquiring about his hot Aunt May (Marisa Tomei). I would watch an entire movie with those two together. (Good news. We’ll get to see them together again in a new Spider-Man.)

A close second is Robert Downey Jr. If this wasn't a Captain America movie, it could easily be an Iron Man movie with Stark's snarky quips and one liners. However, beneath the billionaire's haughty ego, "Civil War" reveals a vulnerable layer of emotional depth to Stark's character you probably weren't expecting to receive in a big ensemble picture.

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"Civil War" isn’t the best superhero movie ever or Marvel’s best movie yet, as many critics have said. It’s up there, but I think Joss Whedon’s "The Avengers" and "Guardians of the Galaxy" are better. The film starts off a bit slow, wading us through the UN’s plan to get all of the "enhanced" humans to sign some paperwork approved by 117 countries to relinquish their rights as free Avengers. Up until the hour mark you’re watching Tony Stark chase down Steve Rogers, trying to convince him to sign said papers. Thrilling stuff. If you’ve watched the trailers, you’re just waiting around to see the heroes join sides with Captain America or Iron Man. Once you get past the one hour mark, it’s all action-packed smooth sailing.

One of the other complaints I have about the film is the main villain. While the character himself is a longstanding Avengers comic villain, in the film, he doesn’t appear to be much more than a mere mortal. If you’re a casual viewer, you may leave the film going, "That guy was able to pull one over on the Avengers?"

If a superpowerless man is able to turn the Avengers against themselves, I fear what an alien like Thanos (who has been hinted since 2012’s "The Avengers") can do to the team. It’s not looking so good. 

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The film itself has too much location jumping as well. There are over half a dozen location changes across the film which seems a bit unnecessary. It’s not a subtle transition either thanks to the giant lettering that crowds the screen any time the film swaps venues. It was rather distracting and took you out of the film for a few seconds every time.

"Civil War" may not be a perfect film, but it’s a grand illustration of what makes Marvel’s superhero movies so successful — they’re fun, relatable, and easily accessible for general audiences who have never picked up a comic book. As the other studios try to play catch-up with Marvel’s cinematic universe on the big screen, they should take note.

As always, don’t forget to stick around after the credits, but you’re probably used to that by now.

"Captain America: Civil War" is in theaters Friday.

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