‘Captain America: Civil War’ — a blockbuster with ideas

An action bombardment of quick cuts and images that shine and flicker across the screen, it features various characters of various abilities getting into lots of fights. The latest in a seemingly endless series of Marvel Comics movies, “Civil War” has all the conflicts, explosions and dead bodies that, like barbecues and pool parties, just say “summer” in that special way. [...] what makes “Civil War” interesting — ultimately frustrating, but interesting all the same — is that it’s a movie with ideas. [...] Stark, who leads one faction of the Avengers in conflict with the other, can be seen as the most sympathetic character in the movie. The premise of “Civil War” turns on the same issues raised in “Batman v Superman,” but the treatment is much more assured. At the start of the film, the Avengers team are in a foreign country, trying to stop a terrorist group from stealing a biological weapon. Sign the treaty or face government sanction. Just the idea of having a flashy, egotistical billionaire running our foreign affairs is already a daunting prospect for many. [...] to his credit, billionaire Tony Stark signs the treaty, and so does the Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson). [...] Captain America (Evans) not only won’t sign, but he regards the idea of signing as a moral capitulation, a betrayal of soul and self akin to Neville Chamberlain’s signing the Munich treaty with Hitler. Civil War goes as far as it can in illustrating the complicated problems posed by these individuals; and in the process, it ties itself up into a knot it can’t untangle. In an era in which we are all our very own superhero, no wonder superheroes are objects of worship. [...] if there’s a fight between Spider-Man (Tom Holland) and Captain America, you know neither will get killed. [...] no matter where you stand on the treaty, there’s not much of a rooting interest. Though a part of me would love to see all the superheroes kill each other — it would be good for the world within the movie, and it wouldn’t hurt the art of film, either — it’s hard to root against the good guys.