I've managed to catch Captain America: Civil War three times now in the four weeks that it has been playing, and flirting with the idea of a fourth one by accompanying my parents.
But in those three times I've noticed a lot of the smaller scenes and especially dialogues from writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely that have added so much more weight to the storytelling of the movie.
So, while watching the third time, I took some notes and here's a rundown of the top 10 smaller but significant moments of the movie for me. Needless to say, this post contains SPOILERS so read on at your own risk.
Enjoy!
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15) "Just like we practised"
In the movie's opening action sequences, just as Captain America was about to jump into a building with the help of Wanda Maximoff, he said to her, "Just like we practised."
This was placed right at the beginning of the movie where it's like a continuation of where we left these heroes in Avengers: Age Of Ultron. At the end of that movie, we saw Cap was about to begin training the new recruits including Wanda. And it shows that this new team of Avengers have been working together and training so that they can operate as a team effectively.
14) "Viz!"
Vision surprised both Wanda and Cap in Wanda's room by phasing through the wall - exactly like in the comics! And Wanda's reaction was simply "Viz!" - again, exactly like in the comics. It's not a big thing to the casual movie-goers but it's great fan service.
13) "I didn't want you to be alone"
At Peggy Carter's funeral, and just as the Avengers members are split into two, Natasha Romanoff dropped in to see Cap because she knew he was taking a lonely stand by not signing the accords while she just did.
Cap asked why did she come and her reply was, "I didn't want you to be alone."
It has already been established in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and more so in Age Of Ultron that there is nothing romantic going on between the two but deep respect and friendship. It's just nice to see that their relationship continues to grow from The Winter Soldier.
12) "I'm about to find out"
This isn't so much as what Cap said to Falcon when he was chasing down Black Panther, who was chasing down Bucky. But it's what happened immediately after Cap said, "I'm about to find out," and jumped off the balcony to land on the edge of the roof of another building.
This is something I don't think I have ever seen in action movies. Usually the CGI will show a character jumping and in mid air but rarely do we see the character land in the same, uncut, shot. And that's why I thought this sequence was beautifully created.
Unfortunately, you could still see the CGI imperfections during the landing as it didn't look realistic enough. But still, what a great effort to make this movie exceptional.
11) The Wakandan ring incident
In the middle of the second showdown between T'Challa and Bucky, which was when Bucky got brainwashed by Zemo; there was a very subtle incident where it seemed that the Wakandan ring on T'Challa's finger had a repelling effect when it came close to Bucky's metal arm. If I'm not seeing things, this could be a setup to the Black Panther standalone movie coming out next year, which if you've seen the first stinger, Bucky may appear in that movie too.
But if I'm wrong, well, I'll need to scratch this off the list. But I don't think I am.
10) "Move, or you will be moved"
In the Black Panther lore, King T'Challa has a unit of female Wakandan bodyguards called the Dora Milaje, and we saw one of them here (played by Florence Kasumba) in this movie when Natasha was about to recruit Black Panther. I love how intimidating that character looked and, as capable as Black Widow was, this bodyguard just stared her down and said, "Move. Or you will be moved." And I absolutely believed her that she could and would. I felt her presence through her screen and can't wait to see more of her in the Black Panther standalone movie.
9) "30 megaton nukes"
Secretary Ross has the unenviable duty of reeling in the Avengers and putting them on a leash. That one scene where they had a meeting in the Avengers Mansion was a great setup written by the writers. One of the most memorable quote was, and I hope I didn't get this wrong, "If I were to misplace a couple of 30 megaton nukes, there will be consequences."
And Ross was of course referring to the absence of Hulk and Thor and comparing them to nukes, which is fair. It's both a little humorous and scary at the same time.
8) "That's dangerously arrogant"
Following the meeting with Ross, the Avengers had a separate discussion of their own, with the team clearly divided. Both Tony Stark and Cap put up great arguments and both are equally right or wrong - depending how you look at it. Which is also why this movie sets up the characters so great and give each of them a legitimate reason to choose the side they chose.
War Machine has since played a smaller role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe but in this movie, even though screen time wise is still small, he has made a much bigger impact; starting with calling out Cap's stand as "dangerously arrogant".
I believe we're going to see more of James Rhodes in the movies to come and see how Civil War will affect him as a character because he suffered the most in the fallout.
7) "I became distracted"
Vision, an entity that was created not to make mistakes, made a horrible miscalculation which crippled Rhodey in the friendly fire. "I became distracted," was what he said to Tony, who thought that was impossible. This shows the beginnings of some human emotional feelings for Vision towards Wanda.
And I believe this is a setup for future movies where we see Vision becoming more human than artificial intelligence. We may even get a Vision and Scarlett Witch standalone movie, as the pair eventually got married in the comic books.
6) "Who's going to avenge my son"
This refers to the chanced encounter between Tony and a grieving mother, played so brilliantly by Alfre Woodard. In the encounter by the lift, she told Tony, "I'm right where I want to be," which led to Tony discovering that she wasn't waiting for the lift at all. That, and followed by "Who's going to avenge my son?"
This of course starts off the chain of events that will lead to Tony - in his current sense of loss - to choose to side with the government. But what's great about this scene was both actors played it so well that it was not only convincing but a joy to watch.
5) "I can do this all day"
A great call back to the first movie, Captain America: The First Avenger. We first heard this line in the first act of The First Avenger, when a tiny Steve Rogers was getting bullied but he just kept getting back up and said, "I can do this all day."
In Civil War, because of how relentless Cap was, that's how he won the fight against Iron Man; but not before another mention of "I can do this all day".
4) "You got heart, kid"
Spider-Man undoubtedly was one of the clear highlights in Civil War, almost like Quicksilver in X-Men: Days Of Future Past.
Spider-Man tumbled with a few other Avengers but one of the best ones was with Cap. When Cap finally caught a breather by sending an aerobridge on top of Spider-Man, he asked the new kid, "You got heart, kid. Where you from?" Spidey replied, "Queens." Cap smiled and said, "Brooklyn."
Once again, very small thing for the casual movie-goers but for the hardcore Marvel fans, this was just fantastic writing.
3) "He killed my mom"
If Marvel actually knew that their cinematic universe would lead up to this point, they would have cast a talent like Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man. But they did anyway. And Downey Jr. never had to dig this deep before until now.
Once Tony found out Bucky killed his parents, he went on a rage. Cap couldn't make him see sense. "This won't change what happened," was Cap's desperation. Tony's reply, "I don't care. He killed my mom." Boom!
2) "I believe this is yours"
One of the best and funniest lines came from Ant-Man and his reverence for Captain America. After Spidey stole Cap's shield, on Cap's signal, Ant-Man stole it back. Then jumped to Cap's side and said, "I believe this is yours, Captain America."
And it's the way Paul Rudd delivered the words "Captain America" that just cracks me up every single time because I could see Scott Lang's smug face even from inside his helmet that he was so proud of himself.
And one of the best parts about this movie was the inclusion of Ant-Man who was sorely absent from Phases 1 and 2 in the MCU. He brings another level of humour and comedic timing that was never there before this. And just because of this, I'm so happy he's now part of the Avengers.
1) "So was I"
Even after the second official and best trailer had this line, even when I saw it coming, even after watching it three times; it's still the best line of the entire movie.
Protecting Bucky from the wrath of Iron Man, Cap had a tinge of guilt and apologised, " But he's my friend." Tony wasn't going to see reason at that point and had the best retaliation, "So was I." The past tense of that sentence just killed it! The only thing missing from this scene was the Game Of Thrones theme song playing right after that.
So that's why 15 best smaller moments of the movie. Chime in if you have something else that I missed. I would love to hear more.
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