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Captain America: Civil War: Mini-review

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Chris Evans

Chris Evans is all smiles after looking at Captain America’s box office totals

BLess that two months ago, Warner Brothers pitted the two greatest heroes in the DC Comics universe against each other in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Not to be outdone, Disney and the Marvel superheroes have fired back, and the result is a knockout. Not only does Captain America: Civil War have many more superheroes than does its DC counterpart, it has something much more important: a sense of humor.

Civil War has a detailed and, at times, cumbersome plot that basically serves as a device to eventually pit most of the superheroes in the Marvel universe against each other. After several civilians are killed when Captain America (Chris Evans) stops terrorists in Africa from stealing a biological weapon, the United Nations wants to put the Avengers under its direct control. The Captain refuses, and when it later appears that his friend, the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), is responsible for a mass bombing, Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) heads up a team of Avengers to bring the Soldier in, even if it means taking on Captain America to do so. 

Captain America: Civil War is divided in two roughly equal halves: brooding and fighting. The movie acknowledges the enormous amounts of collateral damage resulting from the finale showdowns in previous Marvel films, and several of the heroes, most notably Iron Man, are wracked with guilt about their involvement. But, much as in Batman v Superman, it’s hard for audiences to take this as anything other than a means to a spectacular end. And the end is truly spectacular, a terrific battle royal pitting a dozen heroes against each other in and above a commercial airport runway setting that conveniently allows them to toss jets at each other with no innocent bystanders in the middle. The two most noteworthy participants in the battle are a new, actually high-school-aged Spider-Man (Tom Holland), and an easygoing Ant-Man (Paul Rudd), who reconfigures his suit to turn himself into a giant. There’s a light touch to the showdown, and, indeed all the set pieces, as directors Anthony and Joe Russo keep the quips flying along with the fists in all the action scenes. Just as important, they made a wise choice in centering Captain America around the more optimistic and youthful appearing Evans rather than the more world-weary Downey. The movie still feels a bit bloated and slow moving at times, but Captain America: Civil War is easily the most effective and entertaining of the Marvel superhero ensemble movies. 
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I Saw the Light: Mini-review

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Tom Hiddleston

Tom Hiddleston is the main reason I Saw the Light

C+Watching the new Hank Williams biography, I Saw the Light, is like listening to an album of Williams’ greatest hits. In part, that’s because Tom Hiddleston, who plays Williams, performs many of Williams’ best known tunes in a voice remarkably similar to the country singer’s.  But when Hiddleston isn’t singing, many of the remaining scenes in I Saw the Light depict the troubled Williams’ drinking, drug problems, and womanizing with no more depth than what’s contained in a typical melancholy country lyric.

The movie follows Williams’ career from his marriage to his first wife Audrey (Elizabeth Olsen) in 1944 to his death at age 29 on New Year’s Day in 1953. As he graduates from club dates and a morning radio show to big time recording contracts, Williams’ drinking escalates and he becomes increasingly difficult to work with. Eventually, Audrey divorces him and he carries on affairs with two different women, fathering a child by one and marrying the other. By the time of his death, the Grand Ole Opry had dropped him because of his erratic behavior, and he was again reduced to secondary bookings. 

Even though he’s onscreen for almost every scene in I Saw the Light and often acts like a complete jerk to those closest to him, the character of Hank Williams remains elusively beyond the reach of the somewhat inexperienced writer/director Marc Abraham. The audience sees Williams’ often bizarre behavior, but the only explanation, beyond the obvious alcohol and pain killers he took to excess due to a painful spinal condition, comes in an interview he gives to a New York newspaper writer (David Krumholtz). There, he opines “Everybody has a little darkness in them.”  Although the audience won’t get any answers about the inner Williams, they will understand how he became so popular. Hiddleston captures not just the voice but the mannerisms and performing style that made audiences love Williams and women very willing to go to bed with him. Olsen is also quite good as Audrey, sometimes supportive and sometimes quite vindictive. Ironically, I Saw the Light does a better job of explaining Audrey’s motivations (she was a mediocre singer who wanted his help to boost her career) than Hank’s. I Saw the Light is worth seeing for the performances and the music, but the movie fails to shed any real light on the troubled life or career of Hank Williams.
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