Captain America: Civil War

Anticipation is a funny thing; as you see events culminate and grow, forming into history, you desperately wonder where things go from these disparate points.
That is the true appeal of "Captain America: Civil War."
The required reading before going into this feature are the events of "Iron Man," "Captain America: The First Avenger," "The Avengers," "Captain America: the Winter Soldier," and "Avengers: Age of Ultron" (can be argued that y'all would need to watch "Iron Man 2,"" Iron Man 3," and "Ant Man" too, but not essential IMO). If that seems a lot of movie to watch to fully enjoy one movie, who would watch "The Force Awakens" without learning to appreciate all the Star Wars movies beforehand?

So despite all the Marvel movies so far seeming to be relatively free of consequence, it finally comes to bite the Avengers on their collective butts with their accumulated wanton destruction, causes of bad guys, and as Bruce said in the first Avengers movie, "ticking time bomb"-ness. The governments of the world said that enough is enough and want the Avengers to be put under their thumb so that they can still fight evil, just with their permission. This splits the Avengers right down the middle with an even amount siding with an EVEN MORE GUILT-RIDDEN Tony Stark, and the other half throwing in their lot with Steve Rogers, who having seen too much corrupt government crap in his last movie, believes in the freedom of choice...specifically the choice to stop bad guys whenever, wherever, and however they want. So as the super team fight for their ideals, we get to see even more of this wonderful Marvel universe, with the introduction of the vengeance fueled Black Panther of Wakanda, and the very youthful Spider-Man of Queens, New York.  DESPITE ALL THIS, the main story actually follows Captain America, still on the path of the Winter Soldier, and trying to clear him for a recent offense. 

Even though I recommended a bunch of movies that you should've prepped on like an exam, I feel like the casual movie goer would still be thoroughly entertained. This is accomplished mainly by trying its best to make the viewer empathize fully with each of the characters. Iron Man believes as much as he does for becoming a dog of the military because he has finally realized all the crap that's happened is something to be penitent about. Captain America, fresh from adopting a dead loved one's philosophy,  beyond having to be the embodiment of freedom, has to believe that the ones with the greatest of powers are the ones with the greatest of responsibilities. Wanda and Vision's budding chemistry,  T'Challa's anguish at his king dying, the street-level heroes of Spider-man and Ant Man going gaga over the chance to work with these big name heroes, and Bucky coming to terms with all the terrible things he's done over the decades are all very human elements in an otherwise very fantastical world.
Highly recommended, if not for your love of superhero movies, then the idea that all these movies spent with loved ones were all for some kind of payoff.
For funny yet spoilery synopsis disguised as a trailer, go here.
For a creative overview from a fellow movie-reviewing friend that lists three pros and three cons, please go here.

In a truly baffling stylistic choice, they did away with little footnotes or "deetaleet-deets" of where we are now and instead went with the "Kill La Kil" method of GIANT. OBTRUSIVE. WORDS!