If you haven’t heard of Captain America, Iron Man, or the Winter Soldier in the past five years, you’ve obviously been living under a rock. Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Sebastian Stan, and many more return as their iconic, superhero characters to star in Captain America: Civil War, arguably one of the most anticipated movies of 2016. As a die-hard Captain America fan myself, I was ecstatic to finally watch this movie after months of waiting, analyzing trailers, and staying up to watch cast members make an appearance on late night talk shows, but I will try my best to remain impartial to the star-spangled superhero and refrain myself from giving away any spoilers.

As a whole, this movie was fast-paced, action packed, and overall, a great superhero film. This movie manages to juggle the plotlines of several characters more skillfully than Avengers: Age of Ultron, which is enough to keep any Marvel fan satisfied.  Each fight scene was filled with non-stop action, especially the airport scene, which was highlighted in one of the trailers. This scene features members of the Avengers, as well as newcomers Black Panther, Spider-Man, and Ant-Man divided against each other, and it also has an equal balance of action and humor to contrast against the downcast, gloomy confrontation.

I think that the directors and screenwriters did a wonderful job of introducing these new additions to the Avengers crew. Tom Holland debuted as Spider-Man for the first time, and I personally think he did the character justice; he manages to portray the character, dare I say, better than past portrayals performed by Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield. Maguire himself praised Holland’s portrayal of the sarcastic web-slinger. Chadwick Boseman enters as Black Panther, with just as much grace and skill that his alias entails. Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man, as well as Anthony Mackie, who returns as Falcon, Sebastian Stan and even RDJ, deliver hilarious one-liners that kept not only me, but the rest of the viewers in a good mood.

I also enjoyed how directors Anthony and Joe Russo focused on Steve Rogers’ close friendship with Bucky Barnes, which essentially drove the plot of the film. The chemistry between the characters was evident, and Chris Evans and Sebastian Stan did an excellent job of bringing this comic book duo to life. Also, the trio comprising of Evans, Stan, and Mackie in their respective roles was one of the most enjoyable features of the movie, aside from the comic relief and Stan Lee’s cameo.

Yet of course, there were things that bothered me, although it may be classified as nitpicking. I think that the movie had a rather rough, agonizingly slow start. The camerawork was extremely shaky and was constantly moving, which was an attempt to truly put the viewer in the bustling, intense opening scenes. This only resulted in confusion and made it hard for viewers to concentrate on the characters and their actions in the beginning of the movie, which does not help grab their attention. If, or when, you watch this film, just brace yourself for camerawork similar to the first Hunger Games film during the beginning of the movie. Yet once the ball starts rolling, it progresses into a much more enjoyable film.

I also think that at times, there was too much action, and it needed to be toned down a bit at certain scenes. Transitions from scene to scene in the beginning also got tiresome as the setting changed to different cities. The movie’s villain remains on his own agenda for the majority of the movie, and without ruining the film, he has poor motives and is an unmemorable character, unlike the manipulative Loki and the quippish Ultron of past films.

All in all, Civil War, the “threequel” to the Captain America movie franchise, was brimming with action, along with the right amount of humor to keep audiences laughing, unlike the non-stop quips in Age of Ultron. I’d give this movie a 8/10 because although Captain America is my favorite superhero, I will admit that especially after following Captain America: The Winter Soldier, it did not necessarily deliver the same vibe that kept me guessing while watching Winter Soldier. Like many other movies, I think that the expectations were held too high for this film, and it simply fell a few inches too short. But don’t get me wrong, Civil War is still an excellent superhero film  and I encourage anyone who loves a good superhero-action film to give it a chance and go see it (because between you and me, it was a lot better than another specific Superhero vs. Superhero movie that was also highly anticipated).