Kevin Smith is a pretty devout comic book fan. His film Mallrats is littered with comic book references and easter eggs (he even had a Stan Lee cameo before it was cool). So it was only a matter of time before the Batman loving filmmaker voiced his opinion on Captain America: Civil War, arguably the biggest movie of the summer. It’s a film that’s already made a ton of money and gotten almost universal praise from critics. Now, Smith has joined that praise and even goes so far as to say it might be the greatest comic book movie ever made.
This news comes from Kevin’s Smith podcast Fat Man on Batman where he reviews Civil War alongside his co-host, Marc Bernardin. The two had mostly positive things to say about the film, with Smith even saying it made him feel like a kid again. The best thing he said, however, was that he puts it on equal footing with The Dark Knight, which is frequently argued to be to be the best comic book movie ever.
“I put this movie shoulder to shoulder with The Dark Knight. That’s high praise. I thought The Dark Knight was- at the time I believe I said that the Godfather 2 of comic book movies. It’s insanely well done and it’s an empire built movie. You can’t get there without 10 or 12 movies prior to it, which they’ve done expertly over at Marvel.”
There’s no question that Captain America: Civil War is a success, and it isn’t far fetched to compare it to The Dark Knight. While that film very much stands on its own, Civil War is built on years worth of character work and plot. That’s what makes Kevin Smith’s comment so interesting to me; it’s arguable that Civil War is a film that would not be as good had it not been a part of a shared universe. We’ve become so invested in the stories of Cap and Tony over the years that to see them come to blows is genuinely crushing (especially if you’ve been following the films since day one). It was awesome to see all these heroes together for the first time in The Avengers, but Civil War is the true example of how a shared universe can benefit storytelling.
If you want to watch Kevin Smith’s full review of Captain America Civil War, then you can check out the video below. Be warned, this is Kevin Smith we’re talking about, so get ready for lots of cursing and dick jokes.
Captain America: Civil War is out in theaters right this second, so get your tickets while you can, and check back in with Cinema Blend for more Marvel movie news.