Captain America: Civil War is a 2016 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Captain America, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is the sequel to Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) and Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), and the 13th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film was directed by Anthony and Joe Russo from a screenplay by the writing team of Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, and stars Chris Evans as Steve Rogers / Captain America alongside an ensemble cast including Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Don Cheadle, Jeremy Renner, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Rudd, Emily VanCamp, Marisa Tomei, Tom Holland, Frank Grillo, Martin Freeman, William Hurt, and Daniel Brühl. In Captain America: Civil War, disagreement over international oversight of the Avengers fractures the team into two opposing factions—one led by Steve Rogers and the other by Tony Stark (Downey).
Development of Civil War began in late 2013 when Markus and McFeely began writing the screenplay, which borrows concepts from the 2006 comic book storyline "Civil War" while also focusing on story and character elements from the previous Captain America films to conclude the trilogy. Following positive reactions to The Winter Soldier, the Russo brothers were brought back to direct in early 2014. The film's title and premise were revealed in October 2014, along with Downey's involvement as Stark; additional cast members joined in the following months. Principal photography began in April 2015 at Pinewood Atlanta Studios in Fayette County, Georgia, and continued in the Metro Atlanta area before concluding in Germany in August 2015, with the film being the first to use IMAX's digital 2D cameras (for the film's central airport fight sequence). Visual effects were provided by nearly 20 different studios.
Captain America: Civil War held its world premiere at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on April 12, 2016, and was released in the United States on May 6, as the first film in Phase Three of the MCU. The film was a commercial success, grossing over $1.1 billion worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing film of 2016, and received positive reviews, including praise for the performances (particularly Evans and Downey), action sequences, and themes. A fourth film, Captain America: Brave New World, is set for release in May 2024, which is a continuation of Marvel Studios' Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021), following Mackie's Sam Wilson as Captain America.
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In 1991, the brainwashed super-soldier James "Bucky" Barnes is dispatched from a Hydra base in Siberia to intercept an automobile carrying a case of super-soldier serum. In the present day, approximately one year after Ultron is defeated by the Avengers in the nation of Sokovia,[a] Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, Sam Wilson, and Wanda Maximoff stop Brock Rumlow from stealing a biological weapon from a lab in Lagos. Rumlow blows himself up, attempting to kill Rogers. Maximoff telekinetically diverts the explosion, accidentally destroying a nearby building and killing several Wakandan humanitarian workers in the process.
Thaddeus Ross, the U.S. Secretary of State, informs the Avengers that the United Nations (UN) is preparing to pass the Sokovia Accords, which will establish a UN panel to oversee and control the team. The Avengers are divided: Tony Stark supports oversight because of his role in Ultron's creation and Sokovia's devastation, while Rogers has more faith in his own judgment than that of politicians. Meanwhile, Helmut Zemo tracks down and kills Barnes' old Hydra handler, stealing a book containing the trigger words that activate Barnes' brainwashing. At a UN conference in Vienna where the Accords are to be ratified, a bomb kills King T'Chaka of Wakanda. Security footage indicates the bomber is Barnes, whom T'Chaka's son, T'Challa, vows to kill. Informed by Sharon Carter of Barnes' whereabouts and the authorities' intentions to kill him, Rogers decides to try to bring in Barnes—his childhood friend and war comrade—himself. Rogers and Wilson track Barnes to Bucharest and attempt to protect him from T'Challa and the authorities, but all four, including T'Challa, are apprehended by the Bucharest police and James Rhodes.
Impersonating a psychiatrist sent to interview Barnes, Zemo recites the words to activate Barnes's brainwashing. He questions Barnes, then sends him on a rampage to cover his own escape. Rogers stops Barnes and sneaks him away. When Barnes regains his senses, he explains that Zemo is the real Vienna bomber and wanted the location of the Siberian Hydra base, where other brainwashed "Winter Soldiers" are kept in cryogenic stasis. Unwilling to wait for authorization to apprehend Zemo, Rogers and Wilson go rogue, and recruit Maximoff, Clint Barton, and Scott Lang to their cause. With Ross's permission, Stark assembles a team composed of Romanoff, T'Challa, Rhodes, Vision, and Peter Parker to capture the renegades. Stark's team intercepts Rogers' group at Leipzig/Halle Airport, where they fight until Romanoff allows Rogers and Barnes to escape. As Rogers and Barnes are escaping, Rhodes is inadvertently shot down by Vision, and becomes partially paralyzed. The rest of Rogers' team is captured and detained at the Raft prison, and Romanoff goes into exile.
Stark discovers evidence that Barnes was framed by Zemo and convinces Wilson to give him Rogers' destination. Without informing Ross, Stark goes to the Siberian Hydra facility and strikes a truce with Rogers and Barnes, unaware that they were secretly followed by T'Challa. They find that the other super-soldiers have been killed by Zemo, who then shows them footage that reveals that the automobile Barnes had intercepted in 1991 contained Stark's parents, whom Barnes subsequently killed. Enraged that Rogers kept this from him, Stark turns on them both, leading to an intense fight, in which Stark destroys Barnes' robotic arm, and Rogers disables Stark's armor. Rogers departs with Barnes, leaving his shield behind. Satisfied that he has avenged his family's deaths in Sokovia from the Avengers' actions by successfully fracturing them, Zemo attempts suicide, but he is stopped by T'Challa and taken to the authorities.
In September 2015, Mark Ruffalo, who plays Bruce Banner / Hulk in the MCU films, stated that his character was originally in the Civil War script, but was removed due to the end of Age of Ultron, as Marvel did not "want to reveal where [he is] and why" in this film. Markus added that as soon as the Hulk joined a side, the fight would be quickly over, saying, "You've got to kind of choose your roster [of characters] depending on what kind of fight you want to have. He later explained that he contemplated having the Hulk appear at the very end of the film, but decided against it, feeling that he was over-stuffing the film with characters, adding, "[The Hulk] has clearly gone somewhere at the end of [Age of] Ultron, and that's a story. Don't blow it off and put it in a little tiny chunk just to put in a little extra filigree on our movie. Additionally, Ross' alter ego, Red Hulk, was also considered for inclusion, but the Russos felt that part of the character would need a proper backstory which they could not afford to give in the already crowded film. They felt that Ross "was there sort of as the government's agenda and not to add another complicated super powered character to the mix." Spider-Man's Iron Spider suit was also considered.
That November, Joe Russo stated that the theme of the film was betrayal, calling it "extremely emotional. [The film] hinges on that emotion, and on a very personal level we didn't want [it] to become about politics and people arguing about platitudes. The third act is built around a very personal moment between [Captain America and Iron Man]. The Russos spent a great deal of time with Markus, McFeely, and Moore to ensure each character's emotional arc tracked through the entire film correctly, though realized that at some point "you have to sacrifice logic for expediency". Speaking about the post-production process in January 2016, the Russo brothers said, "This has been the easiest post process we've ever had on a film. We're very happy with how the movie was. Everyone is very happy with where the movie was. For us, the tricky thing is the effects because it's a very complicated movie and there are some really big sequences in the film. The effects are on a much larger scale than the work we did on Winter Soldier. That's the part that becomes really difficult because you don't have a lot of time and everyone has very high standards. So everyone starts killing themselves at this point...we'll be done with the movie in two and a half months. They also stated that the film would be doing "a few reshoots" in mid-to-late January.
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In the aftermath, Stark provides Rhodes with exoskeletal leg braces that allow him to walk again, while Rogers breaks his allies out of the Raft. In a mid-credits scene, Barnes, granted asylum in Wakanda, chooses to return to cryogenic sleep until a cure for his brainwashing is found. In a post-credits scene, Parker explores the features of the web shooters built for him by Stark.
Development
This is the Civil War of the Cinematic Universe, which will be greatly inspired by the "Civil War" of the comic universe, but we have a very different continuity going on ... It's not about the secret identity thing, as much as it is about, overall, who reports to who, and who can agree to oversight committee. Because as of now, in [Age of Ultron], there is no more security council, there is no S.H.I.E.L.D., obviously. Stark is paying for [the Avengers], Captain America is running it, and things occur that will make governments begin to question.
—Kevin Feige, President of Marvel Studios
In March 2014, Anthony and Joe Russo confirmed that they had signed on to return as directors for a third Captain America film, along with Chris Evans as Captain America, Kevin Feige as producer, and Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely as screenwriters. Markus and McFeely had been working on the screenplay since late 2013, while the Russo brothers began work in February 2014. The re-hiring of the directors, three months before the release of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, came as a result of Marvel executives being impressed with test screenings of that film. Evans earned $15 million for the film.
In an April 2014 interview, Joe Russo described the project as a continuation of the story from Captain America: The Winter Soldier: "What's nice about the film is that ... it's a two-parter. There's a journey that the Winter Soldier goes on that isn't complete yet. That month, Marvel announced a release date of May 6, 2016, and Trent Opaloch, who was the cinematographer on The Winter Soldier, said he would return for the sequel. In July, Markus and McFeely stated that they were midway through a first draft for the film, on which principal photography was expected to begin in April 2015. The following month, they stated that they were looking to make the tone of the film "an amalgam" of The First Avenger and The Winter Soldier, with the Russos likening it to a psychological thriller, citing Seven, Fargo, and The Godfather as influences, along with westerns and Brian De Palma's films. The Russos also stated that "a good portion of [Civil War is] actually funnier than Winter Soldier" with a more comedic tone and lighter moments throughout.
In August 2014, the Russos stated that the film would be set "a couple years" after The Winter Soldier, and would continue to focus on Steve Rogers' relationship with Bucky Barnes as well as the political themes related to Captain America. Anthony stated, "The character was invented for an explicitly political purpose. So it's hard to get away from that nature." The Russos also said that they would be "bringing some new elements to the table that will give us a twist on Winter Soldier", and indicated that filming was scheduled to begin in Atlanta. They described themselves as "ecstatic" with a first draft of the screenplay submitted by Markus and McFeely, and also stated that the film's title would be announced "in a month or so at most", and that the concept and title for the film came from Feige, who had it "for a while". In September, Joe expanded by saying the film would have another "big idea that alters the universe as a whole in some way" similar to S.H.I.E.L.D. falling in The Winter Soldier. The rest of the film, such as the characters, story, and tone, would be left open to the Russos' and writers' interpretations.
In February, Freeman's character was revealed to be Everett K. Ross, and Gwyneth Paltrow was reported to have joined the film for the January reshoots, reprising her role as Pepper Potts; however, in April 2016, it was revealed that Paltrow does not appear in the film, with Anthony Russo explaining that Paltrow's contract with Marvel had ended after Iron Man 3, and "we decided early on that we could make Pepper's break-up [with Tony Stark] have an emotional impact without actually having a scene with her. On March 16, 2016, the Russos stated the film was "about a week and a half away from" completion, with Joe adding that the film would have a post-credits scene, with the possibility for two or three total. The film was completed on April 4, 2016. Later in April, Alfre Woodard and Jim Rash were revealed to be cast in the film,[96] while Feige explained that Black Panther director Ryan Coogler contributed some dialogue for Black Panther in several scenes during reshoots. At the film's premiere, it was revealed that Marisa Tomei appears in the film as May Parker, Peter Parker's aunt.
Visual effects
Original (top) and postvisualization (bottom) shots of the fight scene at Leipzig/Halle Airport
Nearly 20 visual effects studios worked on Captain America: Civil War including Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), Lola VFX, Method Studios, Luma Pictures, DNEG, Image Engine, Trixter, Cinesite, and The Third Floor amongst others. Lola VFX de-aged Downey Jr. in a scene that involved a younger holographic version of himself. Lola VFX's visual effects supervisor, Trent Claus said, "In this case, we analyzed footage of Mr. Downey at the approximate age that we wanted to target, which was around the time of the film Less than Zero [when Downey was in his early 20s]." He also noted the difficulty of the scene, due to it being close to 4,000 frames, and the fact that Downey was moving his head from side to side multiple times. Lola also worked on visual effects for the Vision. The Third Floor extensively previsualized the film including the fight scene at Leipzig/Halle Airport. Gerardo Ramirez, the Previs and Postvis Supervisor for The Third Floor said:
We visualized most of the major scenes in the film, some that were more story driven and some that were more action and story driven. The Russos used various methods for planning and they used each department for what it does best. The early edits were a combination of storyboards, previs and stunt performance clips. Stunts would choreograph the hand-to-hand action while the storyboards would be used for character story moments and previs was used for the big action scenes that involved many digital characters.
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Pre-production
By October 2014, Robert Downey Jr. had entered final negotiations to reprise his role as Tony Stark / Iron Man in the film. Downey was added in order for the film to adapt the 2006–07 "Civil War" comic book storyline written by Mark Millar, which pitted Iron Man against Captain America. At the end of the month, it was confirmed that Sebastian Stan would return as Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier. A few days later, Marvel revealed that the film would be titled Captain America: Civil War, confirming Downey's appearance and announcing that Chadwick Boseman would appear in the film as Black Panther ahead of his own solo film. Feige also confirmed that the film would be the first in the MCU's Phase Three slate of films. Anthony Russo stated that adapting the "Civil War" storyline was not always the intended storyline and direction for the film when the brothers initially signed on to return as directors. Markus expanded on this, saying the original concept for a third Captain America film "never got to draft", with Feige at some point telling the writing team to begin adapting "Civil War" around their original ideas. McFeely also added that, despite the shift in direction for the film, "The central theme, even the way Zemo is operating, are from that [early] iteration. The Russos revealed that, had negotiations with Downey to appear in the film failed, they would have used the Madbomb storyline from the Captain America comics, which was eventually used as a plot point in the first season of the Agent Carter TV series. The premise for the film would have centered on Zemo detonating the Madbomb, which would "turn hordes of people into berserkers" to present a physical threat to Captain America, while still pitting heroes against each other, as some would be zombified due to the Madbomb, to satisfy an "emotional component" for the film.
McFeely said that the idea of basing a film on "Civil War" had "been on and off the table for a while" at Marvel Studios, explaining, "it's a challenge to do it and make sure that all the characters that we've established, and everyone's established in the MCU are serviced and sound correct. Because there's a difference between the characters in "Civil War", which was written in 2006, 2007. The MCU doesn't exist [when it was written]. There isn't a Robert Downey, Jr. or Chris Evans who has helped create the character so we need to make sure that that template gets adjusted". Joe Russo added that the "essence" of "Civil War" was used, such as "the concept of registration, the notion that heroes need to be either monitored or controlled because their power can be scary" being applicable. Anthony Russo expanded, "in a lot of ways [superhero registration] can be a political issue, and we didn't want the conflict of the movie to solely exist on that level. We wanted to figure out very personal reasons why everyone's relationship to this idea of registration is going to become complicated. That's what the relationship between Steve and Bucky allowed us to do, to get very personal in terms of why people would lean one way or the other. Executive producer Nate Moore added that "it felt like it was kind of the right time" to adapt "Civil War" given The Avengers, plus many of the Phase Two films (Thor: The Dark World, The Winter Soldier, and Avengers: Age of Ultron), all dealt with "world-ending experiences. We felt like we had to tell the next step in that story, which is ... what is the world's reaction?
Executives at Marvel Entertainment balked at the idea of Captain America and Iron Man coming to blows at the end of the film and wanted the Avengers to unite to fight Zemo and the supersoliders at the Hydra base in Siberia instead. The Russos were not happy with this idea, with Joe Russo saying, "There's nothing interesting about that film. We're not here to make that movie. We're not interested in telling another superhero story." Feige supported the Russos, who were going to leave the film if the changes were mandated on them. This prompted Walt Disney Studios head Alan F. Horn to back the Russos with making the film as originally intended and lead to Marvel Studios to be placed from Marvel Entertainment into Walt Disney Studios in 2015.
In November 2014, Daniel Brühl joined the cast in an unspecified role, while Anthony Mackie and Frank Grillo were confirmed to return as Sam Wilson / Falcon and Brock Rumlow / Crossbones, respectively. Following the November 2014 hacking of Sony Pictures' computers, emails between Sony Pictures Entertainment co-chairman Amy Pascal and president Doug Belgrad were released stating that Marvel wanted to include Spider-Man (whose film rights are licensed to Sony) in the film, but talks between the studios concerning this were believed to have broken down. However, in February 2015, Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios reached a licensing deal for the use of Spider-Man in an MCU film, and reports indicated that the character would indeed appear in Civil War. The Russos stated they were lobbying for months to include the character in the film. In January 2015, Mackie revealed that, in addition to Atlanta, filming locations would include Puerto Rico and Berlin, while the Russo brothers confirmed that Scarlett Johansson would return in the film as Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow. Editor Jeffrey Ford, who worked on The Winter Soldier, also signed on for Civil War. In March 2015, Jeremy Renner was revealed to be reprising his role as Clint Barton / Hawkeye. The next month, it was revealed that the film would be converted to 3D in post-production, and that Brühl would be playing Helmut Zemo. Additionally, Elizabeth Olsen revealed she would reprise her role in the film as Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch.
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Method Studios, which worked on 440 shots, was responsible for the helicopter sequence in the middle of the film and the climactic fight between Iron Man, Bucky, and Captain America. The original intent for the helicopter sequence was to place the scene next to the Paul-Löbe-Haus, where the Bundestag meets; however, the location was not allowed to be shown in the film, resulting in Method needing to create a full CGI background. For the climactic fight, one of the challenges for Method was getting the color of Iron Man's suit correct, opting to go with a more "classic Iron Man look versus the really glossy car paint look" that Iron Man had in the previous Avengers films. ILM was primarily responsible for the visual effects during the large-scale fight sequence at the airport, along with creating the digital assets for all of the characters. VFX supervisor Russell Earl, stated that the 20-minute scene grew to be an almost fully digital sequence explaining, "We ultimately ended up replacing 99% of everything that was shot with the actors being lifted from the background. Originally both Spider-Man and Black Panther were planned to be photographed elements but we ended up almost completely replacing them." Luma Pictures, who also worked on Winter Soldier, was assigned with completing shots of Bucky's arm and his metal brainwashing chair. They also worked on Bucky's escape from the task force lobby and designed Iron Man's new hybrid nanotechnology armor, which was an homage to the character's Bleeding Edge armor from the comics. Their work totaled approximately 200 shots. Spider-Man was a digital double for all of his appearances, featuring his finalized suit; on-set, Holland wore a temporary Spider-Man suit that featured raised webbing and a different spider emblem, or a motion capture suit.
Design firm Sarofsky once again worked on the film's main-on-end title sequence, having done the same for Winter Soldier. The sequence used "muted and mottled, burnt umber and steel blue and cold grey" colors, which were stark contrasts to the sequences for Winter Soldier and The First Avenger (the latter created by Method Design) which were "a minimalist graphic approach, reducing the key players to silhouettes and paring the palette down to three colors" and "vibrant and iconic propaganda art comes to life, enticing the viewer to join the fray", respectively. Creative director Erin Sarofsky noted one of the challenges for Civil War's sequence was "to make it feel like a Captain America title sequence and not an Avengers sequence" given the number of characters in the film.
Captain America: Civil War grossed $408.1 million in the U.S. and Canada and $745.2 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $1.153 billion. By May 10, 2016, the film had grossed $737.8 million, surpassing the entire theatrical gross of its predecessor, Captain America: The Winter Soldier ($714.4 million). It became the highest-grossing film of 2016, the fourth-highest-grossing superhero film of all time, and the third-highest-grossing film in the U.S. and Canada of 2016, behind Rogue One and Finding Dory. Deadline Hollywood calculated the film's net profit as $193.4 million, accounting for production budgets, marketing, talent participations, and other costs; box office grosses and home media revenues placed it eighth on their list of 2016's "Most Valuable Blockbusters".
United States and Canada
Two weeks ahead of its release, Fandango announced that the film outsold all previous Marvel Cinematic Universe films at the same point in the sales cycle, and by its opening week, had reached the highest advance sales for a superhero film, representing 90% of the site's weekend ticket sales. Captain America: Civil War earned $75.5 million on its opening day. The film's Friday gross included $25 million from Thursday previews, the second-highest Thursday preview gross among Marvel films, with $3.1 million of the $25 million coming from IMAX theaters, a new Marvel record. The film went on to earn $61.2 million on Saturday and $42.4 million on Sunday, for a total opening weekend gross of $179.1 million, the third-highest for a Marvel film and fifth-highest of all time. Of the $179.1 million, $16 million was from IMAX, the second best for an MCU film. Initial projections for Captain America: Civil War had it earning between $175–200 million on its opening weekend, with the projection being revised to $172–178 million after Friday. BoxOffice called it "the safest box office bet" since Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The film remained at number one in its second weekend, and fell to second in its third, behind The Angry Birds Movie. In its fourth weekend, Captain America: Civil War became the highest-grossing film of 2016 in North America, and by June 17, 2016, became the first film of 2016 to surpass $400 million.
Other territories
Captain America: Civil War's opening in 15 countries on April 27, 2016, earned $14.9 million, followed by $23.8 million the next day from 15 more countries, and $45.3 million two days later from 8 additional countries, for a three-day total of $84 million. Its first weekend brought a total of $200.4 million, after being projected to earn anywhere between $180–250 million, with $9.4 million coming from IMAX. The film debuted at number one in all countries except Japan. The film stayed at number one in its second weekend, earning $217 million, with existing territories seeing a 55% decline in earnings, while surpassing the entire international earnings of previous Captain America films, along with other MCU films. For IMAX in its second weekend, Captain America: Civil War earned $31 million, a new record for a day-and-date opening for a Marvel film. By its third weekend, the film remained at number one in some territories, being overtaken by The Angry Birds Movie in others, and became the top film of 2016 and fourth-highest-grossing superhero film outside of North America.
It set records for the largest opening day in Mexico ($7.3 million), opening day of 2016 in France ($2.4 million), the second-largest opening day in Brazil ($2.7 million) and the United Arab Emirates, the largest superhero opening day in the Netherlands, and the largest superhero opening in Turkey and Ukraine. It set opening weekend records in Brazil ($12.9 million), Mexico ($20.4 million), and the Philippines ($7.7 million), and was the second-largest opening weekend in Hong Kong ($6.9 million) and Thailand ($9.4 million). In the United Kingdom, the film earned the second-largest opening day and weekend of 2016 with $20.5 million, while France had the top 2016 opening weekend with $10.1 million. Germany had the best four-day opening of 2016 with $8.1 million, and Spain had the second-largest three-day opening of 2016 with $4.2 million. For South Korea, the film was the largest non-Korean opening and largest Marvel opening in history. China had the second best IMAX opening ($9.5 million), as well as the second-largest opening weekend for a Hollywood film ($95.6 million), with the film eventually becoming the third-highest Disney release in the country after 10 days, and the second largest superhero film. Japan saw the film open third with $4.2 million, behind Detective Conan: The Darkest Nightmare ($5.3 million) and Zootopia ($4.8 million). The film's largest markets were China ($190.4 million), South Korea ($62.8 million), and the United Kingdom ($53.2 million).
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Critical response
The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 90%, with an average score of 7.7/10, based on 430 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Captain America: Civil War begins the next wave of Marvel movies with an action-packed superhero blockbuster boasting a decidedly non-cartoonish plot and the courage to explore thought-provoking themes. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 75 out of 100 based on 53 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an "A" grade on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported filmgoers gave it an 88% overall positive score and a 75% "definite recommend".
Justin Chang of Variety called it "the most mature and substantive picture to have yet emerged from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Sheri Linden of The Hollywood Reporter said, "Call it 'civil war' or call it brand extension; call it a 'cinematic universe' or a corporate behemoth—the latest Marvel extravaganza furthers the studio's cross-pollination of action franchises in a way that's sure to satisfy devotees. Robbie Collin of The Daily Telegraph wrote, "This is the cinematic superhero showdown you've dreamt of since childhood, precisely because that's everything—and all—it wants to be. Catherine Shoard of The Guardian called it, "a huge aspartame rush of a film: a giant irresistible snack, not nutritious, but very tasty. Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote, "Kudos to co-directors Anthony and Joe Russo and the team of writers for juggling more than a dozen comic-book characters and nearly that many plot lines, and only occasionally getting us (and by us I mean me) lost in the geek weeds. Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times said, "If you live and breathe Marvel, this is one of the MCU's stronger offerings. If you are a spy coming in from the cold, the answer is not so clear. A. O. Scott of The New York Times wrote, "Captain America: Civil War does not in any way transcend the conventions of the genre. On the contrary: It succeeds because it doesn't really try.
Conversely, Stephen Whitty of the New York Daily News said, "Although it's called Captain America: Civil War, the latest Marvel movie is actually a supersized Avengers picture—overstuffed to bursting. And sometimes during its two and a half hour running time, it just goes bust. Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle said, "As a work of thought, Civil War is compromised, but at least there are thoughts to compromise. As an action film, it has its moments, but aside from the big opening sequence—the action scenes are a bit flat. Andrew O'Hehir writing for Salon said, "Much of Captain America: Civil War is just the laborious working-out of leftover dangling plot elements from Captain America: The Winter Soldier two summers ago. While Nicholas Barber of the BBC gave the film a generally favorable review, praising both its visuals and action sequences, he criticized the fact that there was "no cogent reason for any of [the Avengers] to be on one side or the other, which is why their inevitable dust-up feels like a game of dodgeball in a school playground. Mark Millar, writer of the "Civil War" comic storyline on which the film was based, felt the film "had a good opening twenty [minutes], but then I honestly can't remember what the movie was about." He also felt the film lacked levity, especially considering the Russo brothers' background in comedy.
