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In this film, we get Peggy’s granddaughter Sharon (Emily VanCamp), Chris Evans has impossible muscles, there’s a bit more to the whole Winter Soldier story that was good, and it introduces Spider-Man, so there’s NO need for another complete reboot movie (phew!). It does the same for Black Panther, too, a character I wasn’t familiar with before, and there’s an amusing scene with a very young Robert Downey Jr.
Overall, Captain America: Civl War is *very* predictable. It’s crash/bang/wallop without any form of a story, other than Bucky being treated like the A-Team, being convicted for a crime they didn’t commit – and anything he HAS done can be attributed to what Hydra put him through, so he’s just a pawn in their game.
And in a film that’s far too long, the supposed action all feels simply like they’re going through the motions. It also rarely works when you have two directors in a film, even if they are brothers. Anthony and Joe Russo also directed Captain America’s second outing, The Winter Soldier which, at a score of 5/10, was better than the initial film in the franchise, The First Avenger, which I gave 3/10. I didn’t see either of these until last year, just before watching Avengers: Age of Ultron, hence why there’s no reviews on here for those.
Of all the characters involved, I like Bucky Barnes and Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), but most of them just turn up to collect the cheque. In addition, there’s no Thor or Hulk in this one, and it’s topped by a trio of charisma-vacuums in Chris Evans, Paul Rudd and Tom Holland. About the only good thing regarding Spider-Man is Marisa Tomei portraying Aunt May, but I previously commented on the appointment of the sperm of alleged comedian Dominic Holland here.
If you watch the film in regular 2D (as I did) or 3D (in which it wasn’t originally shot – it’s another post-conversion job), the film is presented in 2.35:1 through. The IMAX version has some scenes opening up to 1.90:1, according to IMDB, although the only one I’ve read about is the aforementioned airport fight scene. Given that my local Odeon has a number of screens in the 1.85:1 widescreen ratio as well as 2.35:1, there’s no reason why such a print (even without the extra audio channels that an IMAX print may have) can’t be made available for those, as it would show as 2.35:1 for the rest of the time, only changing to 1.90:1 for the opened-up shots. However, that’s something they tend to sell as an IMAX exclusive. Had they shot it on 70mm in 1.44:1, I may have jumped for that option, but films in digital IMAX are ten-a-penny and it has to be something that really demands the format – and to that end, even the much-derided Transformers: Age of Extinction looked great in IMAX, as the picture opened up a number of times to 1.90:1.
And, of course, make sure you stay for the end credit segments. Like with any Marvel film, you have to stay until the VERY END! There have been many Marvel films, yet STILL people leave before the end, and as there was a mid-credits one too, I saw two people walking out DURING it. WTF?
This time, there are two, around which I’ll wrap a spoiler heading:
Captain America: Civil War is available to pre-order on 3D Blu-ray, Blu-ray and DVD, and click on the poster for the full-size image.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 147 minutes
Studio: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures UK
Year: 2016
Format: 2.35:1 (Anamorphic Panavision, ARRIRAW (3.4K) (6.5K)), 1.90:1 (some scenes: IMAX digital version)
Released: April 29th 2016
Rating: 4/10
Director: Anthony Russo and Joe Russo
Producer: Kevin Feige
Screenplay: Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (based on the comic book by Mark Millar, and characters by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby)
Music: Henry Jackman
Cast:
Steve Rogers / Captain America: Chris Evans
Tony Stark / Iron Man: Robert Downey Jr.
Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow: Scarlett Johansson
Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier: Sebastian Stan
Sam Wilson / Falcon: Anthony Mackie
Lieutenant James Rhodes / War Machine: Don Cheadle
Clint Barton / Hawkeye: Jeremy Renner
T’Challa / Black Panther: Chadwick Boseman
Vision: Paul Bettany
Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch: Elizabeth Olsen
Scott Lang / Ant-Man: Paul Rudd
Sharon Carter: Emily VanCamp
Peter Parker / Spider-Man: Tom Holland
Zemo: Daniel Brühl
Brock Rumlow / Crossbones: Frank Grillo
Secretary of State Thaddeus Ross: William Hurt
Everett K Ross: Martin Freeman
May Parker: Marisa Tomei
King T’Chaka: John Kani
Howard Stark: John Slattery
Maria Stark: Hope Davis
Miriam: Alfre Woodard
MRI Tech: Michael A Cook
Vicar: Laughton Parchment
Karpov: Gene Farber
FedEx Driver: Stan Lee
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.