Civil War - a film you're meant to enjoy.BVS - a film you're meant to endure.One of the most true statements I've heard ever.

After seeing Batman vs Superman, one persistent thought i had while watching this is "I'm so glad this makes sense" Black Panther... just nailed it. Better action than The Winter Soldier (its incredible)

Mark Kermode: Civil War has too many characters Me: well infinity war is gonna be interesting for you

SPOILERS SPOILERS The ending fight scene/conflict between Iron Man and Captain America is genuinely dramatic and moving in my opinion. Almost feels like a Greek tragedy. And I like how the movie ends on a bittersweet note

I had a grin on my face like a 10 year old kid almost the entire time Spider-Man was on screen - Captain America Civil War trumped Batman Vs Superman on every conceivable level for me... most importantly there was a sense of joy and playfulness running through it that was entirely absent in BvS...

Honestly for me it wasn't long enough, i loved every minute of it.

Punchy crunchy Scarlett Johansenn.

God, I must be colorblind because it was RED glowy thing for me

Brilliant film, incredibly enjoyable. Disagree with Mark on too many characters etc. thought they were all handled brilliantly. We didn't need to flesh out some of the characters yet or again. Anyway up there with Winter Soldier as the two best Marvel films

Saw it last night as part of a Captain America marathon and even after watching 4 hours of other Captain America I didn't find it too long. I really enjoyed it - partly for Chris Evans' really impressive biceps and partly for the story. I liked that the conflict arises from the characters being very much like themselves. No one does anything really uncharacteristic to generate it. I want to see it again in 2D because the 3D added nothing and was annoying.

Mark nailed this one! First half is all over the place, as is the pacing, but in the end it comes together nicely and you leave the theater smiling :)

"The purple glowy thing that's her superpower zzzzzzzzssssssshhhhhhhh" best quote of the film.

Really really excited for this one, as a lifelong comic book fan who was left sorely disappointed with BvS, I need a fun romp of a superhero film to pick me back up again. EDIT: Saw it last night, well worth the price of admission. Makes up for the disappointment of BvS with some fantastic spectacle, great action, some real character work and genuine emotional stakes. Loved it.

Marvel films are much better at knowing what they are and what their job is.

0:34 not its not the same plot .. it has similarities but civil war is about whatever the power that protect us should serve answer to an authority or not batman v superman is about how time , escalation" and the weight this heroes have to carry eventually breaks them ..is a continuation of "you either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain"

The film is well acted, stylish, action packed, thrilling, intriguing throughout & is A fine entry into The MCU series. (80%) (4/5 stars) (positive)

Best review on Civil War I have seen anywhere. Thanks guys :)

It's great fun, and all the heroes get a moment to shine. Black Panther, Spider-Man & Ant-Man are awesome. Robert Downey Jr is so good is this movie, he deserves some sort of award nomination

This movie made me a marvel fan, i used to be super casual, now i watch every entry on premier date

the good doctor hit the nail on the head here. the sense of joy that courses through this film is infectious

I enjoyed Captain America - Civil War, but as much as the "Age" of Ultron lasted a week, it would be more accurate to title the film "Captain America - Civil Disobedience". Anyone who has seen a war film (or a real war, heaven forbid) knows there are a LOT of combatants. This film barely eclipses either Avengers films for the number of "Hero punches hero" scenes - and they weren't even trying in those movies! There are no significant deaths (unlike the comic version), and if it weren't for the practically insignificant opening battle you could add the disclaimer "No villians were harmed in the viewing of this movie" (Oops, I forgot the retired Hydra agent, and the permanently iced alternate winter soldiers - Look! Zemo really is a good guy - the world is a safer place without these inconsequential bystanders ). At the end of the film the only significant change was the appearance of Spiderman and Black Panther. Perhaps we should have had a movie about how some suits got together and managed to work out the legal issues to allow Spiderman to join the MCU - they are the real heroes of this story! Did I have fun watching it? Yeah, but I could easily not see it again. My second viewing was disappointing because I didn't take anything more away than the first time, with the exception that I noticed that the camera shots at the start were as bad as in Age of Ultron (or maybe it just sucked more because the second time was on a big screen that caused my vision to tear as the camera changed nearly every frame) - if you want tips on a good action fight scene look at BVS where Batman fights the thugs. Other takeaways: Tony really isn't that smart, Vision's equation has the same flaw as 80s food science (correlation does not equal causation) - a pretty fundamental logic error that makes me worry when it came from such a powerful android! Hank Pym is going to be ticked that the US Government/UN now has its hands on the Ant Man suit, and therefore the Pym particle. Quicksilver really is dead. Contracts are a LOT more fluid in the MCU, and the Sherlock team is now in the MCU.

Rehash of incredibles? What?

I didn't compare this to BvS when I saw it [mostly because I found that film utterly forgettable] but I did compare it with Age of Ultron. Whereas Age of Ultron [to me] felt really long, baggy and it's setting up of other MCU stuff felt clunky, Civil War feels much more coherent & when it introduces the Black Panther it's done in a way that feels germane to the plot. I was worried about this because it seemed to me that Iron Man should be the character who's violating the rules and feeling boxed in so I was confused a bit by the premise/trailer. However the conflict between him and Cap actually makes sense and the roles they play in the film really work. It's also a great action movie. I'd say it's on a par with Winter Soldier in terms of stand-alone Avengers movies in that it's kind of more of the same but it's executed brilliantly. Really looking forward to Black Panther now too! :)

Love these comments, no spoilers. Good people

Elizabeth Olsen holding a purple thing!

This film, to me, was one punch up after another with a few minutes of political arguing in between. Zemo was like Lex Luthor in BVS in that he caused some of the fighting (not wanting to give too much detail here). As much as I agree with Mark Kermode about it trying to be a fun time. I think it is a dark subject matter of friends turning against each other and how far would they go to hurt each other? One of the first things I thought coming out of this was a renewed respect for the way that BVS dealt with it. Black Panther and Spiderman were really good in this. I guess I have two negatives, one is trying to keep things light when they aren't and the other is that this movie, for as good as the action scenes were, didn't have much variety of diet throughout the run time. It was in effect like watching a WWE Royal Rumble event with CGI! And that including all the back stage chat and banter!

Still wonder I like this as someone who did NOT enjoy Winter Soldier.

I admire the depth of his knowledge and his ability to dig into the detail but he always says movies are too long. I thought the running time was perfect for this movie, I'd ask what scenes would you cut?

I love hearing this guy who looks and acts like he's never even heard of a comic book say "It had problems but it was fun!" Marvel is stretching there demographic.

I liked the film a lot, it doesn't really add a great deal to humanity, but you know what, it is fun. Something DC & WB need to learn. They did it with The Dark Knight Trilogy and the Harry Potter films.

it pains me to see people genuinely think this is a great film. the direction was average at best and very inconsistent, almost like two different people directed it🤔. there was, as usual, way too much cgi which ruined the already poor action sequences. Daniel bruhl was the villain, and he did a fantastic job as expected from this talented actor, but he was wasted as he was hardly in the film! 5/10.

I think overall great points about the film, but overall I would say I enjoyed it more than that. The first half pacing was baggy and peppered with unmemorable small set pieces that only slow things down further. Though I appreciate that it was in aid of setting up all the pieces for the big pay off, make us reinvest with the characters; I feel this was mostly achieved, albeit in a too prescriptive formula that Marvel have established. What it gets right. The introduction of Spider-man and Black Panther were pitched as perfectly as could be hoped in a film as full as this. The introduction of Tom Holland was smart, amusing, and at points subversive as to how absurd it all really is. He and RDJ had some great chemistry. The packed audience I was with were in stitches at points and giggles all the way through. Last comment, Mark you're probably my favourite critic, and I understand you just feel the way you feel when you walk out of a film. My question is, do you think the over-saturation of these huge superhero blockbusters will begin to affect how these films are received? Also with just so many franchises being established, do you think audiences will tire of these big yearly event films?

"A live action rehash of The Incredibles" .. Mark LOVED this.

'come on, were gonna enjoy ourselves'

I'm only seeing it because of Spider-Man. I'm glad they didn't pull the "Civil War Part I - XII" card at least, they could have milked this storyline for years.

I think I more-or-less followed it and enjoyed it, even though I haven't read Marvel comics since 1969. Mark seems a bit confused by colours here: red is definitely not the same thing as purple.

Just got back from seeing the movie, It is amazing! and for me it wasn`t long enough

Having seen the movie earlier, my criticisms are that the political stuff is a little while to pay off and the villain again is another Marvel 'meh' antagonist. I thought it balanced characters extremely well, with Cap, Tony and Bucky, the main characters of the film, receiving considerable arcs. The others are there to build the sense that not all these superheroes are the same and have conflicting ideologies e.g. Black Panther, War Machine, Spider-Man. Oh and the action sequences, particularly the airport sequence, is spectacular. 9/10

Civil war was a fantastic easy to understand film (I watched ones)... but Thank you, Zack Snyder for Batman v Superman (I watched fourth times)... and thank you for your review.

I cant wait to see this movie.

I agree - I hate Olsen. The cinema has been flooded with superhero comic book movies and nothing is original anymore at all

The sheer number of characters is kind of the point of the whole Civil War story, I understand the point about some characters not being fully fleshed out but you kind of have to go along with the ride because I agree, the film was already too long. I very much enjoyed it, but it did have a few problems.

I like this review. I feel like Kermode and I felt the same way about the film albeit for different reasons. _Civil War_ is a good film, but...just _barely_ so. It needed to be more *dramatic* and more *tragic* instead of trying to be as "action adventure-y" like the _Avengers_ movies. Loved that whole airport fight, but..the tone kind of clashes with the overall feel of what the movie was trying to do (i.e the break up of the Avengers). Still a good film, though. Just nowhere near as great as _Winter Soldier_.

Spider-man & Black Panther stole the show for me although everyone was amazing. The Marisa Tomei is too hot jokes were funny but she still seems an odd choice for Aunt May.

what is chaos magic? it's that purple glowy thing

Mark Kermode: FYI, Scarlet Witch's powers are called "hex powers."

"...a live action version of The Incredibles..."? No, that would be the Fantastic Four. Which, obviously...

her powers red lol. don't really know how you could see red as purple.

When they make a solo Spider-Man movie, they better not make it an origin story. We don't need another one.

A RICK ROARING ROMP OF A RIDE!!

It's a WAR! That's why there are so many characters, the situation effects all superheroes. Not every character is fleshed out or have an arc, because they don't need to be. They aren't the main characters and that's not the reason why they are in this movie. The politics aren't window dressing the ideas are dispersed throughout the dialogue. The politics are part of the reason why they fight, but it couldn't be the only reason or else Cap and Tony would have been able to reasonably work out their differences.

A have a feeling that the plot will end up being largely inconsequential, although by the sounds of things that's not a problem.

I love how Mark reviews comic book movies. He doesn´t trash some of them like some other people do just cause they are not from Marvel and doesn´t praise others to the high heavens either. I mean, there is no way there are such monumental differences. Judging by what some people say you could think some are terrible while others are masterpieces lol It´s just not the case. He could talk positive things in trashed films like The Amazing Spiderman, cause there were. He´s a real critic and unbiased. Fanboys now turned critics seem to be running things like RT now. Not good.

I firmly disagree with comments saying civil war was just pure fun and enjoyment but had nothing substantial to say about humanity. The biggest theme running through the film was the nature of friendship and our attraction to alliances. Those are human themes not just for super heroes.

A much better movie than BvS without a doubt, not to mention that we could finally have the perfect Spider-man character since TM maybe even better, great action all around I'm just curious how much they gonna all the cast members!

"a rip-roaring romp of a ride"

So at the end Captain America was basically aiding, abetting and providing shelter for a murderer. Also Captain America knew he was a murderer, but protected him anyway. So much for Cap's bullshit thoughts on joining the registration act. The film was okay though, but nowhere near as good as winter soldier.

I didnt like the fact that they had soooooo much humour during the airport scene,it just takes me out of thr conflict between two sides! it supposed to be a serious conflict man not a funny one..

Elizabeth Olsen has Red energy not purple energy, I think you need to replace your glasses Mark

Civil War was great fun, with incredible action, but left me unfulfilled at the end, as it ends up feeling like it has zero consequence when, in my opinion, at this stage of the MCU we should be passed the fluff and starting to see some impact. A lot of the speculation in advance of the film was "how many & which characters get killed off" and the only meaningful character death in the film is off-screen from old age. Say what you like about BvS - it was indeed much less tidy than civil war - but at the end of that film you get the sense of a nation in mourning for a hero and a mother & would-be-fiancee grieving the loss of clark - a world changed on both a grand & personal level. As an audience we all know the death of superman isn't permanent, but the characters in-film don't know, and that gives the ending to that film a weight of sacrifice despite the issues with the film itself. Civil War ends with our heroes in much the same place as it starts. I know that it's not a film version of Mark Millar's civil war comic, but they've invoked that name & theme, but ultimately left out the feeling of it actually being cataclysmic in the world of the superheroes. They didn't even have the balls to kill off rhodey, let alone a character that means something. Probably better action sequences than even the main "avengers" films to date, which bodes well for "infinity war", but story-wise this was weak in comparison to Winter Soldier.

This is what you get when people who don't understand or get superheroes and comics review a superhero film. This film was way more than just fun.

it was much much better than batman vs superman- which took itself so seriously. this was more fun. more clever, and far far more entertaining. and even though it didn't take itself seriously- actually ended up being far more clever and realistic in the sense of geopolitical commentary, and in terms of wit ,dialogue and character development. marvel just has a lot of very very clever people working for them, whereas DC have Nolan- who is clever of course- and Snyder who is a stylish idiot. Michael Bay come again, redux 2010.

A live action rehash of the Incredibles? The Incredibles was an animated rehash of the Fantastic Four comicbook. The Fantastic Four was the answer to DC's Justice League of America.... We could go on for a bit.

Great film

The only thing that annoys that Kermode & a lot of critics say is "fun".... good films don't always have to feel fun!, as a comic book fan I'm Happy DC/Marvel has different feels to their universes... like comic book themselves some are bright & fun while others are dark & serious.. Doesn't mean they both can't be enjoyed!

Never seen any of the Captain America saga, am I missing out on much?

The purple glowing thing? that's awkward dude..

I agree it was far too long. Its always a bad sign when you have to look a your phone, twice, to see what the time is.

The action sequences were great but all these Marvel movies other than Guardians kind of stumble when they aren't doing big action sequences. The humour helps it along but a lot of the 'heavy' scenes feel like stuff they're just trying to get out of the way before you get to the big action scenes that they obviously made the movie for

I did enjoy BvS.

I enjoyed it more than Mark did, but I do agree that it's a bit long. Cut 15 minutes and it'll be pretty much flawless.

Did Mark Kermode actually use "cosplay" in a sentence? What a shock. Never thought I'd hear someone from his generation use it.

Wow so a film is made to entertain us and to be fun, thanks Mark i never knew. Non fans are so stupid, trying to be informative and mock yet coming across as silly. Its comicbook fun and never meant to be realistic. Mark let me help here, great marvel fun go out and see it now.

GZUUUUUUU = scarlet witch power

Purple glowy thing

Ugh, you are just biased against Marvel. Not every film has to be dark and dour and is able to have a sense of fun whilst also having deep and serious themes. This post, by the way, is utterly sarcastic.

so what he's saying is... both are bad movies, but at least CW made him smile. ok.

Solid blockbuster, nothing special though. Doesn't come close to being a good film in its own right (Think Nolan's first two Batman films) are the only ones that have transcended the superhero genre. Civil War was good but not quite as good as Winter Soldier.

Am I the only one who liked Batman vs Superman?

This movie made Batman v Superman look like an Adam Sandler movie

kermode isn't even really trying anymore is he. maybe do some research next time

no

He just spent 5 minutes saying Civil War was good because it was a joke filled quip-fest. Apparently if a superhero film doesn't crack a joke every 3 minutes, film critics lose interest. Jesus christ, the meme is actually real

This movie lacked....everything. No emotional punch, no suspense and the tone was all over the place. We go from a really light hearted avengers v avengers airport sequence to a really serious Cap and bucky teamup vs Iron man sequence that should have had at least some suspense and emotional punch, considering the first hour of the movie was "build up" there should have been some pay off. And for the love of God I feel like nobody talks about this but marvel need to find better composers for their movies, the soundtrack was non existent apart from the odd cue in from the winter soldier soundtrack. The cgi for spidermans suit was terrible, didn't really buy Tom Hollands performance. Overall I'd give it 5/10

If I hated "Age of Ultron" will I hate this MORE or LESS?

Marvel not DC mark

Zemo is weakest (physically) yet 2 strongest villain I have ever seen. First is obviously Heath Ledger's joker.

This, Avengers and Iron Man movies are the worst things ever created. They make Transformer movies seem like masterpieces. They make Sex and The City look good, Entourage look like it was written by Shakespeare. It just worst humanity has produced. Tony Stark is the reason I would hope Red Dawn is a documentary.

Mark I love you so much but you do make yourself sound quite out of touch. Though I do agree that it felt too long

Too long? Nah.

Don't care what he says I'm seeing it anyway!

Is he criticising for the sake of criticising? waste of my time even watching this

I thought it was a great movie

This was such a good movie. Anyone who usually takes Mark's reviews shouldn't this time because it's obviously not a film for him.

I couldn't watch the whole film, i got really bored after an hour or so. perhaps its due to my dislike of super hero movies. never enjoyed them. except for the Batman trilogy and Deadpool.

BvS and Civl war are masterpieces.

Saw it yesterday. High-Level-Business as usual. The Marvel-Formula. You have to see this movies as a sitcom with amazing fighting.sequences. I want to see more Ant-Man! But I have to say that I liked "Batman vs. Superman" a lot more. I like that DC tries to achieve. The Wagnerian touch. The darkness. The opera. Znyder is the right choice for this.

Terrible action, bad editing and camera work. The Russo brothers makes these already boring productions even worse, somehow. James Gunn turned bronze into gold with Guardians 2.

Great movie for 13 yo boys, endless action. China will love it.

Civil War is mediocre.