Captain America: Civil War (2016)

Political involvement in the Avengers' affairs causes a rift between Captain America and Iron Man.

Directors:

Anthony Russo, Joe Russo

Writers:

Christopher Markus (screenplay by), Stephen McFeely (screenplay by)

Stars:

Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson

16 wins & 66 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Chris Evans	...	Steve Rogers / Captain America
Robert Downey Jr.	...	Tony Stark / Iron Man
Scarlett Johansson	...	Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow
Sebastian Stan	...	Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier
Anthony Mackie	...	Sam Wilson / Falcon
Don Cheadle	...	Lieutenant James Rhodes / War Machine
Jeremy Renner	...	Clint Barton / Hawkeye
Chadwick Boseman	...	T'Challa / Black Panther
Paul Bettany	...	Vision
Elizabeth Olsen	...	Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch
Paul Rudd	...	Scott Lang / Ant-Man
Emily VanCamp	...	Sharon Carter (as Emily Vancamp)
Tom Holland	...	Peter Parker / Spider-Man
Daniel Brühl	...	Zemo
Frank Grillo	...	Brock Rumlow / Crossbones

Storyline

With many people fearing the actions of super heroes, the government decides to push for the Hero Registration Act, a law that limits a hero's actions. This results in a division in The Avengers. Iron Man stands with this Act, claiming that their actions must be kept in check otherwise cities will continue to be destroyed, but Captain America feels that saving the world is daring enough and that they cannot rely on the government to protect the world. This escalates into an all-out war between Team Iron Man (Iron Man, Black Panther, Vision, Black Widow, War Machine, and Spider-Man) and Team Captain America (Captain America, Bucky Barnes, Falcon, Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, and Ant Man) while a new villain emerges.

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Plot Keywords:

marvel cinematic universe | based on comic book | superhero | siberia | bucharest | 

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Taglines:

Whose side are you on?

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for extended sequences of violence, action and mayhem

Details

Official Sites:

Marvel Official Site Official Facebook

Country:

USA

Language:

English German Xhosa Russian Romanian Hindi

Release Date:

6 May 2016 (USA)

Also Known As:

Captain America: The Fallen Son

Filming Locations:

Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$250,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$179,139,142, 8 May 2016, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$408,084,349

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$1,153,304,495

Company Credits

Production Co:

Marvel Studios, Vita-Ray Dutch Productions (III), Studio Babelsberg

Technical Specs

Runtime:

147 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Atmos 12-Track Digital Sound (IMAX 12 track) Dolby Digital IMAX 6-Track Dolby Surround 7.1 Datasat

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

(At around one hour and nine minutes) Chris Evans injured his arm muscles while filming the iconic shot of Captain America holding back a helicopter with his hands. Evans said, "That shot is a little bit of bicep porn. 'Zoom in on the biceps', that's what the script said. Kevin Feige didn't airbrush my biceps, that's me. It's not a utilitarian shot, it's a shot where you're trying to look heroic. That position (of holding the helicopter with one hand and the ledge with another) is actually a very unnatural position to use to stop something, but we used it because I have to flex my bicep, you are trying to make the scene look great, and I genuinely messed my arm up doing that shot because of the strain." Robert Downey Jr. joked that the filmmakers didn't mind that Evans hurt himself because of how great the shot turned out, and they have been using it to promote the film ever since. Anthony Russo revealed that the iconic shot almost did not happen because on the day of the filming, there was a miscommunication with the Costume Department and Evans came in wearing a thick jacket. They immediately sent him back to change, because then they wouldn't have been able to film the shot of his muscles bulging as intended in the script.

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Goofs

(at around 10 mins) During the fight scene in the marketplace at the beginning of the movie, the edge of a stunt mat is visible after Black Widow rolls over a soldier to grab a handgun.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Karpov: [in Russian; reading from a book] Longing. Rusted. Seventeen. Daybreak. Furnace. Nine. Benign. Homecoming. One. Freight Car.
[shuts book]
Karpov: [in Russian] Good morning, Soldier.

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Crazy Credits

SPOILER: There are two scenes in the closing credits:

• Bucky and Steve hide out in Wakanda, under the permission and assistance of King T'Challa. This leads into Black Panther (2018).
• Peter Parker awkwardly explains his injuries to Aunt May, and later sees a gadget Tony Stark made for him. This leads into Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017).

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Connections

Referenced in Jessica Jones: AKA Ain't We Got Fun (2018)

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Soundtracks

Finders Keepers
Written by Xzibit, Demrick (as Demerick Shelton Ferm), Sylvester Jordan Jr., and 21
Courtesy of Extreme Music

User Reviews

The Winter Soldier has competition.

The Winter Soldier has competition for being the best Marvel movie. There's no other way to say it: Civil War is phenomenal. Marvel continues the trend of upping the stakes by pinning our favorite heroes against each other: Captain America and Iron Man. There are a lot of other characters, so much so that it feels more like an Avengers movie than a solo movie, but the story is told in such a way that the spotlight is always on Cap and Bucky.

Civil War is tonally different from Winter Soldier in that it's more bombastic in its storytelling. Again, there are a lot of Avengers in the movie (more than the freaking Avengers movie). While Winter Soldier was a relatively grounded, dark political thriller, Civil War is a louder, more colorful take on the political theme, and a much more personal one as well. This time it's a matter of morals and ethics, and it's amazing how the movie pulls off giving each side of the argument weight and credibility so you could argue about who's right and who's wrong all day.

Steve wants to protect his best friend Bucky who was brainwashed by Hydra and is now a fugitive from the law. He doesn't trust any form of government faction. He saw how far up corruption goes and he's not willing to lose jurisdiction of the Avengers to yet another corrupt governmental body. Tony wants everyone to sign an agreement for the UN so they won't be seen as a threat by the world governments due to their track record of leaving behind messes and casualties. It's a terrific plot, very thrilling and character driven. At its core it's a very personal story between Steve and Tony. The other characters are written as complimentary pieces to one puzzle. It's not gratuitous at all. You understand everyone's ideologies - why they disagree with each other, why they're on the sides that they're on, why they're fighting for what they're fighting for - and they're each given enough screen time for us to care. And the action scenes are TWS level. Nothing quite beats the first confrontation between CA and WS, but the end of the second act of this movie has an action sequence that is absolutely mesmerizing. It's the civil war. Seeing all of these superheros go against each other is exhilarating, and their interactions are hysterical, especially since a lot of them are meeting each other for the first time.

The new characters are excellent - Black Panther makes a hell of an impression as a sophisticated Wakandan diplomat, and Spider-Man is easily the best live action interpretation of the character; major props to Tom Holland for sounding exactly how you'd expect Spider-Man to sound like. It's an absolute joy to watch. One aspect of Civil War I find especially fascinating is the use of its villain, Zemo. You have no idea what he's plotting for a good chunk of the movie. He shows up intermittently as the first couple of acts are playing out doing cryptic stuff vaguely involving Hydra, and finally the third act converges on Zemo and why he's doing what he's doing, and it's about the simplest thing: vengeance. It's incredible to watch this ordinary man - no powers or abilities - just a smart, patient man, have a conceivable shot at destroying the Avengers. And the actor is excellent too. It's a nice change of pace from the invincible demigods and dull dark elves we've been getting in previous installments.

Civil War is an expertly made film all around. The acting is top notch as always, the directing and the writing are masterful, I can go on and on. It's a political, personal, and powerfully conveyed story with tons of popcorn blockbuster appeal, rivaled only by The Winter Soldier in the MCU. Highly recommended.