Captain America: Civil War - 10 Biggest Last Minute Concerns
Over-stuffing, under-cooked villains and characters cast aside...
Now is the time for fluttering hearts and cold feet: when you're counting down the hours for something you hope will match the hype and little voices at the back of your head suggest terrible, world-ending What Ifs.
What If Spidey wasn't worth the wait? What If everyone comes out safe and friendly again? What if there's too much Hawkeye and not enough Bucky?
As frustrating as these voices can be, they generally have a point. They're a coping method built on the back of decades of disappointment and over-hype, when critics promised excellence but audiences came out mystified. They are the reason you've probably spent the last week pouring over and over-analysing the critical reviews that have so far been released on Civil War.
To that end - even with the insanely high 97% review score on Rotten Tomatoes in mind - it's important to level expectations a little. No matter how hyped you are, it's always important to know your enemy and be able to deal with specific disappointment should it arrive. So now is the perfect time to go over those last minute concerns that will be rattling around fans' heads.
Welcome to the neuroses of the MCU fanboy...
10. It's Over-Stuffed
Even the most rampantly positive reviews - and we're talking 4 and 5 stars here - frequently go with phrases like "over-stuffed" or "stuffed to bursting", which isn't always used in the most derogatory terms, but which does tune in to an old concern about the film.
At two and a half hours the run-time is vast enough to deal with multiple main plot threads, lots of action and an army of characters, but with the main focus on Bucky and Cap's story, reconciling that balance with so many different elements was always going to be difficult.
For some - like CineVue - the scale comes off as bloatedness (specifically in the first half) and while there is a lot of excitement in the idea that this is a balls-out popcorn movie, it's impossible to shake those prickling worries about balance.