Film Preview: Captain America: Civil War (2016)

Page Revisions:

(November 29, 2015) Original
(May 1, 2016) New Trailer (#1) / New Posters (#4-#38)

Release Date:

May 6, 2016

Synopsis:

From IMDb: “Political interference in the Avenger’s activities causes a rift between former allies Captain America and Iron Man.”

Poster Rating: B+ / B+ / B / C (11) / C+ / C+ / C+ / B / C (6) / C- (6) / B (3) / C (4) / B- (2)

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Review: (#1) The reflection is a nice touch, which elevates the overall design to one of creative vision, not lifeless symbolism. (#2) Why something as visually simplistic as this should be so visually compelling lies solely in its decision to overlay everything with the shield’s symbolic colors except for that which sits in the center star. It’s an interesting way of conveying something visually without being obvious about it. (#3) The fight is real and of course we couldn’t get away from something like this. Compared to the other two designs, this is a bit of a let down, but standing on its own, it’s a sufficient marketing success.

(#4-#14) Not an entirely inspired batch of character posters. They work as teasers, but for little else. (#15-#17) These designs with the Avengers pitted against one another each differ from one another to be interesting, but they all lack a distinctive creative vision beyond simple aesthetics. (#18) This is one of the most inventive designs of the numerous creations made for this film. It’s not your standard face-off design and the interesting use of depth and perspective are a welcome change.

(#19-#24 & #34-#37) Another series of character posters that aren’t nearly as constricted as the first batch of eleven, but still lack suitable creativity to distinguish themselves. (#25-#30) This is a different take on the prior team face-offs, and while differences are certainly interesting, they aren’t much more interesting.

(#31-#33) These three designs are uniquely stylized and set themselves apart from the other designs as well as the standard issue designs of other films often employed in cinema advertising. (#38 & #39) Instead of having our heroes face off on one poster, they’re now staring at each other from two different designs. This enables a more expanded background, but it doesn’t exactly inspire excitement in the end result.

Trailer Rating: B / A-

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Review: (#1) It’s not exactly light on plot. Nor is it light on action. Yet, the fascinating and compelling anti-government elements aren’t as fluid or compelling as they were in the prior solo Captain America outing. It also tries to make Iron Man seem more likable when he’s little more than a government tool, at least if you’re familiar with the comic version of events, which this trailer doesn’t highlight effectively or efficiently.

(#2) Giving the audience a glimpse into the plot and then ratcheting up the excitement and action is just what has always been prescribed. The series does a good job establishing socio-political structures and this gives us a better glimpse into what we might find in the film. It’s still a bit light on detail, but it no longer looks like it might be overwhelmingly disappointing.

Oscar Prospects:

Until Captain American: The Winter Soldier, no Disney Marvel movie earned a Best Visual Effects nomination (or in any other category for that matter) unless it featured the Iron Man character. This film won’t test the theory that the logjam has been broken as Iron Man is here as well, which means it could be a major competitor for Best Visual Effects if nothing else.