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softstarrynights's review
5.0
This book sets out to showcase the concept art for the Captain America: Civil War film, and it delivers. Not only is the art an interesting addition to the film but it is absolutely stunning. Alongside the art are pieces written by various creatives who worked on the film, which enhances the way in which you see the film. It’s not the sort of book that’s going to appeal to everyone as you have to already be a fan of the film. However if you do tick this box, then you do not want to miss it.
P.S I would sell my soul for The Art of Captain America: The Winter Soldier
P.S I would sell my soul for The Art of Captain America: The Winter Soldier
trike's review
4.0
This is a pretty good, but just short of great, entry into the Marvel "Art of the Movie" series.
The main thing which holds it back from 5 star excellence for me is the use of double-page spreads. I really hate those in art books, because you lose so much in the valley. (I didn't buy the Doctor Strange one for that very reason.) Sometimes it doesn't matter when art gets bisected, but in this case there were often characters lost in the fold, and it disrupts the action splash scenes, notably in the big airport battle.
I did find it interesting that with all of the character design in this book, there's literally nothing about Spider-man. After I finished, I went back through it thinking I had missed some pages, but he's just not there. He's only in 5 pictures total and in a couple it looks like he was added after the fact. Only one shows him in a costume that somewhat resembles the final film version.
I suspect that's because Spider-man was such a late addition to the movie that they didn't have time to include him in the book. The deal between Disney and Sony did have a very 11th hour feel to it, and he is barely integrated into the story at all.
I've not been a fan of the storyboards included in other tomes because they seemed more like filler than a real value-added proposition, but here they are more significant. That's primarily because the overhead plan of the tunnel fight with Cap, Panther, Falcon and Bucky is different from what we usually see, and the fact that the storyboard artists were key in figuring out not just the flow of the action scenes but actually helped craft the story. You can see the iterations of the airport fight as they decided which characters were on which team, and especially the particulars of the scene where Hawkeye recruits Wanda.
More than any of the other art books, this really underscored the collaborative nature of this project.
I also really enjoyed the (apparently) early explorations of both fight scenes and weapons. The stuff with Hawkeye's trick bows was neat, and one where he shoots two guys coming from opposite directions was pretty funny. Maybe they'll use that in a future film.
All in all this is decent addition to the art book series.
The main thing which holds it back from 5 star excellence for me is the use of double-page spreads. I really hate those in art books, because you lose so much in the valley. (I didn't buy the Doctor Strange one for that very reason.) Sometimes it doesn't matter when art gets bisected, but in this case there were often characters lost in the fold, and it disrupts the action splash scenes, notably in the big airport battle.
I did find it interesting that with all of the character design in this book, there's literally nothing about Spider-man. After I finished, I went back through it thinking I had missed some pages, but he's just not there. He's only in 5 pictures total and in a couple it looks like he was added after the fact. Only one shows him in a costume that somewhat resembles the final film version.
I suspect that's because Spider-man was such a late addition to the movie that they didn't have time to include him in the book. The deal between Disney and Sony did have a very 11th hour feel to it, and he is barely integrated into the story at all.
Spoiler
The entire section where Tony flies back to NYC to recruit Peter feels like a separate mini-movie contained inside the larger story.I've not been a fan of the storyboards included in other tomes because they seemed more like filler than a real value-added proposition, but here they are more significant. That's primarily because the overhead plan of the tunnel fight with Cap, Panther, Falcon and Bucky is different from what we usually see, and the fact that the storyboard artists were key in figuring out not just the flow of the action scenes but actually helped craft the story. You can see the iterations of the airport fight as they decided which characters were on which team, and especially the particulars of the scene where Hawkeye recruits Wanda.
More than any of the other art books, this really underscored the collaborative nature of this project.
I also really enjoyed the (apparently) early explorations of both fight scenes and weapons. The stuff with Hawkeye's trick bows was neat, and one where he shoots two guys coming from opposite directions was pretty funny. Maybe they'll use that in a future film.
All in all this is decent addition to the art book series.
alexauthorshay's review
4.0
3.5 stars
Because this is a library book and we have very few copies in circulation, I knew I wasn't going to see this for a while once I returned it because of all the holds. So I felt obligated to actually read it from front to back unlike with some of the other ones. There was a lot more character panels in this one than the others, which was my favorite part, but some of the design changes between costumes are so minute it takes a few minutes of looking to even spy the difference.
I didn't mind the focus on environment so much in this book, because environment clearly played a big part in the plot. Where they fight dictates how they fight and how much damage they do. So it was interesting to learn their motivations for certain things.
I'd like to watch the movie again with all of these little things in mind, like lighting in the underground weapon silo. There are so many things they were looking at, from the costumes, the sets, the lighting, the atmospheres, to even camera angles, that when you watch the movie and it feels so natural it's hard to believe they manipulated everything to be carefully chosen.
Because this is a library book and we have very few copies in circulation, I knew I wasn't going to see this for a while once I returned it because of all the holds. So I felt obligated to actually read it from front to back unlike with some of the other ones. There was a lot more character panels in this one than the others, which was my favorite part, but some of the design changes between costumes are so minute it takes a few minutes of looking to even spy the difference.
I didn't mind the focus on environment so much in this book, because environment clearly played a big part in the plot. Where they fight dictates how they fight and how much damage they do. So it was interesting to learn their motivations for certain things.
I'd like to watch the movie again with all of these little things in mind, like lighting in the underground weapon silo. There are so many things they were looking at, from the costumes, the sets, the lighting, the atmospheres, to even camera angles, that when you watch the movie and it feels so natural it's hard to believe they manipulated everything to be carefully chosen.
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