Captain America - Review Thread

[DarthVader 2004]

I don't think people can realize how big Avengers will be after seeing all these people in one film.

[MasterChief117]

The Dark Knight Rises will still be better, regardless. Just because you have star power, doesn't necessarily mean you'll be successful(insert Miami Heat).

[Justin]

I wouldn't shortchange Joss Whedon. The Dark Knight Rises will probably be better, but I wouldn't count him out. He's a really good writer. And I bet the directing won't be too bad, either.

Anyway, I'm hoping to check out Captain America this week.

[MasterChief117]

Originally Posted by Justin

I wouldn't shortchange Joss Whedon. The Dark Knight Rises will probably be better, but I wouldn't count him out. He's a really good writer.

Anyway, I'm hoping to check out Captain America this week.

I'm not going against that in any extent. I just think people shouldn't count it to be a sure fire success because of the people involved.


I'll be seeing Captain America probably Friday, I hope.

[sshuttari]

Christopher Nolan has become a better writer and director as well. Plus he's made more movies then Whedon.

I still think Whedon will pull of a great movie though

[DarthVader 2004]

Originally Posted by MasterChief117

The Dark Knight Rises will still be better, regardless. Just because you have star power, doesn't necessarily mean you'll be successful(insert Miami Heat).

People are being to harsh on Thor and Cap they gave solid films. In some ways as good as Iron Man.

Avengers Can be fun and well less too Dark. People need recall 3requels for comic book trilogies have been bad. Except for Transformers 3.
I am sure TDKR will be good and all but Ledger made that movie and I am not sure anyone thats a Villain can give such a thing.

At this point I say Both equally could do well and be amazing films.

[DarthVader 2004]

Full Review.

I Gave The Film 8/10 but really its more an 8.5/10 but polls are limlited. I was not sure what to expect because knew nothing of him other then a few current Avengers cartoons. I have to say its probably the best comic film other then the Batman/Nolan movies and Iron Man 1.

Yes I think Iron Man 1 was that good. I liked it because it showed him slowly becoming iron man and i hate how films show heros learning to control there gifts so fast.

Now back to Cap. I should say Cap is the best comic book movie since TDK and Iron Man 1. But Cap would be my 3rd best comic adaptation in modern film making though.
Chris Evans is perfect because never does he seem like the hero but a Guy doing his job.
Tommy Lee Jones and Hugo Weaving were great character actors and they did very well here.
But the actor playing Howard Stark and Haley Atwell were great too. Lets face it the whole cast I liked here.
But didn't Nick Fury know Cap because he took an aging serum.
Back to the movie.
I think its a good stand alone movie but its also best set up for Avengers To Assemble. I liked it better Then Transformers , Thor and Fast Five.
July has been miles better then June this year I think.
8.5/10.

[Ewok Droppings]

This movie was good right up until the action started. Once he decided to stop selling bonds and start fighting, then it turned into the cliche comic book movie. Suddenly he's amazing at everything and when he gets his new shield he can magically throw and catch it with amazing precision just because he's so super awesome blah blah. First half of the movie was decent and had the pacing right, the second half basically sucked. It's like they just got tired of making a decent movie and then suddenly just said "aw to hell with this - just cheese it up and call it a wrap". Sad.

6/10

[DarthVader 2004]

Him selling Bonds was the the lamest thing in the whole movie but makes since you would like that.

[Ewok Droppings]

Did I say I liked it? I just said that's about the time it turned into a crappy comic book movie. Is someone trying to defend this movie as good?

[Daniel]

Actually, I kind of agree with Ewok. The pace of the movie changed once Cap'n decided to start getting in on the war action, and I feel that it was mostly pretty disjointed. As I said earlier, and at the risk of sounding like a broken record, I think a shorter origin story and fleshing out the jumping into action sequences would have been a great help.

I thought it was absolutely ridiculous that Tommy Lee Jones would actually say "If I can't have a whole army of you, I don't want ANY of you." Bad leadership right there, and it really threw me.

[PG Cooper]

Looks like I'll see this Saturday.

[DarthVader 2004]

Its will forever be the film that beat the final Harry Potter film and I think yes it is the ebst comic entry since TDK and Iron Man and yes i did like Thor for what it was but this was best comic entry this year no question. Some people expect too much from a comic film and just can't go to have fun with a movie.

[PG Cooper]

It beat Potter's domestic take in Potter's second weekend, but Deathly Hallows Part 2 has still made a lot of money, far more than Captain America will.

[DarthVader 2004]

Yes HP has this world wide crown at this point but domestically its should not have fell 72 percent and was beaten By captain americas solid numbers.

Sure it won't make this kind of money as HP but its still as record stand NA BO was number 1 movie and HP was number 2.
Honestly how many people thought it would be number 1 film after HP7P2. I jokingly said what would happen if Cap was number 1 film.

HP world wide can make all the money it likes but last weekend belonged to Cap and this weekend likely will belong to Cowboys and Aliens.
Unless people are really Blue this weekend.

[Ewok Droppings]

The latest X-Men movie was MUCH better than this and I'm not even a fan of X-men.

[DarthVader 2004]

Well Its close for me at this point. X-men wasn't an embarrassing installment. It actually was in some ways better then the first X-Men movie. Except for Green Hornet and Green Lantern been good comic year

[Ewok Droppings]

Here's my biggest problem with comic book movies in general, they leap from ordinary to super amazing without hardly any development (and yes, I understand that they are based off comic books). My biggest problem with X-Men is that if they are claiming mutation as the source of their powers, then mutations are small incremental steps over millions of years, not just suddenly having a kid that sprouts wings, shoots lasers out of his eyes or can shape shift. What makes movies like Iron Man and TDK so good compared to the others is that they build up to the character making this switch and it's explained in a somewhat believable manner. I get the situation with Captain America, but what I didn't care for is how he just suddenly was amazing at everything. Sure, he's now ripped and bigger, but does that automatically eliminate any learning curve on skills? I really dislike the movies that just jump right to them obtaining their powers and suddenly they are amazing and ready to fight the evil villain. It's like all character development stops and then they just dump the action on you as if they don't care anymore what you think, you just need to like it. The action emphasis detracts from the need to make a decent character story. That's the biggest failure IMO.

[IanTheCool]

Good point. In X-Men I wish they would have eliminated some of the more improbable powers, most notably Storm. However, the learning curve doesn't really apply there since they were all familiar with their powers for the most part, and the kids were actually learning how to use their powers.

Did First Class have that problem? Perhaps, yes.

[Ewok Droppings]

Well, from my point of view, First Class took a bunch of students who had powers and developed them as characters and as ways to use their powers, so it was a little different. Instead of ordinary Joe gets powers and kicks ass, they took already developed mutants and gave them characters and taught them how to effectively develop their talents. There was character building. Captain America just went from step B to step Z which was the movie's biggest disappointment I thought.

[Dhamon22]

I actually really liked this. A little better than X-Men: First Class even. The Red Skull was a great villain, I loved the WW2 setting, and the action scenes were really well done. I'd rank it right up there with the first Iron Man.

9/10

[ViRUs]

Originally Posted by Ewok Droppings

Here's my biggest problem with comic book movies in general, they leap from ordinary to super amazing without hardly any development (and yes, I understand that they are based off comic books). My biggest problem with X-Men is that if they are claiming mutation as the source of their powers, then mutations are small incremental steps over millions of years, not just suddenly having a kid that sprouts wings, shoots lasers out of his eyes or can shape shift. What makes movies like Iron Man and TDK so good compared to the others is that they build up to the character making this switch and it's explained in a somewhat believable manner. I get the situation with Captain America, but what I didn't care for is how he just suddenly was amazing at everything. Sure, he's now ripped and bigger, but does that automatically eliminate any learning curve on skills? I really dislike the movies that just jump right to them obtaining their powers and suddenly they are amazing and ready to fight the evil villain. It's like all character development stops and then they just dump the action on you as if they don't care anymore what you think, you just need to like it. The action emphasis detracts from the need to make a decent character story. That's the biggest failure IMO.

I felt the same way. When Captain America was fighting and all of that, it felt out of place because he had no idea how to fight at all before he changed. It would be one thing if he knew how to fight and everything, but he just wasnt strong enough.

It was ok though. Dont expect too much like Dracula stated.

[Justin]

Edit.

[PG Cooper]

Earlier in the year, I really didn’t care about this movie at all. I’ve never really found Captain America that interesting, and my hopes for The Avengers were small since they only had one good film under their belt, along with two passable ones. Nothing really got me excited for the film. But later in the year, I found myself getting pretty excited for both Captain America and The Avengers. What changed my mind? Thor.

Thor was the first truly good Avengers build up film since the first Iron Man, and really reignited the fire. All of a sudden, The Avengers seemed cool again. When Captain America hit theaters, it got some solid reviews. On the whole, it seemed people liked it, and I was pretty eager to see it. Now that the final stepping stone to The Avengers is here, is it on the level of films like Iron Man and Thor, or is it closer to the likes of The Incredible Hulk.

The film tells the story of how Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) would become the legendary Captain America. Set during World War II, the fictional Nazi group HYDRA has broken free from Hitler and has it’s own plans on world domination based around an object from Odin (the same Odin from Thor). Meanwhile, Steve Rogers is a young man who wants desperately to enlist in the army and fight. But he just isn’t fit enough to fight. But a German scientist (Stanley Tucci) sees potential in the young man and offers him a serum that will turn him into a super solider and allow him to fight.

Before I get into the good things about this film, and there is a lot I like, I should address my biggest problem with the film. The biggest problem is Captain America himself. Cap just isn’t a very interesting character. He’s a well intentioned guy and he does the right thing, but overall there’s not much to him outside of that. Of all the members of the Avengers (that have got their own movies), Cap is easily the least interesting. This isn’t an insult against Chris Evans, who does the best he can with the material he’s given.

Those are my problems with Captain America as a character, but there’s a lot I like about Captain America from a more technical view point. For one, I’m really impressed that they made the costume work. It’s basically a guy wearing an American flag, but the film made it look kinda cool. I also like that while Captain America does have super powers, he’s not nearly as over powered as characters like Thor or Iron Man. This leads to more traditional action scenes. Chases, shoot-outs, fist fights, standard adventure film stuff. In fact, one of the things I loved about the film is it felt more like an old school adventure film than it did a super hero film. I also love how it isn’t just Captain America fighting on his own. He leads a squad against HYDRA and sets him up as the future leader of the Avengers.

Leading HYDRA is Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving) more famously known as the Red Skull. He has the cliche goal of world domination, but Weaving does a very good job with Red Skull and makes him a really threatening villain. He’s not a terribly deep character, but he doesn’t need to be. The only problem I have with the Red Skull has nothing to do with Weaving’s performance. I’ve never read any Captain America comics, but I know the Red Skull is suppose to be Cap’s ultimate villain. The two hate each other, not unlike Superman and Lex Luthor. But here, you don’t really feel that. Red Skull is clearly pissed that Cap’s foiling his plans, and Cap wants to stop the Red Skull because he has plans of world domination. But there isn’t a sense that their relationship goes anything beyond that. Part of this is because the film gets locked down into being an origin story.

The rest of the supporting cast is pretty solid. Haley Atwell plays the love interest in the film and she does a good job. Her relationship with Cap isn’t very deep, but the film doesn’t really over play it either. Plus Atwell sells her character as a character first, and not just “the hot chick.” Cap’s team is also made up of quality actors like Neal McDonough and Derek Luke. I also liked Tommy Lee Jones playing the grumbling old general. It may not be a stretch for old Tommy, but it’s still fun to watch. Sebastien Stan is pretty good as Cap’s best friend Bucky Barnes, and I’m curious to see if they’ll take his character down the road they do in the comics.

The story is very well paced. The first half is more about Steve Rogers working hard and trying to prove himself. But once he becomes Captain America, the film turns into an awesome action adventure film. Like I said earlier, the action scenes are more down to earth then in other comic book films. My favourites were the first chase through the streets of Brooklyn, Cap’s motorcycle chase to get to HYDRA’s final base (very reminiscent of the speeder chase from Return of the Jedi) and the army’s final assault on HYDRA’s base. The final fight between Cap and Red Skull is also very well done. I also find it interesting that unlike most super heroes, Captain America does kill and he does use a gun.

As much as I enjoy the film, the fact that Cap isn’t that interesting a character really hurts the film. This isn’t as good as the first Iron Man or Thor, but it is better than The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man 2. Captain America isn’t perfect, but it is very entertaining and a solid final film before The Avengers hits.

Rating: B-

[DarthVader 2004]

Its pretty bad sign when Cap and Cowboys and Aliens as of Friday were trailing The Smurfs. Who knew Poppa Smurf would have a better outing but C and A could overtake Smurfs I suppose. But I expected Cap to be number 1 again really.