Captain America: WITH spoilers

[Earth 2 Chris]

Yeah, Reb's held up well. My wife noticed HIS wife was kind of dressed statue of liberty like.

Also, check out Reb's hankerchef, and tie!!!

Chris

[kingdom warrior]

HOLY SHEEEEET the Friggin HUMAN TORCH!!! I had a major GEEKGASM!!!!!!

[MIB41]

EmeraldKnight and I just got back from seeing Cap tonight. I really enjoyed the set up. I thought the whole back story on Steve Rogers was well told and heart felt. You couldn't help but get invested in Chris Evan's portrayal. He really knocked this out of the park. Probably the best performance he's ever had. The Red Skull was deliciously evil and really looked like his comic book incarnation. But here was the primary rub I had with the film... After Steve Rogers became Captain America, he never really faced an opponent who bested him in any way. As a matter of fact, he never really had a problem doing anything that was asked of him. His skills seem to come with the serum, including handling his shield. I would have liked to have seen more training there.

When he decided to go in and perform his first rescue, which was unapproved and unplanned, I think he only had to subdue two Hydra soldiers before he got to the main control center where he found Bucky. I found that just a TAD too easy. And facing Hydra at every turn didn't seem to be a problem for him either. Every plan the Red Skull had, Cap' seem to foil. So the Red Skull, while plenty cool to look at, never seemed to be much of a threat, since he was bested at every turn. So it was with little surprise when Cap said towards the end, "Why don't we go in through the front door?" I thought to myself, "I guess so!" He bested Red Skull every other way. Why not just knock on the front door and get the same results?

And while you KNEW Cap' would have to beat the Red Skull, you never felt like there was any sacrifice in the effort. And his supposed "sacrifice" at the end seemed a bit too contrived. With his abilities he could have gotten off that plane before it hit. He survived everything else. Why wouldn't he want to try and get off the plane instead of going down with the ship? The Red Skull was defeated and the plane was already away from populated areas. So his choice to go down with it, seemed pointless.

And finally, while the Red Skull was SO COOL to look at, I never had any reason to hate him. You should always hate a good villain and I never felt that here. With Steve Rogers being so good-hearted, you needed someone who did something to him or his love interest to punch those buttons. He needed a mountain to climb. A challenge. I never felt like he got that. It was like watching Rocky train to fight Mr. T for the heavy weight championship and see him win in the next scene without ever witnessing the fight. And Bucky's co called "demise" was a little anti-climatic since it was only assumed he perished, and it was caused during battle with one of Hydra's henchmen and not Red Skull himself.

So overall, the film had tons of heart and really captured the essence of Captain America. I really liked it for those reasons. It just fell short of being a great film because his transition from puny to strong (and never seeming to lose) was easily accomplished without much effort.

[The Bat]

Well....ya can't please everybody.

[Earth 2 Chris]

Personally, it think the point of the undefeatable Captain America worked for these two reasons.

1) Steve Rogers has been kept down all his life, and just knew he had potential. The serum finally allowed him to reach that potential, proving that the little guy deserves a chance. Besides, here he had to endure the embarrassment of being the "costumed monkey" selling war bonds. When he finally struck out on his own into the battlefield, they needed to establish he could handle it.

2) We all know Cap sacrifices BIG TIME at the end of his story in World War II. He failed to save Bucky, and while he saves the day, he loses decades of his life, and in this version, his chance at true love. Sounds like a pretty tragic failure to me, at least on a personal level.

As for the Red Skull not being evil enough, well, he destroyed that village after he promised not to, and he was trying to undermine Hitler, who's kind of got the cap on evil, so I'd say he was pretty bad.

But that's just me.

Chris

[wilbs518]

Saw this in 3D with my wife yesterday. I thought it was great! The Avengers trailer was pretty cool, too.

[MIB41]

As for the Red Skull not being evil enough, well, he destroyed that village after he promised not to, and he was trying to undermine Hitler, who's kind of got the cap on evil, so I'd say he was pretty bad.
Chris

I didn't say he wasn't evil. They made him plenty "evil". But only in a comic-like way. Emotionally, you never disliked him. He never really did anything personally to Steve Rogers to make you cheer for his defeat. It was expected and so it was more color-by-the-numbers instead of a personal struggle for Rogers to face with Red Skull. There was no real tension there. But i liked the movie plenty good. And yes the Avengers trailer looks kick-arse. So I'm just saying it was a good movie. But it could have been epic had they flushed out a good grudge between Cap' and Red Skull. Oh, and don't think he's "lost" his love. The cosmic cube is a doorway to the past. How much you want to bet he goes back in time to get his date?

[david_b]

I saw it with my nephew and some friends last night.. It was very stylishly and lovingly done, which fit the bill perfectly. AND it reinforces my gripe when I suggested the FF should have been made retro, 60s'ish to best capture the excitement and weirdness of the original story, and someone said it would be 'too expensive'..

"Really"...???

This was pretty well done.., probably beating out 'Thor' for favorite summer action movie.., although I haven't seen 'em all yet. At times it seemed like it was more a chapter (or setup) for next summer's Avengers than a good 'stand-alone' movie, but hey, it's got enough quality to be better than most films I've had to sit through.

A straight-forward, old-fashion movie. Perfect.

[david_b]

Reb Brown is looking sharp!

LOVE THAT TIE ~ Ok eBay, here I come..

[PNGwynne]

That was one strong movie!

It was AWESOMESAUCE! My favorite Marvel movie thus far--although I can still sit back & enjoy "Captain America II: Death Too Soon."

[thunderbolt]

I saw it with my nephew and some friends last night.. It was very stylishly and lovingly done, which fit the bill perfectly. AND it reinforces my gripe when I suggested the FF should have been made retro, 60s'ish to best capture the excitement and weirdness of the original story, and someone said it would be 'too expensive'..

"Really"...???

This was pretty well done.., probably beating out 'Thor' for favorite summer action movie.., although I haven't seen 'em all yet. At times it seemed like it was more a chapter (or setup) for next summer's Avengers than a good 'stand-alone' movie, but hey, it's got enough quality to be better than most films I've had to sit through.

A straight-forward, old-fashion movie. Perfect.

WOuld love for a FF reboot set in 1961 with the feel of a 1950's scifi film. Heck the Hulk would work like that, too.

[VintageMike]

Just caught the first showing this morning on my way back from visiting my cousin. Awesome movie from top to bottom.

[kingdom warrior]

For those who missed it......this Golden nugget

[The Toyroom]

Saw it today...Pretty good...Liked it better than Thor

[Marvelmania]

Just returned form seeing it. Maybe I'm a little biased but BEST SUPERHERO MOVIE EVER!