Captain AmericaFollow

I was listening to Chris Evans being interviewed and he mentioned that there Captain America will be needed for at least nine movies in this line of them. I may go check this out in theaters since it won't be a one and done (probably).

Sitting in theater now. Will do review after movie. Almost got into fist fights with two costumed Captain Americas for my decison to dress as, essentually Ezekial Stane with my Tony Was Right shirt. Already enjoying the night.

What can I say? Neckbeards and their holy obsessions.

Unlike my last review, there won't be a Comic Nerd Full Spoiler version. Spoiler tags will be used for places they need to be, but I have a reason. Let's start.

Wow, what can I really say? This might have been, by far, the best Comic Movie to date. And I'm including Dark Knight in this statement. Plenty of action, plenty of humor, and a few little things that made me giddy. I was quite impressed. Unlike X-Men First Class, which was kind of slow paced, this movie had absolutely impeccable pacing. It started slow, as Steve Rogers tries to enter the Army and is rejected. It picks up about midway when he eventually enlists and he's put through training, with not so subtle but possibly subtle little scenes giving insight into his character, and ended quite strong. Not only that, but peppered with well placed humor.

Chris Evans is a good Captain America, very believable. I'll comment more about this a little later. Agent Smith Hugo Weaving was a good Red Skull, but again, I'll have to comment a little later on him as well. Not that I had problems with either of them. I feel the real star was Tommy Lee Jones as Colonel Phillips. He was absolutely hilarious. At one point, SpoilerAgent Carter kisses Rogers. A beat later, Rogers looks at Phillips and the Colonel is all "I'm not kissing you." Most of the best scenes in the movie had TLJ in them in some way. Well cast movie, great actors acting great, but he simply stole the movie.

Now, my problem with Evans and Hugo is that I feel they were under utilized in the movie. What makes Captain America great isn't the action itself, but the way he carries himself and tries to inspire and lead the people around him. There just wasn't much of that, if any at all. No stirring speeches about the American Dream, and I feel that is a shame. That really held Evans back from being a great Captain America. Likewise, Red Skull was amazingly well done, but just wasn't shown enough of for my tastes. Which is a shame, because Hugo really had the ... I want to say presence for the role. I'll go as far as saying I believed he was the Red Skull.

One thing I liked more about the movie than the comics. Like I said about Rogers' main draw is his ability to speak inspirationally and lead. SpoilerA little after being turned into Captain America, he's put in situations where he has to gradually become better and better as a speaker. While they didn't emphasis on this more, this characterization works much better. After all, he starts off as a scrawny kid. I somehow doubt he just had the ability to be so well spoken and confident straight out of the box. Really good work on that part.

Another plus. SpoilerHOWLING COMMANDOS, YAY! A negative to that: SpoilerNick Fury wasn't in charge. Final plus: SpoilerDum Dum Dugan is awesome. Even his name and his trademark bowler cap and Manstache is awesome. You will love DDD.

Now, here's the thing. As far as a purely 616 canon, this was nowhere near it. Not in the least. So far off that SpoilerBucky is the same age as Steve (give or take, wasn't really explored), a SGT. instead of a war orphan that just happens to be there. They got his marksmanship aspect correct though, so that was a plus. The movie followed the basic premise of the storyline, of course, but very losely. Again, I'm going to have to assume it is more in sync with the Ultimate canon, and I know little of that.

Which, leads me to one major characterization that I didn't like. Spoiler616 Cap dislikes guns. I've only read up to around 325, and he's only ever once used a gun. The situation was a hostage situation, his shield was thrown to take out one shooter, he'd taken down two others hand to hand taking him further away from said shield, and the last gunman opened fire into the crowd of hostages. He had to use the gun (which was part of his disguise) to take him out immediately or risk more casualties. Even then, he was enraged and hellbent on taking out the storyline's Big Bad because of it. Of course, I understand that without that the movie would be a little less exciting and action packed.

Which is really why I didn't nerd rage at all during this movie. We all know what happens to Bucky, but it isn't 616 style. Had to be fit in with time constraints, and it was worked in pretty well.

Okay, I may have spoken incorrectly. Give me a break, I'm tired. SpoilerRed Skull's behavior near the beginning was ... somewhat out of character. 616 would never do that, considering he still believes to this date (Well ...) what he believed in the 1940s. That was really about it for my Nerd Rage, which wasn't really rage. More of an exasperated grunt of disappointment.

***** got punched, shields got thrown. By far my favorite comic movie. Worth the ten bucks, and I'll probably even buy the DVD/Blu-Ray when it is released. Of course, this is my opinion and your mileage may vary. I enjoyed the crap out of it. I laughed, and I cheered.

One note, stick around through the ending for the Avengers preview. I've mentioned why this movie disappoints me in a different thread, even before a trailer. The lack of Hank Pym is an atrocity to me. SpoilerEven though according to IMDB he is getting a movie ... I guess time will tell.

At the time of this writing, my avatar is/was inappropriate for this review.

Edited, Jul 22nd 2011 12:02pm by lolgaxe

Ditto.

Thanks, Lagaga!!

If you haven't read The Ultimates (1&2, you skip 3), do so. Right out of the box the creators made Cap a soldier first, everything else 2nd so Spoilerof COURSE he uses guns.

And honestly, The Ultimates probably inspired a lot of the movies that have been coming out do them taking place in modern times without 50+ years of back story.

Imma try & see this Monday or Tuesday, looks like fun & its getting positive reviews.

Yeah, I get the feeling that's true as well, which presents a problem for me. As much as I'd like to get into the Marvel Ultimates universe, that would mean I'd have to keep track of yet another continuity, and I already have enough fun keeping up with Spider-Man's current Wolverining. He's on what, two Avengers teams and the Future Foundation, plus his own adventures and probably a role of some sort in whatever event that comes around? Ugh. Well, yeah. It's the 1940s, dude. I'd be shocked if they didn't hit on the era's American propaganda machine. Same with the cheesy dialogue.

Ultimates 1 & 2 are their own continuity, though. All you need to know about the Ultimates is in those two volumes. It's only when you get past them & into the various cross-overs, Ultimates 3+, New Ultimates, Ultimate Avengers, etc. that it could get confusing.

Trust me, man. Mark Millar, Bryan Hitch, the team that brought us The Authority doing The Avengers. It was fantastic, then they left & it wasn't.

Ultimate Spidey is/was a good time though. "Was" if he stays dead, "is" if he doesn't.