Captain America: The First Avenger-Review, Discuss, Grade, Sequel, DVD

[Shazam!]

Agent Richard07 wrote:

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With Captain America's shield being one of a kind, I kept worrying that he'd lose it. Then what?

I'm pretty sure the shield in the comics is one-of-a-kind too. I remember him losing it and Stark trying to make a new one.

[od0_ital]

Agent Richard07 wrote:

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- Red Skull did look a bit cartoonish but Hugo Weaving was fantastic. I wonder how they got his nose under that make-up since Red Skull doesn't have one. Or was that a CGI manipulation too?

CGI.

I read a set report at AICN that described it - his nose was painted so they could remove it later in post production.

[CaptainCanada]

A-. Best superhero film of the summer (and I liked Thor and X-Men: First Class quite a bit), and I'd put it ahead of other previous Marvel films apart from Iron Man. Some of the reviews thought it was a bit generic, which I can see, though for someone who loves this genre as much as I do, that's not an issue. The superhero period piece is still a rarity, too, so that's more of a novelty (even though after years, we ended up with two in one summer).

First, the skinny effects on Chris Evens were extremely impressive. Some of the best "person" effects I've seen (or, at least, been conscious of seeing); when he bulked up and started looking like himself, I almost missed the CGI version for a second. The rest of the effects looked pretty good, including the Red Skull's appearance. I've seen some complaints about the 3D conversion, but it seemed fine to me (I liked it more than the 3D in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2).

They did a good job not just with Steve but with giving him a supporting cast, something I was a bit concerned about when this was first announced as all-WWII. Team Diversity/the Invaders were done well, though it's a bit odd to see people like Neal McDonough and Derek Luke in such small parts, particularly the former. Though they also had Anne Boleyn from The Tudors show up for one scene, so there you go. Chris Evans was very good, and very unironic, as Steve. Hayley Atwell fit well into the period (and looked smashing). Tommy Lee Jones was Tommy Lee Jones, good for any era as an officer (at least, any American era).

On the subject of the characters, I'll particularly say that the film makes better use of Dr. Erskine than the comics ever have. I think that's one of the things a good actor can bring to a character on screen compared to on the page, where he's really never been more than a plot device.

Alan Menken's song was extremely catchy.

I was interested to see the specifics of Bucky's "death", and yeah, this definitely leaves him open to return in the future.

They did a good job balancing the patriotic elements of his character with modern sensibilities (and they also avoided making any jokes about how stuffy the British are or how cowardly the French are).

[Sindatur]

CaptainCanada wrote:

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They did a good job balancing the patriotic elements of his character with modern sensibilities (and they also avoided making any jokes about how stuffy the British are or how cowardly the French are).

Well, that's a relief, considering that's where this American's roots are (Mother British from Britain, Father French and his Father from France)

[TemporalFlux]

Agent Richard07 wrote:

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- With Captain America's shield being one of a kind, I kept worrying that he'd lose it. Then what?

Yep; he's lost his shield a few times in the comics (a couple of times even had it shattered), and Cap had to come up with something else. The most creative solution was the photon shield Stark designed to generate from Cap's glove; Cap could even rapid fire shield sized energy disks.

One thing they didn't get into in the movie was why they would use a one-of-a-kind alloy to make a round, medieval style shield. In the comics, the scientists were actually trying to create tanks out of that material, but only one test ever succeeded. And the one success? Well, it came out in the form of the test piece they were running - the round, domed hatch of a tank.

[timothy]

ALL I am going to say is FUCKING AWESOME plan to see at least two more times. loved it loved it. best super hero movie of the year.

[JD]

I just saw this this morning and I LOVED IT! It was a very fun entertaining comic book movie that wasn't embarrassed to be a comic book movie. I swear there were a few shots in the movie that looked to like they could have been torn directly from comic book panels and I loved that. It had just enough campiness to it to be fun, but not enough to come across as cheesy, which is something that can be hard to do, so I really have to give the director credit for being able to pull that off. I think the whole cast did a great job, with Evens, Weaving, Atwell, and Jones being my favorites. I do agree that the CGI skinny Steve was really impressive, it didn't look fake at all. Did anyone else get a kick out of how Zola's first appearance was his face magnified by a computer (well I guess not a computer, but whatever) screen? And I LOVED the Avengers teaser, I think that has quickly equaled The Dark Knight Rises as my most anticipated movie of next year.

[Goliath]

I give it a B+. Nothing really exceptional, but a good, solid two hours' worth of summer entertainment. I would recommend it.

[JD]

I went with an A rating.

[Admiral2]

I say A.

As usual, I offer my gut reactions:

-Chris Evans nailed the Brooklyn kid who didn't like bullies, and I wasn't as weirded out by the CGI 100-pound-weakling as I thought I would be.

-Peggy Carter...hmmm...bitch can shoot.

-Nice to see that the women had actual Forties figures (hourglass) and not 21st century supermodel builds (beanpoles with boobs).

-This is the part where I usually complain about how Hollywood never tries to do the costume as drawn. Can't this time. They did three costumes as drawn and worked them all.

-Is it just me, or did they try to make Howard Stark look like Leo DiCaprio's Howard Hughes?

-Did everybody else feel a rush when Cap threw "His Mighty Shield" the first time?

-Speaking of, Vibranium? I thought it was made of Adamantium. Does Fox still own that term from the X-Men movies or something?

-One thing I can't get past is the revisionist history where Hydra is the great menace we faced in World War 2. No, it was Nazis, national socialist goosestepping racists that walked around with a tribal symbol as their standard. Former Nazis (like Baron Wolfgang Von Strucker) led Hydra, but Hydra was Chaos to Shield's Control, a post-war terrorist menace. It just flips my switches when somebody in Hollywood decides, "Oh we can't show swastikas in a superhero film," when the film's about a guy who got his start punching the head swastika in the face!

-Anybody else wanna see Big TV Arnim Zola with limbs? Anybody?

-I name Tommy Lee Jones THE MAN. I do not name people THE MAN lightly. He is THE MAN.

Anyway, A.

[JD]

Admiral2 wrote:

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I say A.
-Anybody else wanna see Big TV Arnim Zola with limbs? Anybody?

Yeah. Given the content of this movie, I'm thinking the villain of the sequel (if there is one) will be either Zola in his robot body, or Bucky as the Winter Soldier.

[DWF]

Admiral2 wrote:

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-Speaking of, Vibranium? I thought it was made of Adamantium. Does Fox still own that term from the X-Men movies or something?

It was originally made out of a mix of both but I do think Fox still has the copyright on the name right now.

[Samurai8472]

The Vibranium ties in more with Iron Man 2

Joe Johnson can't make a bad 1930's/1940's period movie
The hourglass comment reminded me of Jennifer Connolly


The art of Captain America book shows some concepts

[royalfan5]

I gave it a B-. I enjoyed it but wasn't blown away. To be fair, I'm not a huge comic book person, so I'm sure there was stuff I missed. However, I do believe it would have been awesome to have worked in a Inglorious Basterds crossover when they were out killing Nazis.

[sojourner]

Armin Zola was the spitting image of Brain from Pinky and the...