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

[Admiral_Young]

I found it fascinating that Cap found him strapped in a medical table groggy (possibly drugged). Perhaps this is one of the ways the writers will explain Winter Solider if they go that route in sequels.

[JD]

Yeah, I was wondering if that was a set up for future movies.

[Admiral_Young]

It was hinted as a possibility in press junkets. Sebastian Stan brought it up as well a couple of times. Everyone is well aware of what happens to Bucky.

[CaptainCanada]

Brubaker and Epting get special thanks in the credits (along with the original creators and Millar and Hitch), and the people at the studio always mention his stories as one of the main models for making the movies, so yeah, I'm expecting Winter Soldier at some point. It's probably his most acclaimed story.

[TemporalFlux]

Admiral_Young wrote:

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I found it fascinating that Cap found him strapped in a medical table groggy (possibly drugged). Perhaps this is one of the ways the writers will explain Winter Solider if they go that route in sequels.

This is what I'm thinking. Whatever Zola was doing didn't seem to turn Bucky into a super soldier, but It could have had other effects that would make the Winter Soldier scenario possible. In fact, it could be That Zola laid the ground work for the mind control aspect.

[TemporalFlux]

DWF wrote:

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I don't think he's superpowered at all he's just meant to be the ultimate human even the Red Skull appeared to be stronger than Rogers though being able to dent Cap's original shield.

But during those musical numbers, didn't they have Cap holding up a motorcycle with three girls sitting on it? I remember noticing that they had Cap trembling a little to show he was pushing it and it wasn't easy.

Also, the movie was pretty clear that Skull had received an early version of the super soldier serum. it was that faulty serum that caused Skull's cosmetic changes; but we're left to assume it gave him the strength and endurance too.

[Admiral_Young]

Speaking of Dr. Zola...I loved Toby Jones performance (even though his suit reminded me of his Dream Lord outfit in "Doctor Who". I loved the little homage to his comic counterpart when we're first introduced to his character. That made me laugh. I love when films make a point of doing that.

[JD]

Yeah, I actually laughed out loud when I saw that.

[nightwind1]

Broccoli wrote:

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Just saw it. I'm probably one of the biggest Cap fans out there, and I was completely disappointed. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either. It is like the production team got together and asked themselves "How can we make the most forgettable movie ever?"

Are you sure you weren't watching a rerun of the Matt Salinger version?

This movie is superb. Squeaks past Iron Man as my favorite superhero movie ever.

[Valar]

the G-man wrote:

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Yes. The implication was that it took Cap the better part of several months (if not longer) to actually find Red Skull before the final battle and, during that time, he and the Howlers (including Bucky) had successfully taken out a number of other Hydra bases as part of their effort at stopping him.

Actually Johnston, the director, stated that cap takes place over a three year period of WW2 , so it takes a few months to get steve rogers geared up into cap mode, and then the montage covers a few years of time, then the finale.

[Broccoli]

nightwind1 wrote:

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Are you sure you weren't watching a rerun of the Matt Salinger version?

This movie is superb. Squeaks past Iron Man as my favorite superhero movie ever.

No. The 1990 movie was trash. This was just underwhelming. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either.

The story was pretty thin with several glaring plot holes which broke my suspension of disbelief (for example, we go from Cap, who has not had any true military service yet, saving the POWs to leading armies and telling generals and other officers when to do - when did he become a master strategist?).

There was no sense of immediacy in the movie as I never felt that any of the characters were in any true jeopardy and were, instead, just going through the motions. The green screen effects were a little too Sky Captain for a film that was mostly grounded. And the fight scenes were a little to Batman & Robin with bodies crazily flying everywhere.

Red Skull was incredibly weak as a character and there really wasn't any personal connection between him and Cap to really make me care about their face-off. That was a big problem, there was little in the story to make me care about what I was seeing.

You go in, might enjoy yourself for the two hours, but then instantly forget it once you leave the theater.

Again, not a bad movie, but not a good one either.

[Captain Craig]

Valar wrote:

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Actually Johnston, the director, stated that cap takes place over a three year period of WW2 , so it takes a few months to get steve rogers geared up into cap mode, and then the montage covers a few years of time, then the finale.

If that's the case then could we conclude that the "1st kiss" we saw might not have been their first. He just never did learn to dance.
Also, it allows much more room for other characters like Zemo to be introduced.

[CaptainCanada]

Captain Craig wrote:

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If that's the case then could we conclude that the "1st kiss" we saw might not have been their first. He just never did learn to dance.

No, there's really not any room in the Steve/Peggy relationship as presented here for other romantic interludes. It has a very clear arc, and it would undermine the ending to have it be otherwise.

[Captain Craig]

CaptainCanada wrote:

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No, there's really not any room in the Steve/Peggy relationship as presented here for other romantic interludes. It has a very clear arc, and it would undermine the ending to have it be otherwise.

I agree it would. Question is would they respect that in a sequel and still show a Steve/Peggy relationship as "unfullfilled". If they did it right it would only reinforce the feelings of how that first movie ends.

[FPAlpha]

Just saw it and maybe i need time to digest but first impression is something between B and C for a few reasons.

From worst to very good

- the score was god awful

I've rarely heard a worse score in my life and i'm a guy who usually treats the score as background noise and hardly notices it unless it's really good (Lord Of the Rings, all John Williams' scores) but this one takes the cake. i get the intention.. being all heroic and that but it fails miserably, it amps up sometimes at the totally wrong moment and overdoes it at other. Just plain bad.

- Hugo Weaving/Red Skull

Huge fan of Weaving, he's an excellent actor but in this they dropped the ball to take advantage of his talent and skill. Beginning with the accent (painfully bad for german speaking folk like me) and ending with the absolute one dimensionality of the character. He was evil just because was the feeling i got.. he was the template for all cartoon villains and he would have fit right in with Saturday morning Warner Brothers cartoons just not that funny. Look to Ledger's Joker on how to do a proper, engaging and terrifying villain.


On to the good stuff

- Chris Evans / Steve Rogers

Pitch perfect is all i can say.. he embodied the role and made it his own much like Robert Downey Jr. is now Tony Stark or Christoper Reeve owns Superman. I absolutely adored skinny Steve and his forceful need to be part of something bigger, to serve his country and fight for what is right. He came across so believable and you couldn't but help root for him even after he gets turned down time and time again. It was so sad to see him struggle and Evans played it perfectly (props to the Special Effects guys for skinny Steve too.. amazing effect). I also loved the scenes with him as Captain America where he was still this humble guy (who could lift motorcycles with people on it) and especially when dealing with women where all his training and physique couldn't help him (a bastard guy would know how to exploit that and sleep around every chance he got). So while Batman got the amazing Heath Ledger to play the villain this movie got Evans to play Cap and it is good.


The not so good but tolerable

Well.. that covers the rest of the movie. As with all introduction movies it has to wander a fine line between introducing the characters and making us care for them vs. plot and action. You will never be able to satisfy everybody so with me those movies get judged a bit less because you just can't cram everything into 2 hours. With this movie i saw a solid action movie with some great ideas and some really bad ones (Red Skull was just bad.. no denying it) but overall it was enjoyable and engaging. Some plotholes i just couldn't get over (you have the one and only result of a highly experimental procedure and you waste him on PR? You could have put any physically fit guy into these pajamas and go) but those were made up by other things.. the Howling Commandos were awesome (good thing they opted not to include Fury since that would have been very odd in that reality) as was Bucky Barnes. Given that most modern comic book movies tend to include realism to some extent (no extreme flashy costumes for one) i liked it that Bucky wasn't a teenager here like he was in the comics. It may fly in comics to have a 16 year old fighting on the front in high risk engagements but it wouldn't in these movies so him being a grown up was fitting (and nice way to "kill" him off.. if there's not a body and all that ).

So a solid movie that could have been a disaster if not for Evans as Captain America. Definitely looking forward to his own movie sequel (i suppose the Avengers will not deal much with Rogers' own struggles) and how he adapts to our modern world. Part of what makes Cap interesting is that he acts as a mirror and conscience because he was raised as this straight up, all american guy from the greatest generation who gets to examine the world several generations away and how we have changed and maybe compromised ourselves and our values. If they explore that to a degree in the sequel and do it well i'll be happy.