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

[Warped9]

LaxScrutiny wrote:

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Read about Camp X, the training camp for OSS (pre CIA) agents, training there was 1 month in duration. Ian Flemming was trained there and it's claimed he based James Bond on Sir William Stephenson whom he met there.

This story has often been repeated, but it is of dubious nature. Camp X was located near Oshawa, Ontario (Canada) and there's practically nothing left of it now (a shame really). If I recall correctly Fleming never actually trained there but visited the camp once and tried his hand at one of the exercises. It's said it scared the shit out of him and certainly left quite an impression.

[Admiral_Young]

I don't really think that Marvel Studios has a strategy to make "ambitious" films. They're strategy is to build a cohesive universe of films with a single continuity which they hope will entertain and thrill comic book fans. They're "ambitious" film is obviously going to be "Avengers". That's their all in film. The film that all of these origin films are leading up to and will have the ultimate pay off.

It's going to be interesting to see the post "Avengers" Marvel films. They're all sequels that won't be tied down to building up "Avengers". Hopefully they'll be able to tell their own stories and stand on their own. I've enjoyed every one to one degree or another. I think my least favorite film so far has been "Iron Man 2".

[FPAlpha]

I don't feel any of the movies were tied down because of Avengers.. the only connections were some Shield scenes in the aftermath and maybe post credits scenes and those were self contained and had no relation to the main movie plot.

Avengers itself has the task to bring these all together which is easier to do since all movies share the same universe and characters and we already got glimpses of the Avengers forming and don't have to spend much time introducing new ones. Those without a movie of their own are mostly B level heroes like Hawkeye or Wasp and i doubt they'll be central to the plot or have some huge importance.

I think the Iron Man movies have stood well on their own as well as Thor with only a few scenes involving Shield who were just used as a sort of in-universe red thread connecting the movies to the same universe (as well as small tidbits like characters using Stark Tech for everyday tasks which would be normal given the scope and prevalence of Stark's corporation much like Microsoft or Apple in our world).

[JD]

LaxScrutiny wrote:

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Basic training during WWII was 10 weeks. However it involved a lot of rifle cleaning, marching and running that Steve wouldn't have needed.

Read about Camp X, the training camp for OSS (pre CIA) agents, training there was 1 month in duration. Ian Flemming was trained there and it's claimed he based James Bond on Sir William Stephenson whom he met there.

The scene in the movie where Steve is designing his uniform from Howard's carbon fibre and getting the vibranium shield, we can presume that there was few weeks there of preparation where he could be trained, possibly by Peggy.

Let's also not forget Steve was always a scrapper, he got beat up because he didn't have the muscle to back up his moves, that doesn't mean he didn't pick up any experience.

However I agree, overall a glimpse or a reference to him getting some hand-to-hand training would have been nice, and taken about 12 seconds.

Yeah, they could have easily just thrown in a couple shots of him training while they were taking out all of the Hydra facilities.

[davejames]

FPAlpha wrote:

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I don't feel any of the movies were tied down because of Avengers.. the only connections were some Shield scenes in the aftermath and maybe post credits scenes and those were self contained and had no relation to the main movie plot.

"Tied down" may not be the right term, but it has felt to me like the studio was trying a little too hard to make all these characters fit into the exact same world and style, when they may not have been what's best for each individual movie.

Maybe Incredible Hulk could have been a lot more gritty, or Thor a lot more poetic and fantastical. I just think it would have been nice to see one of these directors do something as fresh and different with their movie that Nolan was able to do with the Batman movies.

Instead of just making something as safe and audience-friendly as they possibly could each time.

[Skywalker]

A- (though in retrospect I should have clicked on A)

I really liked it. Of the four comic book films to be released this year, this was the one I'd been looking forward to most, and it did not disappoint me. Chris Evans was simply fantastic as Steve Rogers; when he was first cast in the role, I was a little skeptical but open-minded. Rogers is such a different personality type than Johnny Storm, but Evans pulled it off brilliantly--honestly, I like him better as Steve than I did as Johnny. The rest of the cast was great, too, particularly Hayley Atwell and (surprisingly) Tommy Lee Jones. I don't mean "surprisingly" because I dislike Jones or anything, I just wasn't expecting much from Colonel Phillips, and he turned out to be a very pleasant surprise. Stanley Tucci was also excellent as Doctor Erskine, it's too bad he was only in the movie for a short time.

I really liked all the ways they've tied this movie into the rest of the MCU. Red Skull discovering Odin's secret hiding place for the Cosmic Cube (although, why was the Tesseract hidden on Earth instead of in Odin's fancy vault in Asgard?), Howard Stark being Cap's go-to guy for the technical stuff, etc. I'm a huge geek when it comes to that sort of stuff. Some folks out there don't like it, but I love it. I also got a kick out of Captain America the movie star, touring across the country and selling war bonds. Joe Johnston's flare for the 1930s/1940s era really came out the best in those scenes, I thought.

My only real gripe with the movie is that it sometimes moved too fast. I would have like another ten minutes or so to give the latter half of the movie some breathing room. The first half of the movie, with Steve going through the process of being selected, and then his experiences as basically a walking propaganda tool, were excellent, but the second half of the movie, after Cap rescued Bucky, the Commandos, and all those other soldiers, felt kind of rushed.

And the music. Alan Silvestri created a wonderful and memorable theme song for Captain America. I still have it stuck in my head. The score was just fantastic, IMO it's by far the best of the MCU movie scores. I didn't find anything in The Incredible Hulk, Thor, or either Iron Man movie to be particularly memorable, but I'm still humming the Cap theme and tapping my foot to it two hours later.

Looking forward to The Avengers!

[davejames]

Hmm, I know I should be excited about Cowboys & Aliens coming out Friday.... but at the moment all I really want to do is watch Captain America again.

Especially since reviews for the former are making it sound like just another by-the-numbers action movie.

[FPAlpha]

davejames wrote:

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"Tied down" may not be the right term, but it has felt to me like the studio was trying a little too hard to make all these characters fit into the exact same world and style, when they may not have been what's best for each individual movie.

Maybe Incredible Hulk could have been a lot more gritty, or Thor a lot more poetic and fantastical. I just think it would have been nice to see one of these directors do something as fresh and different with their movie that Nolan was able to do with the Batman movies.

Instead of just making something as safe and audience-friendly as they possibly could each time.

I think that's more of a choice of the director what style and focus his movie should have.. i found Norton's Hulk very entertaining but really didn't like Thor that much because several elements just didn't click for me but i don't think the connection to the Marvel universe was the reason for it.

It is the state of affairs with movies these days that business comes first and movie studios will listen to their numbers guys more often than they will to the creative staff and if that creative staff tries to something unusual, i.e. a bold creative choice that might alienate customers then the studio will either nudge the director to a different way if they are curteous or downright put their foot down as in "This is how it's gonna be.."

Very few directors have the clout to stand up to such pressure and most superhero movie directors are somewhere in the middle.. recognized names but no Spielbergs or Scorseses. So we get safe movies that sometimes turn out better than hoped (Iron Man) or are not so good (Thor.. my opinion).

Captain America is quite good.. not as good as i hoped it would be but that's due to certain elements i disliked (see my review in this thread) but it could have been a lot worse so i'm content. It was a safe movie but it was done well and it had a bit of heart in it.

[RAMA]

B+ Looking forward to The Avengers and the sequel set in the present.

RAMA

[jep316]

I couldn't help wondering if the flying car Howard Stark was demonstrating was not only a shout out to his son's suit which use the repulsor tech but also to the flying cars SHIELD used in the comics,now I don't know if they'll show up in the movies but it would make sense that Howard created them for SHIELD if they do show up.

Also I loved the cameo of the Original Human Torch which was a nice shout out not only for his ties to Cap but also to Chris Evans who played the "other Torch",any chance he was the real deal and might show up in latter movies?,hell they could use him to bring The Vision to the Marvel Cinematic Universe which also could mean Ultron!!!!,Yea I know I'm really reaching but it would be cool if that happen.

[CorporalCaptain]

jep316 wrote:

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Also I loved the cameo of the Original Human Torch which was a nice shout out not only for his ties to Cap but also to Chris Evans who played the "other Torch",any chance he was the real deal and might show up in latter movies?,hell they could use him to bring The Vision to the Marvel Cinematic Universe which also could mean Ultron!!!!,Yea I know I'm really reaching but it would be cool if that happen.

Hey, thanks for pointing that out jep316. A little googling revealed what I missed: http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansit.../news/?a=42838. I've been pining away for Vision in the Avengers film series.

[Admiral_Young]

@jep316 Howard Stark in the current comics retconnning of Shield is very much involved in the origin of the organization in the form we know it to be and I wouldn't be surprised if the flying car demonstration was precisely what you stated it would be. I wouldn't be surprised if Howard is not mentioned in some way in "The Avengers".

[Captain Craig]

Captain America: The First Avenger has finally crept up to 75% on RottenTomatoes after seemingly being at 73% for the longest time over the past 5 days.

It's not yet "Certified Fresh", they maybe waiting on international critics to get reviews in and there is no telling what impact that might have. However, at this point I think the WOM is good enough to cancel out any drop in it's rankings that might occur.

[Agenda]

And now it's up to 77%. I don't know if I've ever seen a movie so front-loaded with bad reviews. Really climbed up that meter.

As for the movie itself, I thought it was solid. And that's my in-depth review.

[Warped9]

A couple of friends of my who can be quite cynical and hard to please also rather liked this film.