I've always thought Captain America could make a pretty awesome movie. Something about a comic book character who fights for justice, but does it by bashing Nazis over the head with a big shield that doubles as a massive frisbee. Cool concept, and like I'd hoped, the Nazi bashing in this film was thoroughly enjoyable to watch and brought back that 'raiders' feeling I got so many years ago watching Harrison Ford plug evil nazis in the face. This aspect of the film was great fun, as was the casting of Chris Evans as the Cap' and Tommy Lee Jones in a role perfectly tailored for him. Hugo Weaving as Red Skull was pretty cool, even if his accent was a bit dodgy most of the time.
The computer effects on this one were a mixed bag. The effects used to join Chris Evans' face onto a scrawny body were achieved seamlessly, yet the action sequences looked too 'cut and paste' for my liking, where it was too obvious when digital characters had been added to scenes.
There were far too many hammy moments in this for me to genuinely say I thought it was a great film. Too much family-friendly romancing with the predictable and convenient love interest played by Hayley Atwell.
Maybe it wasn't awkward, but just implausible. One minute Steve Rogers meets military agent lady, next minute he's carrying round a picture of her into battle. He's supposed to be 'ard, he's Captain America, yet he comes across as falling for the first woman he sees. Just didn't feel right, especially crammed into the tight timeframe.
When I think about it, I put this down to the generally shallow characterisation throughout the film. None of the characters were particularly well developed, so when they went about dramatic actions in the story, you couldn't really empathise with them or understand their motivations. The script itself may be to blame, or the uninspired direction of Joe 'Jurassic Park 3' Johnston, but all in all I had a hard time feeling anything much for any of the characters, and when the action kicked off, my excitement levels dipped before they reached anything substantial - primarily because the characters were too 'cardboard cutout' to care much about.
But hey, this is a Marvel film, and perhaps Batman Begins and the Dark Knight have spoiled me too much by causing me to expect some real character development in a comic book movie.
But to be fair, if someone said to me name the best aspect of the film, I'd say the ending was nicely set up and moved the character into modern times in a natural and fitting way. I know i said I disliked the love interest sidestory, and it was cringeworthy, but it did set up the ending nicely. The film didn't have the cheesy gung-ho ending I was expecting it to have, but instead a rather down-beat ending that put a refreshing spin on the whole thing, and that was a nice surprise. It heightened my opinion of the film right at the end.
Captain America wasn't as awesome as the movie I was hoping to see, but it was still enjoyable as a non-too-serious adventure flick, and the ending did leave me looking forward to Joss Whedon's 'The Avengers,' so it served its purpose well.
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