To go back to Captain America (I'll return to the Avengers in a bit, since it's relevant), however, the movie was great. Out of all the summer movies I've seen this year (and what a summer it's been), I think I would say it's my favourite. I'll reference this past blog post: http://the-matarese-circle.blogspot.com/2011/03/gray-distinguished-ionno.html as I had a list of the movies that were coming out this summer, when I wrote that back in March. I'd like to point out the part of the paragraph where I said the following: "My friends do not share the same belief that I do, which is that it's going to be one of the best movies of the summer, but...well, I look forward to them being proven wrong."
Hah! Well, suck on that, guys, because Captain America was probably the best movie this summer. I know, nostalgia seems to have gotten the better of everyone and artificially inflated HP7.2's reviews, but when/if people actually open their eyes and look at it objectively, they'll see that it was an above-average movie at best. That's not anything bad at all, and I even said myself I'd give it a 7.5 or an 8, which is pretty damn solid. It is far from 'amazing' or a 'masterpiece', however, but....well, I digress.
Captain America, then. The acting was superb! I have to say, the dialogue was a little cheesy, but it worked, because the entire movie was set in WWII. Anyone who knows anything about Captain America nowadays knows that he ends up in the present day, despite his origins being in WWII. In the comic books he is frozen and then re-awakened in the present, and that's what happens here, to an extent. I'm trying not to spoil anything, because I saw it at midnight, so I recognize that not very many OTHERS will have seen it by now. Before I continue, let me once more caution anyone against 3D; the glasses are uncomfortable, it doesn't add ANYthing to the experience, and you get charged more for it. Please for the love of all that is holy (and whatever that is not), do not go see it in 3D. It is a blight upon cinemas everywhere.
Right, back to the movie once more. The movie, due to the necessity of having to have the Captain back in action in present day for The Avengers, the NEXT Marvel movie coming out, is framed two present day things. What I mean is that there's about a five minute dealio at the beginning set in the present, and then a five minute dealio at the end set in the present...but the rest of that awesome movie takes place completely in the 40s. Speaking of the 40s, the set pieces looked fantastic. The Captain America costume never really looked very....soldier-y, and I was a little worried about how it would look in action. Honestly? It looked great. It looked convincing, and I believed that he could wear something like that into battle. After his first 'mission' as Captain America, Steve Rogers (the character's actual name) goes full-on superhero costume, with the stuff you see in the posters, and he gets his famous vibranium shield. In addition, they spent a good part of the movie emphasizing the fact that Steve Rogers was, despite his physical limitations, a good person, and I believe this really helped take the edge off of the AMERICA aspect. I mean, yes, there was a good deal of patriotism which is unavoidable, since when you boil it down, the movie is following an American super-soldier, fighting for the American group of Allied forces, against the Nazis (who make such good bad guys. Seriously, no one likes them. There's no better group of movie villains). However, like I said, the movie places much more emphasis on being a good person inside, than being an 'AMERICA FUCK YEAH' type of soldier.
The supporting characters were great, too. Tommy Lee Jones was hilariously awesome as the hardass army colonel, and Hayley Atwell was both smoking hot as well as badass as the love interest (and honestly, she looked like one of those pinup models that you would see in something like Mad Men, she looked as if she really did come from the 1940s). The Howling Commandos were also present, and they were as entertaining to the audience as the Brothers Three + Sif were in Thor. Finally, Hugo Weaving was deliciously evil as the Red Skull, as well.The Red Skull in the first place is somewhat of a caricature, just SO EVIL ALL THE TIME, because he's a NAZI, and HEY GUYS LOOK HOW EVIL HE IS. I have no problem with that, at all....because, look, he's the bad guy, his plan is to kill everyone, you might as well make him as crazy as goddamn possible. Hugo Weaving did that successfully, I think, but they could have done MORE. With what he was given, Weaving was great as he usually is (if you don't know who he is, look no further than Agent Smith from the Matrix, or the elven king from LotR), but the writers could have done a better job with him. The way he gets snuffed was kind of....weird. It wasn't totally satisfying, to me at least, but whatever. The movie kind of had to wrap up, so I got the sense that the writers/director just said to themselves 'oh shit, we only have a few minutes left! Quick, kill him off!'. I still loved the movie, don't get me wrong, but maybe if I watch it again it'll be more clear.
The last framing bit I spoke about basically is used as setup for the Avengers. Nick Fury, much like he appears at the end of Iron Man 2, shows up and explains to Captain America that he's now in 2011, and then it ends on a somewhat poignant note. Of course, like all Marvel movies, there's a scene after the credits...and let me tell you, I LOST MY HEAD. People in the theatre, i.e., 21-30+ year old guys, were all yelling and cheering at the scene, because it was amazing. Basically, stay after the credits. You won't be disappointed =P
But, yes, I would give Captain America an 8 or 8.5 out of 10. Maybe an 8.25. It was way better than HP, and I said I would give THAT a 7.5 or 8....so I guess I'll officially lower HP7.2 to a 7.5/10, and raise Captain America to 8.25/10 =P After Iron Man, I would say it's the best Marvel movie. Thor was pretty awesome, and so was X-Men: First Class, but....yeah, neither of them were as good as Captain America. Maybe I'm comparing apples and oranges, but, whatever.
The Avengers, now, has gotten a huge boost. Thor has since added a bunch of things, such as Hawkeye, more S.H.I.E.L.D. development, the Cosmic Cube being something that Loki is coveting....it's great. Captain America kind of adds to it, and explains some of it (Howard Stark, who was very much his own character and who was awesome, is involved in that), and ties in the myths that were presented in Thor (the various realms, Yggdrasil, etc etc) and brings them around again. Asgard is mentioned a few times....nothing for the Avengers is actually hinted at until the very end of the movie in that last framing bit, and of course, in the after-credits scene. Next summer holds The Avengers (May 3rd), The Amazing Spider-Man (July 3rd) and The Dark Knight Rises (July 20th), as the big blockbusters. I'll be seeing all of them, of course, but they're going to be amazing nonetheless. The last movie on my list for this summer is Cowboys and Aliens, being released a week from now. Saddle up!
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