The Rocketeer is well worth a re-watch. I like it more than Captain America. Did anyone hear that Hugo Weaving was doing a Wener Herzog impression as The Red Skull?
I was expecting this one to be kind of meh but honestly it's probably close to my favourite Marvel film so far, watching it took me back to when I was a kid watching Indiana Jones and all the other great adventure films, not very substantial but I had a lot of fun with it and it's one of the few superhero films I've actually watched more than once.
One thing I saw as a huge flaw in the movie is that it's set in WW2 but WW2 looks like this small conflict of 2 neighborhood guards with paintball guns in the forest behind my house. It's just so small, it failed to capture the magnitude and the size of WW2. Otherwise I liked the movie and I agree with K.
Watched it on DVD last night, having seen it in the cinema a few months back. For me, it was absolutely fine. It had some 'heart' to it, with the characters feeling the loss of friends, as well as humour, without ever becoming too knowing or self-parodying. I thought Chris Evans gave a performance that finally proved he can act - his Steve Rogers was outstanding, a true 'straight arrow'.
I can't believe Mark dised the "Lord of Darkness" from LEGEND... That "walking chicken" make up , like The Doctor called it...is to me,one of those moments when Special Make up FX take the actor playing the character (in this case Tim Curry) into cinematic bliss.
@Dancingwithotters X-Men: First Class; Thor; Kick-Ass; Green Lantern; Iron Man; Iron Man II; Batman: Dark Knight; Watchmen; Wolverine: Origins; The Spirit; Green Hornet; Incredible Hulk; Jonah Hex; Hellboy II; Captain America... I'm pretty sure I've forgotten some, but totally convinced that those are more than 4 movies. ;-)
Generally I thought the small guy at the start looked okay but there were definitely some moments where his face seemed to move independently of his head. Also I read in the Captain America back story that he was originally "tall but thin" so they needn't have even bothered with the small guy - just got Chris Evans to lose a load of weight and shoot those scenes separately.
I have no problems with a film having a long running time (i.e over two and a half hours) as long as the running time serves the plot. I don't get bored watching films that are great but long, but get irritable if a film is long for the sake of the director's ego. So for example 'Inception' is considered long by some people, whereas I thought it was perfect for what it needed to achieve. But The Hobbit for example, was long for the sake of it & had nothing to do with serving narrative...
Im glad Johnston was given room for his visual flare as the problem ive had with all of marvels previous films has been the look of em, they seem to insist on that horrible hollywood sheen that makes every movie look the same, which in my opinion doesnt suit comic book adaptations, but unfortunetly since marvels films are made for the same cine-verse all visual auteurism gets thrown out the window. Visual auteurism ala Nolan, Burton, Vaughn and even Snyder is the best way to make these films.
The film’s an action packed, well acted, thrilling, effective, well directed & A well casted superhero entry into The MCU. (84%) (4/5 stars) (positive)
Oh o.k. No I was just generally interested to hear why you thought it was better because you usually hear people say they preferred Thor. I actually thought the first act of Cap was its best. I liked Stanley Tucci's role and the boot camp elements. I didn't really appreciate the Hydra elements and using the Tesseract as weapons during WWII, ruined it for me. Thor was visually stunning and had a solid narrative, plus to make the 'otherworldliness' feasible, I think it did a really good job...
@SirHprdgn Well, every film's been a lead-up to the Avengers one. (Which, if nothing else, at least has Nine Inch Nails on the advert). That's kind of the main problem- these films are rarely allowed to conclude, every end scene is a preview of the next one.
The one thing that sticks out for me is how similar the last third of this film is to an episode of the justice league called the savage time involving vandel savage leading the nazi's to invade america on a squadren of B2 bombers and a powerless green lantern fighting him in hand to hand combat until the plane crashes into the sea.
@marlboroman1985 No they spliced his head onto another person's body. I guess it was so he didn't have to do a Christian Bale-esque transformation (like the opposite of the Machinist)
@trainapproaching so true, it was a good fight because it had meaning and wasn't just a forced thing to put in the last 20 minutes(ie Iron-man) much like Thor at the end you are emotionally involved in the characters and care about what happens , tha'ts what makes a good fight in a movie. just compare old star wars where that is the case to new star wars where its just jumping ,light sabres,
I liked Captain America alot better because I thought the direction was better (while there were some annoying Dutch angles in "Thor"), the soundtrack was more memorable, the visual design more intresting and detailed as well the special effects, and I liked the charcater development of Steve Rogers in comparison of Thor's, which while was kid of charming and cute, it felt rushed for me. This is of course my opinion and you're free to disagree.
@Regenmacher175 I don't see what's wrong with just having a good time at the movies. Captain America was a forgettable but surprisingly entertaining experience. The Dark Knight on the other hand was great, but so "this can't be just a comicbook movie"-great that it actually felt awkward to watch people in costumes in a picture that could have been a crime drama right up there with "Heat". The Dark Knight is too marvelous for its own good.
Really? I thought it was a bit too short. The scene where Arnim Zola looks off camera and says "this will end the war!...". Did anyone get a "'Allo 'Allo!" vibe off it?
For me the downside of "Captain America" was the length. The Marvel movie with the biggest lenght is "Iron Man", it's 2 hours long. The a Marvel movie that needed to be even 2 hours and a half long it's "Captain America". I wish they used that plus time to develop those particular soldiers America saves in the Hydra base. They're all pretty rivelant Marvel characters in the comics, but with the poor development they get in the movie they came off mofe as plot conveniences than real characters.
I enjoyed this film because it didn't go down the route of 'FUCK YEAH AMERICA' which it could have easily done: there were plenty of characters from other allied countries fleshed out and given due credit in addition to them lampshading the whole patriotism with the Capt. used as some poster boy.
Why Spider-man. The only great one was the second. The first is now so bad it's good and the third (while not as bad as people say) is far too convoluted and contrived. There's also the fact that Spider-Man and Mary-Jane didn't act at all like Spider-Man and Mary-Jane. All of Marvel's actual films are better.
kermode how dare you critisize the excellent Satyre make-up done by no less than Rob the thing & robocop fame the red skull make up was crap & unconvincing as red skin
He's biff! He's beefcakey! He's cheesecakey! He's whichever way you want to do it!
I’m starting the whole cinematic universe in order. I look forward to Marks reviews as I go along
What did you think?
Yeah I’m curious to hear your thoughts too. The first 10 years is a hell of a ride.
It's surprisingly good with some glorious design style
I really liked it. Had a great sense of fun and the set was just spectacular
The Rocketeer is well worth a re-watch. I like it more than Captain America. Did anyone hear that Hugo Weaving was doing a Wener Herzog impression as The Red Skull?
I was expecting this one to be kind of meh but honestly it's probably close to my favourite Marvel film so far, watching it took me back to when I was a kid watching Indiana Jones and all the other great adventure films, not very substantial but I had a lot of fun with it and it's one of the few superhero films I've actually watched more than once.
Lol. Mike Tyson caught your tongue right there
One thing I saw as a huge flaw in the movie is that it's set in WW2 but WW2 looks like this small conflict of 2 neighborhood guards with paintball guns in the forest behind my house. It's just so small, it failed to capture the magnitude and the size of WW2. Otherwise I liked the movie and I agree with K.
I think "Captain America-The first Avenger" was better than "Thor" in many ways.
Watched it on DVD last night, having seen it in the cinema a few months back. For me, it was absolutely fine. It had some 'heart' to it, with the characters feeling the loss of friends, as well as humour, without ever becoming too knowing or self-parodying.
I thought Chris Evans gave a performance that finally proved he can act - his Steve Rogers was outstanding, a true 'straight arrow'.
I can't believe Mark dised the "Lord of Darkness" from LEGEND...
That "walking chicken" make up , like The Doctor called it...is to me,one of those moments when Special Make up FX take the actor playing the character (in this case Tim Curry) into cinematic bliss.
@Dancingwithotters X-Men: First Class; Thor; Kick-Ass; Green Lantern; Iron Man; Iron Man II; Batman: Dark Knight; Watchmen; Wolverine: Origins; The Spirit; Green Hornet; Incredible Hulk; Jonah Hex; Hellboy II; Captain America...
I'm pretty sure I've forgotten some, but totally convinced that those are more than 4 movies. ;-)
That's a great Legend reference. :P
Eagerly awaiting the good doctor's review hopefully he likes it.
Generally I thought the small guy at the start looked okay but there were definitely some moments where his face seemed to move independently of his head. Also I read in the Captain America back story that he was originally "tall but thin" so they needn't have even bothered with the small guy - just got Chris Evans to lose a load of weight and shoot those scenes separately.
I have no problems with a film having a long running time (i.e over two and a half hours) as long as the running time serves the plot. I don't get bored watching films that are great but long, but get irritable if a film is long for the sake of the director's ego. So for example 'Inception' is considered long by some people, whereas I thought it was perfect for what it needed to achieve. But The Hobbit for example, was long for the sake of it & had nothing to do with serving narrative...
Im glad Johnston was given room for his visual flare as the problem ive had with all of marvels previous films has been the look of em, they seem to insist on that horrible hollywood sheen that makes every movie look the same, which in my opinion doesnt suit comic book adaptations, but unfortunetly since marvels films are made for the same cine-verse all visual auteurism gets thrown out the window. Visual auteurism ala Nolan, Burton, Vaughn and even Snyder is the best way to make these films.
The film’s an action packed, well acted, thrilling, effective, well directed & A well casted superhero entry into The MCU. (84%) (4/5 stars) (positive)
Oh o.k. No I was just generally interested to hear why you thought it was better because you usually hear people say they preferred Thor. I actually thought the first act of Cap was its best. I liked Stanley Tucci's role and the boot camp elements. I didn't really appreciate the Hydra elements and using the Tesseract as weapons during WWII, ruined it for me. Thor was visually stunning and had a solid narrative, plus to make the 'otherworldliness' feasible, I think it did a really good job...
@SirHprdgn Well, every film's been a lead-up to the Avengers one. (Which, if nothing else, at least has Nine Inch Nails on the advert). That's kind of the main problem- these films are rarely allowed to conclude, every end scene is a preview of the next one.
YOU'RE Thor? I can't even pith.
@GothamClive thats still not enough superhero movies.we need more!!
This is Mark Kermode at his most even-handed and entertaining mode. Thus I like it and will actually go see Captain America now.
The one thing that sticks out for me is how similar the last third of this film is to an episode of the justice league called the savage time involving vandel savage leading the nazi's to invade america on a squadren of B2 bombers and a powerless green lantern fighting him in hand to hand combat until the plane crashes into the sea.
This movie was great!
Did anyone see The Avengers trailer at the end? How awesome did it look?
Yes I did mate
@marlboroman1985 No they spliced his head onto another person's body. I guess it was so he didn't have to do a Christian Bale-esque transformation (like the opposite of the Machinist)
@trainapproaching so true, it was a good fight because it had meaning and wasn't just a forced thing to put in the last 20 minutes(ie Iron-man) much like Thor at the end you are emotionally involved in the characters and care about what happens , tha'ts what makes a good fight in a movie.
just compare old star wars where that is the case to new star wars where its just jumping ,light sabres,
Likewise, I went in with little expectation and was well surprised by it. I actually prefer it better than Thor.
Surprised that Mark Kermode didn't mention that Hugo Weaving's accent was inspired by Werner Herzog.
I liked Captain America alot better because I thought the direction was better (while there were some annoying Dutch angles in "Thor"), the soundtrack was more memorable, the visual design more intresting and detailed as well the special effects, and I liked the charcater development of Steve Rogers in comparison of Thor's, which while was kid of charming and cute, it felt rushed for me.
This is of course my opinion and you're free to disagree.
TIM CURRY! LEGEND!!
@Regenmacher175 I don't see what's wrong with just having a good time at the movies. Captain America was a forgettable but surprisingly entertaining experience. The Dark Knight on the other hand was great, but so "this can't be just a comicbook movie"-great that it actually felt awkward to watch people in costumes in a picture that could have been a crime drama right up there with "Heat". The Dark Knight is too marvelous for its own good.
Really? I thought it was a bit too short. The scene where Arnim Zola looks off camera and says "this will end the war!...". Did anyone get a "'Allo 'Allo!" vibe off it?
I was surprised with how much I enjoyed this film.
For me the downside of "Captain America" was the length. The Marvel movie with the biggest lenght is "Iron Man", it's 2 hours long.
The a Marvel movie that needed to be even 2 hours and a half long it's "Captain America". I wish they used that plus time to develop those particular soldiers America saves in the Hydra base. They're all pretty rivelant Marvel characters in the comics, but with the poor development they get in the movie they came off mofe as plot conveniences than real characters.
This movie finally gave us a decent fight between the superhero and the villian.
I enjoyed this film because it didn't go down the route of 'FUCK YEAH AMERICA' which it could have easily done: there were plenty of characters from other allied countries fleshed out and given due credit in addition to them lampshading the whole patriotism with the Capt. used as some poster boy.
LLF "... who looks like a walking tandoori chicken"
It's funny because it's true!
CGI'd Chris Evans' body: aka "98-pound weakling" in U.S. vernacular.
Caps films are the best marvel films. I’ll stand by that all day
Thor ragnarok?
@GothamClive
.......well played sir.
Say it with me " I thaw thea thors by the thea thor " :D
Doesn't remember Legend?!?!?!?! wow
YES TIM CURRY IN LEGEND IS HUGO WEAVING IN CAPTAIN AMERICA!
it could have been a little longer....
If you thought Thor was silly you're going to think Captain America is sillier still but they're a good double bill. Nice rhyming review.
Why Spider-man. The only great one was the second. The first is now so bad it's good and the third (while not as bad as people say) is far too convoluted and contrived. There's also the fact that Spider-Man and Mary-Jane didn't act at all like Spider-Man and Mary-Jane. All of Marvel's actual films are better.
@jonwplo
Yes, but those 3 are out of hundreds and hundreds!
How so?
@Dancingwithotters then you're gonna hate next year with 3 more coming out: the new batman, the new spiderman reboot again, and the avengers film.
Looks pretty good to me.
No they cgi'd chris evans body down to the wimpy one, not his head onto another body
@thememoryremains100 Don't worry, I think they're starting to run out of heroes to adapt. No one's going to go see a Namor the Sub-Mariner movie.
glad this film gets Doctor K's approval
I like that Obama was there on Captain America day.
@shawndimery Nope, that would be Foreskin Man, hands down.
It was meh, classic family adventure, nothing too deep. Probably relied too much on CGI though that's to be as expected.
@SteveTheMovieGuy1 Well that saves spending money on nappies! You can still make tea though...milk with one thugar. ;-)
Heh, I hated this movie but I loved Watchmen :)
Captain America, this has to be the worst name ever for a superhero
Nice
@edgar2dnd Or it looks cheesy as heck.
Kermode likes a Marvel superhero themed movie????? WTF?
"In my world there will be no flags!"
that doesnt come from an intelligently handled script
@blackwolf1200 Haha I concede defeat!
Marvel films have become so formulaic and dull. None beat Blade or Spider-man. I hated Captain America.
kermode how dare you critisize the excellent Satyre make-up done by no less than Rob the thing & robocop fame the red skull make up was crap & unconvincing as red skin
u must be a republican....