In many ways, Captain America is what you should expect from a comic book movie. It has an underdog that is given some sort of ability and he finds himself fighting for the greater good against enemies that are more advanced than the heroes are. In that regard, Captain America knocks it out of the park. However, it fails to go beyond that. To elaborate, I'll break down the aspects...
PLOT:
The Super Soldier program, the war against Germany, all the standard stuff is there. The only thing further beyond that is a sort of "race against the clock" plot that doesn't exactly put the clock out there to watch. Johann Schmidt's superior technology and his threats against the world, at least in my opinion, never quite came off as something that was immediately causing peril. Would it be something that they'd need to stop? Of course. But as an audience member, it always seemed as though the heroes were completely in control. Also, what was Cap's emotional journey? At the beginning, he's the same heroic man that he was at the end. Still, as generic as the plot was, it was entertaining to watch - something I'll be reiterating quite a bit.
ROMANCE:
Did anyone else feel as though Peggy Carter was sort of there just to be there? The romance fell flat in my opinion and looked almost like a matter of circumstance than anything else. The best way I can equate it is to when people are coworkers and since they spend a lot of time together, they just end up somehow getting together, as opposed to really having that connection. Romance is not at the forefront of the Captain America story, but if you're looking at this through the scope of film rating in totality, it was a let down. I'm glad, however, that they didn't try to force the Peggy Carter character to be some sort of "badass chick that really takes the guys out". I've stated a thousand or more times, I have no problem with that type of character so long as they don't try to cram it down your throat and showboat it just so you get the point. If they're spending time putting a spotlight on it, it means they don't believe in it and it's a gimmick, and THAT is what I'm against (like what most action films do when the protagonist is a woman and that's the whole marketing campaign). Peggy does have a few moments in it, but they are natural, so I didn't mind her character at all and I would have liked to have seen a few more intimate scenes between her and Steve to further that connection.
VILLAINS:
Red Skull is bad because he looks bad and he's a Nazi. That's all you really need to know. We're only given minimal backstory to his character, though no real motivation is set forth and in the end I think that really hurt him. I had hopes that Red Skull would be able to pierce pop culture and be one of those villains that people just know like Lex Luthor and the Joker, but in this film, it's too bland to be able to do that. Outside of his introduction scene, he doesn't even really seem to be that EVIL, just more 'frustrated' than anything else. Is he still evil? Of course. But there's no great moment where he's in control or is really just taking a step up on the bad-ladder. He peaks at his opening, dips down, and never recovers. Weaving probably did a better job than anyone else could have and with the makeup on, he did look great.
ACTION:
Certainly not bad, though as it seems to be the running theme, it's very generic and I don't think anyone will be remembering it for years to come. While watching it, I was entertained, but even though this was just a few hours ago, I'm having trouble remembering any "wow" moments. I do, however, remember seeing several unnecessary slow-motion shots that made me question why they bothered to slow it down if nothing particularly intricate or powerful was happening. The action with the shield is probably the highlight and every time it was thrown, I had a smile on my face. They did a great job making it believable that he'd want to continue using a shield in that war situation considering how it had the potential to come off kind of silly. There's one particular death in the film that I was very surprised about towards the end that I commend them for not editing out, as the ferocity of it was just great [and since I didn't see it coming, I won't spoil it for anyone that might not have seen the film].
MUSIC:
Perhaps my biggest let down. I'm a fan of Alan Silvestri but I didn't think he had a track record that would make sense for this film and it seems as though I was proven right. Nothing stood out to me at all in the score and instead, it sounded like what could have been the soundtrack to a video game or TV film. I'm fond of the scores that give me one strong theme at the very least that I can hum when I leave the theatre and I can't even tell you if there was a running theme at all in this. If you find intricate scores distracting, you'll be fine with this generic layout they have, but if you're like me and you think the music is particularly important (possibly vital for every scene), you may be just as disappointed. One aspect, however, that was nailed on the head was the "Star Spangled Man" song. It is so perfectly cheesy and awful that they really knocked that out of the park.
NITPICKING, GOOD & BAD:
1. No real Adolf Hitler? Really?
2. Was I the only one who thought Steve should have mistaken Righetti's agent character for Peggy when he woke up?
3. The last line pre-credits was a bit awkward to me to end on.
4. I wanted a steak and potatoes so badly after watching this film.
5. Even though I think Bucky could have been a bit younger, overall, I like what they did with the character.
6. Similar to what they did in Incredible Hulk, it bothers me when a movie seems to almost purposely avoid saying certain character names and such. For instance, in TIH, "The General", "my daughter", and "that man" pretty much are used more than any combination of General Thunderbolt Ross, Betty Ross, and Bruce Banner. In this, unless I somehow missed it, I don't remember them once saying "Howling Commandos", "Dum Dum" (or even him introducing himself at all for that matter), so on and so forth.
7. Dugan tells Fritz he'll have a stick one day. No payoff when they break out for him to hit Fritz with a stick and say that he told him so? Missed opportunity for a laugh I think.
8. Chester Phillips was really a standout character. I liked him a lot more than I thought I would.
9. It'll be very interesting to see what Steve Rogers thinks of Howard Stark's son considering his thoughts on Howard in this movie, so I'm really looking forward to that.
10. Speaking of looking forward...who else is crazy pumped after watching that Avengers teaser?
VERDICT:
What it all boils down to is the words "generic entertainment". The film takes no chances and with no risks, there aren't any extra rewards, and some things like the music, the romance, and the Red Skull story could have really stepped up their game to make it really connect. Still, it's generic "entertainment", and I was entertained and I'm glad that I saw the movie. For the average moviegoer that doesn't really analyze things, they'll probably love it. For the critics and people that put things under a microscope like myself, it seems like the product of a great movie that had 40 minutes of setup taken out of it.