***SPOILERS!!!***
PREFACE: Know that I REALLY, HONESTLY wanted this film to kick some serious arse and to be a film that I'd happily watch over and over. Unfortunately, THAT movie wasn't made. Btw, this is a meat & potatoes, nuts and bolts review. We're all aware of what is the plot line, etc. I'm simply going to relate the good stuff and the bad stuff.
I'VE SEEN CAPTAIN AMERICA. AND IT AIN'T GREAT.
Actually, I saw it weeks ago and have seen it several times (though, I didn't pay for it once) and with every viewing, it gets worse and it's mostly rather boring.
If you've seen it, be honest with yourself, at least for one moment. Nothing TRULY exciting happens to make you jump, nor really "root" for Cap, or anyone else for that matter. He's just....there. Going through the motions. Cap could have gotten a bullet in the head and you wouldn't really care. It's just watching stuff unfold and there are no super thrills. Sadly, there is nothing very great about this film except for Hayley Atwell and the Red Skull's awesome make-up.
Details:
EVERY person in this film that is "German" have PISS-POOR accents and are completely unbelievable! While Hugo Weaving is a fine actor, he can't do a very good, strong, German accent, and when he does attempt it, he slips in and out of it constantly.
To me, that either shows a lack of talent or a severe lack of preparation. You cast a British actor as a hardcore German villain? I'm sure there will be MANY German actors that will watch this film and be seriously LIVID. More so than I am! I mean, they couldn't find ONE, damn good German actor in ALL of Germany to play the Red Skull?!? Also, Weaving's voice, when matched with the face of the Red Skull, doesn't go together very well....not at all very menacing. He looks scary, but no one is afraid of him. The lack of a good accent didn't help. Not a very German-sounding Red Skull. What a waste of a character.
The other actors portraying Germans tend to blow it on their accents as well, just using it on certain words, same as Weaving. Kind of like they throw it in there to remind you of that character, like, 'Oh, right...he's German.'
Weaving, The German Spy, Erskine, Zola, ALL OF THEM!!, could have done a MUCH better job!!!
And couldn't they have had them speaking SOME German here and there too and show subtitles? Nah, of course not, that'd be too smart for a comic book movie. Way to dumb it down, Marvel.
Additionally, I CALLED IT FROM THE VERY F----N' BEGINNING!! THERE IS VIRTUALLY NO NAZI IMAGERY IN THIS "WWII" FILM!!!!!! There was only TWO Swastikas in the entire damn film! TWO!!! One is shown for one second in the newsreel and the other is on the arm of a High Ranking German Officer and it's shown very briefly as he turns. And that guy is just ONE of THREE real Nazis in the entire film!!! Everyone else is dressed as "Hydra." MARVEL....JOE JOHNSTON......YOU ARE ALL PUSSIES!!!!!
Btw, I take exception with the words of Chris Evans, when he said "He should just be called Captain Good." Way to, once again, shy away and downplay the true AMERICAN roots of a classic character. He's only wearing a version of the American Flag and is named CAPTAIN AMERICA!! Ass! (This is right up there with Singer's deletion of ".....the American Way" from Superman Returns.) And don't give me that crap about politics and govt. If you can't be proud of the U.S.A., as a country and what it did, during this time period, then EFF YOU. It's this liberal, p.c. bullsh!t that is eroding our country more and more, every year. Additionally, if this film was superb (and not kept from critics until the last minute) and had they really embraced the American aspect of it, they could have had an awesome, marketing campaign and opened up on July 4th, in conjunction with our national holiday celebrating our Independence, and STILL brought in a truckload of cash against TF3! Believe it!!
The Red Skull's make-up was dead-on and looked fantastic! Though, as he is Hydra, and not a Nazi, he ends up as not as sinister a villain. When you water down the back story, you water down the villain himself. The public don't know, nor care, who or what is Hydra. Nazis...they know them and they know that they are EVIL. And this guy could have been shown to be AS evil as Hitler, but they make him a cartoony leader of a separate group, because they don't want to be true to the comic book and show him as an insane Nazi, and the right-hand man of Hitler. Again, Marvel and Joe Johnston have no balls.
Hydra goons were lame. Not threatening. Just lame, unemotional, non-speaking goons. Also, since they're depicting the Red Skull as Hydra's leader, there is no Baron von Strucker. Lame!
Tommy Lee Jones plays himself, yet again, in a movie. Way to phone it in, Tommy Lee...you've been coasting since "The Fugitive." He has one good moment in this film, which is probably the only truly funny line, at the end when he is driving the Hydramobile.
Chris Evans' head on that scrawny body is a mix. At times, it looks very real. Other times, fake as sh!t. And what was with the plane that was being flown by Howard Stark? It looked like it was on a friggin' string, being held by someone! Um...how much of that money was spent on effects???
When Cap is in the USO segments, he is dressed just like the comic book version, a wink and nod to the fans. Whatever.
The sets and locations all looked very believable and they captured the period very well! From Brooklyn to the old-time styles, it definitely had a WWII look.
Two mistakes/plot holes: First, after Skinny-Steve becomes Super-Steve, his pants still seem to fit, and no they didn't give him bigger pants before he goes inside. He should have been breaking out of them like the Hulk! Mistake! And two, at one point Cap jumps into a Hydra mini-plane and seems to fly it like a pro. Where the hell did he learn that?? Nowhere! Plot hole!
Hayley Atwell. I could watch her...ALL. DAY. She is completely magnetic in this movie and, as I previously have not seen her perform, she is a very natural actress and amazingly beautiful! Also, her English accent is so appealing. When she is onscreen, she is the only thing you really care about in that scene. One scene with her in a red dress is absolutely unreal. Bravo Hayley! You are the BEST thing in this film!!
What else? I could tell you that Bucky apparently dies by falling from a train into a mountain range and the Red Skull touches the Cosmic Cube and gets sucked into the Asgardian oblivion like Loki....but I won't get into it.
As I first wrote, it's just stuff happening and it's all very forgettable. It's barely two hours but it feels painfully longer.
As it is, this is just another film in a long set-up, to get you to "The Avengers" next year. Instead of focusing on making self-contained, home run films, they've consistently put out disappointing, semi-mediocre films since the first "Iron Man." THAT really set the bar high and every film since then hasn't lived up to it.
Simply put, Marvel hasn't made a -->GREAT<-- film since "Iron Man." Deal with THAT FACT, True Believers!
I'd like to give it a B-, but a C+ is more in order.
Now, bring on your hate, punks. Yeees...let it flow through you! Hahaha!
- Blood Red