Movie: Captain America
Mar. 25th, 2012 12:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rainwatersparkMy sister and I have been trying to keep up with the recent wave of superhero movies, and so we finally got our hands on Captain America yesterday.
What I liked
It wasn't a bad movie. It was pretty entertaining. There were a lot of hilarious one-liners in the script, which was a definite plus, and I thought Steve Rogers's character in the first half of the movie was built in a very thoughtful way. Some parts of the movie were definitely surprising--the part with Captain America selling Liberty Bonds made me laugh out loud as a history major--and a lot of interesting themes were brought up in the beginning. The whole idea of Steve wishing to protect others I found completely believable and pretty interesting.
What I didn't like
Having said that, my biggest disappointment with Captain America was the fact that the movie didn't follow any of the themes through. I always thought that since there was a big emphasis on Steve being a "good person," there would be a scene in which he faces a Moral Event Horizon and has to prove he really is moral by facing down temptation. I thought this scene would occur after Bucky's death, but it never materialized. That was disappointing.
I also thought Steve should have had more difficulty adjusting to his new role as Captain America. It's not easy going from the kid who always gets beat up in the back alley to a superhero, and it would have been nice if the movie addressed this in a more explicit way. On that note, none of the characters really seemed all that surprised by all the crazy things going on. MagiGodTech that can vaporize soldiers instantly? No big deal. Captain America bashing heads with a patriotically-colored shield? Just a day in the life.
I thought a lot of the minor characters were rather flat. It's cool that they brought up sexism with Peggy Carter's character, but they, again, never follow through with it--she kind of disappears for the middle of the movie. And I always thought Bucky would have more character development, since he seemed to be the only person shell-shocked by Steve's transformation, and it seemed that the doctor was experimenting on him before Steve frees him...but then he dies.
The pacing of the movie was kind of awful. The beginning was slow, and I wish they would have cut out all the parts about the villains building their super weapon, because I DIDN'T CARE, GET ME BACK TO STEVE'S STORY! I also thought there was a lot of filler with Steve and Bucky going to the fair, and such. It was probably worse because I'd seen the trailer, and I already knew Steve was going to be transformed, so I was waiting impatiently for that point. The first half an hour or so could have been easily cut down by half, I think.
The final battle was kind of cliché, in my opinion, but the ending of the movie drove me insane. It was both sad and horribly abrupt, and I wish they'd found some other way to do it.
What I liked
It wasn't a bad movie. It was pretty entertaining. There were a lot of hilarious one-liners in the script, which was a definite plus, and I thought Steve Rogers's character in the first half of the movie was built in a very thoughtful way. Some parts of the movie were definitely surprising--the part with Captain America selling Liberty Bonds made me laugh out loud as a history major--and a lot of interesting themes were brought up in the beginning. The whole idea of Steve wishing to protect others I found completely believable and pretty interesting.
What I didn't like
Having said that, my biggest disappointment with Captain America was the fact that the movie didn't follow any of the themes through. I always thought that since there was a big emphasis on Steve being a "good person," there would be a scene in which he faces a Moral Event Horizon and has to prove he really is moral by facing down temptation. I thought this scene would occur after Bucky's death, but it never materialized. That was disappointing.
I also thought Steve should have had more difficulty adjusting to his new role as Captain America. It's not easy going from the kid who always gets beat up in the back alley to a superhero, and it would have been nice if the movie addressed this in a more explicit way. On that note, none of the characters really seemed all that surprised by all the crazy things going on. MagiGodTech that can vaporize soldiers instantly? No big deal. Captain America bashing heads with a patriotically-colored shield? Just a day in the life.
I thought a lot of the minor characters were rather flat. It's cool that they brought up sexism with Peggy Carter's character, but they, again, never follow through with it--she kind of disappears for the middle of the movie. And I always thought Bucky would have more character development, since he seemed to be the only person shell-shocked by Steve's transformation, and it seemed that the doctor was experimenting on him before Steve frees him...but then he dies.
The pacing of the movie was kind of awful. The beginning was slow, and I wish they would have cut out all the parts about the villains building their super weapon, because I DIDN'T CARE, GET ME BACK TO STEVE'S STORY! I also thought there was a lot of filler with Steve and Bucky going to the fair, and such. It was probably worse because I'd seen the trailer, and I already knew Steve was going to be transformed, so I was waiting impatiently for that point. The first half an hour or so could have been easily cut down by half, I think.
The final battle was kind of cliché, in my opinion, but the ending of the movie drove me insane. It was both sad and horribly abrupt, and I wish they'd found some other way to do it.
