Comic Book Movie
July 19, 2011

The reviewer starts off by saying that he doesn't know the comics, so the following take is from the layman's perspective. He praises the movie but also touches on it's negative points. For example..

this movie is essentially how every other superhero movie plays out. Same song, different band.

But generally he seems to have really liked it. Loved it in fact, Here are some excerpts..

.. Well let me tell you, i would be lying if i said... that i didn't love almost every moment in this film. This movie really captures the spirit of perseverance and benevolence, which is what a superhero movie should do. My one gripe with most super hero films is that they don't really have a person that is a complete nobody. Spiderman, although Peter Parker was essentially a nobody, he still was pretty smart, smarter than the average bear. Iron Man, Tony stark was a super intelligent and rich nuclear physicist that creates weapons. Green Lantern, Hal Jordan was smart ass pilot. There isn't a super hero film out there (that i know of) in my opinion that TRULY captures the feeling of someone going from absolute zero to super hero, until i saw this movie.

And on the performances..

In my opinion, everyone here did a great job! of course it's a summer movie, so these weren't anything outstanding, but nonetheless, most of the actors did one hell of a job. Chris Evans really sold me on being that patriotic guy that really wanted to serve his country, and had nothing but high respect for himself and everyone.... A person this movie that i was kind of disappointed with was Tommy Lee Jones. He seemed like he was just sleep walking through this movie, and it seemed like he really didn't want to be there. He did his job as the colonel, but he didn't really have that militant fire in every word of dialogue that you expect every colonel in the army to have. He was just kind of... there. On a side note, Hugo Weaving chews up every scene he is in as Schmidt. I haven't been following the buzz on the film, so i had no idea that Hugo Weaving was was going to be in this movie. He was almost unrecognizable when he first appears on the scene, but a bit later on in the film i was like "why does he look so famil... OH SHIT THAT'S HUGO WEAVING!". He really blew me away, because he doesn't have that straight forward "Mr. aaaannnndddeeerrrrsssoooon" agent smith voice this time. His German accent was pretty believable, and he just gave it his all in every scene. He really made me believe that he was this insane, evil megalomaniac, angry German. He definitely brought his A-Game to the movie, and really stole the show! Everyone else in the movie, did a great job, but like i said, they weren't oscar worthy, but that's okay, they weren't trying to be! and that's why the performances in this film work.

He then talks about other aspects of the movie, and the whole patriotism V jingoism debate..

What about the writing and direction? The one thing i was really worried about walking into this movie was that, being called "Captain America", this film was going to try and shove America's dick down my throat, as well as trying to recruit me for the military. Kind of like Battle L.A., where that movie was trying to be like "oh hey, we're in the military! we are sooo [frick]ing cool, don't you wish you were cool? well you can! if you enlist in the army..." Hell, there was essentially a point in that film where Aaron Eckhart might as well have stopped, looked straight into the camera, and say "Enlist...now...we're so cool". Captain America on the other hand, is an extremely patriotic film, and really wears the "proud to be an american" on it's shoulders... but they were really smart and subtle about it. There is no BLARING feeling of them saying "AMERICA!!! [frick] YEAAAA!", but instead the patriotism was sold symbolically through the glorious shots of Captain America's shield. They do plenty of shots, where they focus on the shield protecting Steve Rogers, him using it to kick Nazi/Hydra ass, bouncing it off tanks, and doing lot's of other cool stuff. Also, they show the shield being beat up and having lot's of battle scars and damages.

Some things he didn't like too much..

I did have small problems with the film, mainly with the climax. Here i will give away a little spoiler, so skip this part if you don't want to know.(we will)..Another thing that bothered me was a particular scene in Boot Camp that involved a hand grenade that made me go... why would you do that? it's boot camp, there was no need for that? Also, i didn't really get the satisfying feeling of Captain America TRULY kicking some hardcore ass until near the end of the film, and the final battle between him and schmidt didn't really completely satisfy me. However... when he does get to some good ol fashioned ass beating...it's glorious. But these are just minor complaints.

Closing comments: I really loved the hell outta this movie. I really dug the 1940's vibe, and the atmosphere it had. That's another thing i wanted to mention. The 1940's atmosphere was really prevalent in this film. the vibes they give was really swingy. Although sometimes this atmosphere was shadowed at times when the science fiction element was really strong, but it never really felt like a whole different era when that happened. This movie kicked ass, and i feel like the people put alot of love, care, and heart into this movie. So fellow spilldos, this is a movie that i believe you should look forward too! So excuse me while i go enlist in the army......

FULL PRICE!

There is a lot more to the review, click the link below to read the full thing. Anyway, expect a barrage of these tomorrow. I think it's safe to say we don't have another Green Lantern on our hands anyway!