A Real American Hero!

Hello everyone, I'm TheCinemaChick!  Today I saw Captain America which is a shock to me.  Don't get me wrong, I've been dying to see it but I seriously thought it wasn't coming out until next week.  But Fry and I enjoyed it.  I do send my apologies to Butterfly because he asked to see it right as the credits rolled.  Sorry buddy.

Captain America is the final stand alone film in a series of Marvel flicks.  We've had Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk and Thor so far, but this is all leading up to the much anticipated movie, The Avengers.  Sadly, The Avengers is not coming out until May 2012.  Needless to say, the comic book geek in my is DYING to see it and I hate that I have to wait for it.  At least I have things to tide me over until then, such as the next Sherlock Holmes, Dark Knight Rises, just to name a few.

As you know, I don't believe in spoilers, so I am keeping my lips sealed about the plot.  However, if you've seen Thor, you basically know what's going to happen here.  The similarities are obvious after some thought.  It is set in World War II and it's overall pretty awesome to watch.  The scenes were beautiful and it was very well cast.  I was hesitant when I heard Chris Evans would be playing the lead since Captain America does start off as a skinny wimpy kid.  It actually worked out pretty well.  What they did was take his face and digitally place it on another actor's body.  It's not noticeable, but I knew this beforehand so I found this little factoid interesting.  And get used to all the CGI because it's everywhere.  Sadly, computer animation is now a staple in cinema, so it's just unavoidable.

My main problem with Captain America is that it has very little action.  It's mostly exposition.  We get to see how he came to be, then how he made it into the modern times.  There are a few small sequences of drama, but then it's back to story.  I understand that this is all necessary because it's leading up to something bigger, but the audience didn't come to see this just to learn his backstory.  We want some good old fashioned ass kicking!

The other thing I already mentioned.  The plot is nearly identical to Thor, which is a huge disappointment.  It is back story followed by potential love interest that never pans out, one good fight scene and it's over.  I love Marvel and I support it fully, but I want something new.  Pull an M. night Shamalayan and throw in a huge twist that I don't see coming, but make if relevant to the film.  I want to see super heroes and villains.  I love seeing my favorite comic books translated into film, but if it's going to be as predictable as a romantic comedy, I'm not going to bother seeing them.

It is an enjoyable movie, don't get me wrong.  And if you plan to see The Avengers, you're going to have to see Captain America as well.  There are moments where I laughed and moments where I was hooked.  It had moments where it lagged and there were parts that made absolutely no sense to me.

Let's look at how I rate things.
See it
Matinee
Dollar theater
Rent it
Don't bother.

I'd say swing a matinee.  While it is good and I did overall enjoy it, the two things I mentioned earlier bothered me too much.  Maybe it's because I'm a critic or maybe I just expect too much from Hollywood these days, but I'm tired of generic movies.  And it's the middle of the summer movie season, so they really need to step up their game.  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 has already set international records, so clearly nothing can compete with that right now.  Well...Breaking Dawn might come close because the teen and tween girls will flock to theaters to see the Bella and Edward wedding.  I'll see it for the sex scene.  I'm not a pervert, I just want to know how they'll include that and manage a PG or PG-13 rating.

Stay tuned for the "Obligatory Future Blog".

I'm TheCinemaChick and I see what's new and make sure it's worth seeing.  On behalf of my movie watching buddies, I bid you a pleasant theater experience.