Captain America - the more coherent rambling - er, review
You have to ignore that short entry from yesterday, my brain was too busy processing two hours of THIS to function properly. SERIOUSLY, WHO HAS MUSCLES LIKE THAT? Muscles like that make smart girls very, very dumb. HE'S NOT EVEN MY TYPE BUT THEN HE DOES THAT THING WITH HIS EYES AND I'M SO DEAD.
Ahem, anyway.
NO BUT REALLY, HE IS SO MUSCULAR HE COULDN'T EVEN FAKE BEING UNCONSCIOUS AND THEN THEY DON'T GET HIM OUT OF A WIFE BEATHER?! GAAAH
*cough*
I liked it. I won't have to watch it again in a while, but it was a good, action-driven movie and so much better than the first. I don't agree with the alotted time each of the subplots got - seriously, they could've either left the Hydra or the Winter Soldier story out and it would've still made a solid movie. As they were advertising it with "The Winter Soldier", I think that story was cut far, FAR too short. Felt like just a throwaway in the title to get the fans.
For once, I had prepared for an entire movie not sidelining how utterly horrible it must be for Cap to be in the present. Not just with the All My Friends Are Dead, the technology and pop culture (he watched War Games but not Rocky? My headcanon says it was More Relevant To His Interests), but with coming out of freaking World War II without so much as a minute to deal with that. I was a little sad that dealing with fighting Nazis and the troubles of a soldier back home got about two sentences, a little list in a note book (did anyone get more than Thai Food and the Rocky movies?) and a We Do What We Have To. But then I must admit that Bucky's storyline is as flat as a flounder in this - I don't know. Loved the symmetry of Cap falling this time, that was the only powerful scene between those two. At least they had one, what we saw of Natasha was even flatter.
Also, Captain America apparently isn't even allowed to have a (credible) love interest in this. Meh.
Lots of love for all the nods to the other movie universes (and more comics, Zola now being nearer to his comic self and FUCKING PULP FICTION IS CANON FOR FURY'S PAST, I TELL YOU HE WENT TO SHIELD WHEN BEING A KILLER BORED HIM), though I wonder where this now fits into the other movies' timelines. If SHIELD was compromised, it would explain why SHIELD/Fury wasn't helping Stark in Iron Man 3 (while they intervened when he got drunk/donuts in Iron Man 2), but weren't there SHIELD agents in Thor 2?
Anyway: Subtle critique on the war on terror/misuse of information - not something I had anticipated in a comic-based movie, but still nicely done. Especially liked that they actually included that small, nerdy IT guy refusing to do what he thinks is wrong. So easy for Captain America, so hard with a gun to your head. I wonder how many people get that; I wonder how many people will take it to heart. "Live your life in a way that you would be shot down by Hydra" seems like a great motto. Who else thinks other government agencies might be undermined as well? Seems a bit pointless to just infiltrate SHIELD - they must've given them some funding, at least.
Someone in Marvel seems to like getting Operation Paperclip into the movies - that's the second time (after Wernher von Braun in Iron Man 3) that they discuss Nazis/Germans helping America during the Cold War. Is that such a fascinating topic for Americans? I mean, I am from a society where everyone was evaluated for Nazi tendencies (and the perceived threat of Nazis undermining the government actually causing one of the darkest chapters of post-war terrorism), so that plot is so old that it feels corny to me.
Great fight/action choeography, I love seeing Cap fight with such a gritty style - but also my biggest pet peeve: Captain America's plot shield shield. It is an awesome weapon, but somehow I can't get behind (ahaha, get it?) it being a great defensive weapon against semi-automatics and freaking rockets. And somebody apparently repainted it after every other fight - the shading of that thing was off so many times that I wonder how nobody in post production noticed. I'm also still sad that there was no Iron Man cameo - even if they mentioned his tech quite often. I see that he would've stolen Falcon's spot in this - Falcon's gear certainly looked like Stark Tech, though. No falcon for Falcon, though :(
Also not too sure about how I'll like the introduction of Quicksilver/Scarlet Witch and how they'll fit into that tech-heavy universe - I love the X-Men movies, but it seems like too many breads in the oven to get them into the Avengers now. I had hoped the casting news were a red herring and we'd get Hank Pym instead. Still, we'll get Thomas Kretschmann! Though he won't be allowed to be his scruffy sexy self, I guess. Boo.
I can has Guardians of the Galaxy nao?
Ahem, anyway.
NO BUT REALLY, HE IS SO MUSCULAR HE COULDN'T EVEN FAKE BEING UNCONSCIOUS AND THEN THEY DON'T GET HIM OUT OF A WIFE BEATHER?! GAAAH
*cough*
I liked it. I won't have to watch it again in a while, but it was a good, action-driven movie and so much better than the first. I don't agree with the alotted time each of the subplots got - seriously, they could've either left the Hydra or the Winter Soldier story out and it would've still made a solid movie. As they were advertising it with "The Winter Soldier", I think that story was cut far, FAR too short. Felt like just a throwaway in the title to get the fans.
For once, I had prepared for an entire movie not sidelining how utterly horrible it must be for Cap to be in the present. Not just with the All My Friends Are Dead, the technology and pop culture (he watched War Games but not Rocky? My headcanon says it was More Relevant To His Interests), but with coming out of freaking World War II without so much as a minute to deal with that. I was a little sad that dealing with fighting Nazis and the troubles of a soldier back home got about two sentences, a little list in a note book (did anyone get more than Thai Food and the Rocky movies?) and a We Do What We Have To. But then I must admit that Bucky's storyline is as flat as a flounder in this - I don't know. Loved the symmetry of Cap falling this time, that was the only powerful scene between those two. At least they had one, what we saw of Natasha was even flatter.
Also, Captain America apparently isn't even allowed to have a (credible) love interest in this. Meh.
Lots of love for all the nods to the other movie universes (and more comics, Zola now being nearer to his comic self and FUCKING PULP FICTION IS CANON FOR FURY'S PAST, I TELL YOU HE WENT TO SHIELD WHEN BEING A KILLER BORED HIM), though I wonder where this now fits into the other movies' timelines. If SHIELD was compromised, it would explain why SHIELD/Fury wasn't helping Stark in Iron Man 3 (while they intervened when he got drunk/donuts in Iron Man 2), but weren't there SHIELD agents in Thor 2?
Anyway: Subtle critique on the war on terror/misuse of information - not something I had anticipated in a comic-based movie, but still nicely done. Especially liked that they actually included that small, nerdy IT guy refusing to do what he thinks is wrong. So easy for Captain America, so hard with a gun to your head. I wonder how many people get that; I wonder how many people will take it to heart. "Live your life in a way that you would be shot down by Hydra" seems like a great motto. Who else thinks other government agencies might be undermined as well? Seems a bit pointless to just infiltrate SHIELD - they must've given them some funding, at least.
Someone in Marvel seems to like getting Operation Paperclip into the movies - that's the second time (after Wernher von Braun in Iron Man 3) that they discuss Nazis/Germans helping America during the Cold War. Is that such a fascinating topic for Americans? I mean, I am from a society where everyone was evaluated for Nazi tendencies (and the perceived threat of Nazis undermining the government actually causing one of the darkest chapters of post-war terrorism), so that plot is so old that it feels corny to me.
Great fight/action choeography, I love seeing Cap fight with such a gritty style - but also my biggest pet peeve: Captain America's plot shield shield. It is an awesome weapon, but somehow I can't get behind (ahaha, get it?) it being a great defensive weapon against semi-automatics and freaking rockets. And somebody apparently repainted it after every other fight - the shading of that thing was off so many times that I wonder how nobody in post production noticed. I'm also still sad that there was no Iron Man cameo - even if they mentioned his tech quite often. I see that he would've stolen Falcon's spot in this - Falcon's gear certainly looked like Stark Tech, though. No falcon for Falcon, though :(
Also not too sure about how I'll like the introduction of Quicksilver/Scarlet Witch and how they'll fit into that tech-heavy universe - I love the X-Men movies, but it seems like too many breads in the oven to get them into the Avengers now. I had hoped the casting news were a red herring and we'd get Hank Pym instead. Still, we'll get Thomas Kretschmann! Though he won't be allowed to be his scruffy sexy self, I guess. Boo.
I can has Guardians of the Galaxy nao?