Ebert likes it, calling it "a real movie, not a noisy assembly of incomprehensible special effects," and of course closes with See it in 2-D if you can.
― BIG HOOBA aka the stankdriver (Phil D.), Thursday, 21 July 2011 15:15 (twelve years ago) link
Lots of positive reviews, calling it the anti-Michael Bay, in essence.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 22 July 2011 12:16 (twelve years ago) link
its pretty good. workmanlike. very little fat. ebert's otm about it feeling like a real movie, and how that feels like a relief after shit like green lantern. it reminded me of the first spider-man in its earnest approach to the material, though it's not as good. the actress who plays peggy carter is... uncommonly beautiful, almost distractingly so. could've used more stanley tucci.
this movie kinda made me realize that basically all superhero origin movies are failures as action flicks. either the staging falls flat (spider-man 1) or the complete absence of stakes or danger is deflating (thor, captain america). when these movies are good, it's usually because they find ways to be appealing aside from the whizbang element (like batman begins, i guess).
there's an avengers teaser trailer after the credits
― DEHUMANIZE YOURSELF AND FACE TO BLOODSHED (Princess TamTam), Friday, 22 July 2011 13:22 (twelve years ago) link
first superhero movie since iron man 1 I've wanted to see. sounds great, hope this sets the tone for the rest of the Avengers movies.
― akm, Friday, 22 July 2011 13:28 (twelve years ago) link
when these movies are good, it's usually because they find ways to be appealing aside from the whizbang element (like batman begins, i guess).
Interesting, cuz I still prefer the first two X-Men movies, the first Burton Batman, and bits of the two Iron Man things best.
― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 22 July 2011 13:33 (twelve years ago) link
I really liked the first Iron Man when it came out but tried to watch it again recently and found it a chore. The second one was just horrible.
― Number None, Friday, 22 July 2011 13:35 (twelve years ago) link
basically I like a volatile mix of sharp dialogue and a very slight veneer of seriousness. Nolan can't write dialogue or stage action.
― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 22 July 2011 13:36 (twelve years ago) link
that is true but for some reason his batman movies are still really good. I'm not sure why. the actual plots are good and he does suspense pretty well.
― akm, Friday, 22 July 2011 13:37 (twelve years ago) link
first half of iron man when he's building robots in a cave was great, second half with the jeff bridges robot was always pretty lame.
― sonderangerbot, Friday, 22 July 2011 13:39 (twelve years ago) link
hayley atwell is some kind o' somethin'
nrq, are u such a relentless horndog in your published crizizism?
― you call it trollin' i call it steamrollin' (Dr Morbius), Friday, 22 July 2011 13:43 (twelve years ago) link
i'm more confident in nolan's ability to stage an action scene these days than i used to be; i just think the batsuit is limiting for any hand to hand fight scenes. more importantly, he understands suspense and the value of a real sense of danger. i just used batman begins as an example because the first half is fairly engaging (imo) and once he becomes batman the movie sorta deflates. the promise of action is usually more potent than the presence of it in these movies
the first iron man is fun, but the action in it is weightless - you get the sense downey & co could carry the movie even if he never put the suit on. you wouldn't be able to say the same thing about one of the bourne movies, for better or worse
― DEHUMANIZE YOURSELF AND FACE TO BLOODSHED (Princess TamTam), Friday, 22 July 2011 14:00 (twelve years ago) link
It helps that RDJ is pretty much the walking embodiment of Tony Stark in both look and attitude.
― PAJAMARALLS? PAJAMALWAYS! (DJP), Friday, 22 July 2011 14:03 (twelve years ago) link
I don't really get the Bourne comparison?
― Number None, Friday, 22 July 2011 14:04 (twelve years ago) link
integral action vs. window-dressing, i think?
― remy bean, Friday, 22 July 2011 14:05 (twelve years ago) link
to my reading, in the bourne movies the action has (um) a dramatic purpose and serves to advance the plot, while in the batman they could be excised w/o damaging the plot progression
― remy bean, Friday, 22 July 2011 14:07 (twelve years ago) link
(sub in 'character arc' or 'genre necessaries' for 'plot progression' if you like)
― remy bean, Friday, 22 July 2011 14:08 (twelve years ago) link
io9 had a rave review of the film http://io9.com/5823515/captain-america-is-an-incredible-war-movie-that-just-happens-to-star-a-superhero
very detailed review of the plot w tons of spoilers so don't read it unless prepared to know the whole film going in
― H in Addis, Friday, 22 July 2011 14:19 (twelve years ago) link
i just mean like, the action is the selling point of the bourne movies; the movies exist to give context to some incredible, dynamic action sequences. there's definitely some other stuff of value going on in the margins, but you're not going to those movies to spend more time with beloved characters like... Conklin and Nicolette. most superhero movies cant pull off that level of asskickery (especially origin movies, where its just about setting up the status quo), so they gotta do other things to keep you interested. thats why i think raimi's spiderbro movies worked with audiences who dont ordinarily care for this stuff - they're already fun just as these heightened reality melodramas with a kind of timeless feel to them
the problem with cap - i liked this movie btw! - is that he spends the whole movie effortlessly plowing through every obstacle. i dont think chris evans gets a single scratch or nick on him. so you can basically lean back and go 'eh, he's got this' the whole time.
― DEHUMANIZE YOURSELF AND FACE TO BLOODSHED (Princess TamTam), Friday, 22 July 2011 14:31 (twelve years ago) link
RDJ is easily the best actor playing a superhero in anything since Chris Reeves, I think. Iron Man would be significantly worse without him. I can't say that about any other current superhero films I've seen; the actors are fairly interchangeable.
― akm, Friday, 22 July 2011 14:34 (twelve years ago) link
you'd think audiences would have reached their saturation point by now. this is the umpteenth mediocre superhero film this summer.
― by another name (amateurist), Friday, 22 July 2011 15:15 (twelve years ago) link
the first Burton Batman,
can't believe anyone still reps for this garbage
― No Broehner (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 22 July 2011 15:46 (twelve years ago) link
Yeah, that first movie blows. After all the portent of the beginning, it devolves into ... a countdown plot to poison the water supply of Gotham!!!
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 22 July 2011 15:51 (twelve years ago) link
I like the number that Comics Alliance did on the first Batman:
http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/05/23/batman-1989-review/
http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/05/30/batman-1989-part-two-review/
(They've been going through all the movies these past few weeks.)
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 22 July 2011 15:52 (twelve years ago) link
2nd Burton Batman is great fuiud
― PAJAMARALLS? PAJAMALWAYS! (DJP), Friday, 22 July 2011 15:53 (twelve years ago) link
adding a bunch of people to the enemies list
― apichathong song (strongo hulkington's ghost dad), Friday, 22 July 2011 15:53 (twelve years ago) link
Oh, wait, I misread Burton Batman as Batman Begins. Regardless, Burton Batman has major issues, but it does strike a nice balance between comic book and dark batman. Second Burton Batman has superior set/costume design; Pfeiffer's cat woman might be the most iconic villain in one of the ultimately least iconic superhero sequels. And also, Batman Returns has ... a plot to poison Gotham's water supply, too?
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 22 July 2011 15:56 (twelve years ago) link
^^^agreed!
― No Broehner (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 22 July 2011 15:57 (twelve years ago) link
Oh, wait, it's a killing of the first born plot. But the second Burton Batman does have Danny DeVito eating off someone's face, no?
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 22 July 2011 15:57 (twelve years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7PuqHC8KaE
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 22 July 2011 15:58 (twelve years ago) link
i do love batman returns - saw it in the theater when it came out, i was 7 years old, its really just a crazy burton movie that happens to have a batman cameo in it. its got tragic penguins, killer performances from devito and walken, plus michelle pfeiffer is the definitive catwoman imo - nobody will ever change my mind on this
― DEHUMANIZE YOURSELF AND FACE TO BLOODSHED (Princess TamTam), Friday, 22 July 2011 15:58 (twelve years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onHNcxo-Lmk&feature=related
But anyway, Captain America. I laughed but it looks OK.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 22 July 2011 15:59 (twelve years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0j-Zrbo7rA
― PAJAMARALLS? PAJAMALWAYS! (DJP), Friday, 22 July 2011 15:59 (twelve years ago) link
the first movie is a total mess - veers wildly in tone, character motivations make no sense, plot has literally no regard for a coherent sequence of events, majority of the acting is terrible etc
― No Broehner (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 22 July 2011 16:01 (twelve years ago) link
the first movie is hilarious and fuiud
― apichathong song (strongo hulkington's ghost dad), Friday, 22 July 2011 16:02 (twelve years ago) link
Michael Keaton wtf
― mh, Friday, 22 July 2011 16:03 (twelve years ago) link
batman returns is fantastic imo but its probably not a great 'superhero movie' the carnival atmosphere makes it too ridiculous and lurid but w/e
― stepmomster (Lamp), Friday, 22 July 2011 16:03 (twelve years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA6hZ4f34II
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 22 July 2011 16:04 (twelve years ago) link
^^ HILARIOUS
― apichathong song (strongo hulkington's ghost dad), Friday, 22 July 2011 16:04 (twelve years ago) link
look all i'm saying is if you give a major super hero franchise kick-off to the guy who made frankenweenie you get what you pay for
― apichathong song (strongo hulkington's ghost dad), Friday, 22 July 2011 16:05 (twelve years ago) link
I mean, come on:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxySK01v1os
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 22 July 2011 16:05 (twelve years ago) link
it is hilarious. because it is SO BAD
― No Broehner (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 22 July 2011 16:06 (twelve years ago) link
They should have Prince play a villain in a new Batman.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 22 July 2011 16:06 (twelve years ago) link
Now imagine the movie actually started with this scene:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9n4s-lkYm0w
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 22 July 2011 16:07 (twelve years ago) link
i loved dark knight as much as the next guy who didn't think it was The Greatest Film of All Time but i will take a movie where thugs deface fine art to the sound of prince over Brooding Arguments About Creeping Fascism every day of the week
― apichathong song (strongo hulkington's ghost dad), Friday, 22 July 2011 16:07 (twelve years ago) link
xpost -- Compare and contrast:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-sV-O2-jCY
(Or eight million other films, obv.)
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 22 July 2011 16:08 (twelve years ago) link
ppl hating on "Batman" need to reexamine their aesthetic priorities IMO
― PAJAMARALLS? PAJAMALWAYS! (DJP), Friday, 22 July 2011 16:08 (twelve years ago) link
I get the feeling Prince was the only one that realized how ridiculous the whole endeavor was:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3Bj_So1PuA&feature=related
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 22 July 2011 16:08 (twelve years ago) link
I am pretty certain Jack Nicholson and Michael Keaton got it, too
― PAJAMARALLS? PAJAMALWAYS! (DJP), Friday, 22 July 2011 16:09 (twelve years ago) link
i am pretty sure nicholson was lol'ing all the way to the bank and i salute him for it
― apichathong song (strongo hulkington's ghost dad), Friday, 22 July 2011 16:10 (twelve years ago) link
dug this the first time through, but the second, i really noticed how aimless and overstretched the second half is. still a pretty good time, though.
― 10. “Pour Some Sugar On Me” – Tom Cruise (contenderizer), Thursday, 3 May 2012 17:50 (twelve years ago) link
xp yeah, he's a guy where i never hold it against him when he sleepwalks through a movie because hes usually still a lot of fun
― these pretzels are makeing me horney (Hungry4Ass), Thursday, 3 May 2012 17:50 (twelve years ago) link
otm.
but seriously, i did like they chose an actress who is hot in precisely the same way as 1940s actresses were hot.
overall this was alright. TLJ is was good. surprised he doesn't get these kind of roles more often. maybe he doesn't take them.
― ryan, Sunday, 16 December 2012 02:41 (eleven years ago) link
uh
http://insidemovies.ew.com/2013/03/22/captain-america-2-robert-redford/
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 23 March 2013 14:10 (eleven years ago) link
Almost sounds like he's doing it for shits and giggles.
― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 23 March 2013 15:01 (eleven years ago) link
tbf at his age neither come easy
― mister borges (darraghmac), Saturday, 23 March 2013 15:12 (eleven years ago) link
Legal Piddles
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 23 March 2013 15:40 (eleven years ago) link
I saw that movie in a theater, so bad.
― rallying against young people who wear hats (Nicole), Saturday, 23 March 2013 17:23 (eleven years ago) link
I just remember a bunch of shitty/stupid ads for that thing running endlessly and "Love Touch" constantly being on the radio. Fuckin' 1985.
― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 23 March 2013 17:49 (eleven years ago) link
He's at least awake in LE. And Terence Stamp is fun.
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 23 March 2013 18:04 (eleven years ago) link
Finally watched this. Pretty similar to Iron Man in that I was way more into the first half of it than I thought I'd be, then really lost my connection with it as it moved from the origin to the 'action' and the climactic fight with the bad guy. It sort of rallied itself for the big finish with the plane; I loved how kind of tame and 40s and melodramatic they played it, like, yeah, you know what, in 2011 you can still get tears to well up with just a guy and the gal who like each other (but have never even held hands) having their last conversation while he goes off to be a hero, etc. Just wish it had been built up to that a little better... feel like a lot of movies these days have this too-smooth CGI quality and I think that applies to the plotting too sometimes, it just kind of slides its way along from the baddie fight scene to the sacrifice etc.
Agree that giving the bad guys bloodless ray guns and having them not be Nazis was a super disappointing head-scratcher. I mean, I'm fine with it being the Red Skull and Hydra goons but can they have a little more ideology, something to really make you hate them? The movie's fucking Captain America, I think the time for subtlety has passed. That being said, I was just over the moon for the idea of Cap as a seasoned USO entertainment veteran who's "punched out Hitler over two hundred times" - it's cute, it adds tons of period flavor, makes everybody feel more like people than CGI people, which I think was a real risk with this potentially one-note, personality-less character and this kind of blank, bland actor.
Overall, not the worst of these things I've seen.
― Doctor Casino, Friday, 14 June 2013 04:55 (ten years ago) link
I mean, I'm fine with it being the Red Skull and Hydra goons but can they have a little more ideology, something to really make you hate them
they are transhumanists
― j., Friday, 5 July 2013 06:54 (ten years ago) link
Finally watching this. Completely forgot that they got Joe Johnston to direct. All of the period dieselpunk/art-deco vibe seems perfect for him, and everything he tried to do with The Rocketeer twenty years earlier.
The ropey CGI work from pre-serum Rogers to some of his early stunts is intolerable and almost inexcusable, tho. Just use real stuntmen and erase the wires, that's what computers are for.
― Stephen King's Threaderstarter (kingfish), Monday, 21 April 2014 03:58 (ten years ago) link
This was great!
― Nhex, Friday, 23 May 2014 03:18 (ten years ago) link