Family movie night, time to watch the new "Star Wars" for my kids generation and I'm really glad these movies are so much better than the utter trash Lucas passed off as Star Wars prequels (Revenge of the Sith not included in that small rant). I'm still amazed that Marvel got these movies made and made so well, watching them is like watching building blocks being stacked upon each other, building and building until the ultimate popcorn movie The Avengers was released. And everything fits together remarkably well. I've never seen anything made from and by a corporation that is produced this well and this good, normally all Hollywood produced movies are crap. They seem more inclined to figure out the line of toys, marketing campaign, and merchandising than, you know, actual story line and characters.
A couple of things about this movie that I really liked. The pacing moves the story line along with some good energy, but never lets the movie feel slowed down during any non action scenes. That is something to credit the director and screenplay writer. I really like how the action scenes don't get bogged down with trying to match the action scenes of modern day Hollywood instead these action scenes stay firmly grounded in that time period while they don't get overblown with crazy John Woo stunt works. Another thing Johnston does well here is actually direct the action scenes so the viewer can see what is going on. No shaky camera here, instead Johnston relies on what is called setting a scene and shot up that lets the audience know what is going on. It's a truly remarkable, ground breaking idea that I hope catches on in Hollywood.
Ultimately the best thing that sells this movie is the acting. Much like Robert Downy Jr and Chris Hemsworth sold Iron Man and Thor on their charisma, so does Chris Evans fully embody Captain America and, as pre-Captain America, Steve Rodgers. This should come as no surprise to anyone though because he did the same thing in Fantastic Four 1and 2, virtually stealing every scene he was in as Johny Storm (the Human Torch), as he made a truly bad movie somewhat likeable because he was in it. It's a good thing Captain America gives him more to work with because it really helps to show how good an actor he is and not just a pretty boy face.
Early scenes in the movie work well as they let Evans build the character of Steve Rodgers before he gets transformed into Captain America. There's not a lot of wasted scenes here as they introduce his friend Bucky and set up a bunch of shots that will later be contrasted with the Captain America character.
Who but Tommy Lee Jones could play a high ranking military figure? One of his best scenes in where he smiles at the girl during a movie and as my wife pointed out how many times do you really get to see Tommy Lee Jones smile?. Which is true when I thought about it and his smile was acted with great depth (or at least I thought so) than a lot of actors act in two hour movies. I also liked how the stock woman character grew on me as I watched it this time around. She was was kind of in-your-face during her first few scenes, but as the movie progressed I felt her character get better even though she was still an in-your-face type of character, that's some good acting and screenplay writing.
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