Note: Short-Of-True-Spoiler Information is in this Post
At the end of my showing tonight there was scattered applause and satisfied murmurs among the diverse crowd -- and I gotta admit I walked away a satisfied customer of this mostly by-the-numbers adaptation.
There are any number of faults with the serviceable storyline: (i) a problematic ending, (ii) the unimaginative source of the Villain's powers (shades of Iron Man I, i.e., the Hero fighting against a bad version of himself), (iii) the ultimate mission being to just stop Hydra! (I imagine many viewers wondering at some point just what the Hell is Hydra again?), and (iv) a rushed final third. But no matter; all these faults dim in the afterglow of the warmth and sincerity established in the opening origins portion of the film.
The Hero, the Girl, the Villain and the sidekick (Bucky) were all solid and well cast -- with old reliable Stanley Tucci the standout (once again) in a supporting role. Chris Evans had the requisite moral resonance to do the job as Captain America, and as I've said before he has a Normal Rockwell quality that fits the part. Despite this seeming strength in casting, I was still irked at (i) the shear lack of imagination in casting Tommy Lee Jones (isn't John Slattery more the man of the moment & wouldn't it have been funny to see him standing next to Mr. Stark?) and (ii) the empty derby that played Dum Dum Dugan. Samuel Jackson's Nick Fury IMHO is an Epic Fail (Oh, to have seen Jeff Bridges in that role).
And I've got to ask: was I the only person thinking of
Mar's Attacks! while watching the Hydra ray-gun vaporizers in action? Putting aside the morally dubious proposition of sanitizing hostilities for the kid target audience in what can serve as an out-and-out military recruitment vehicle, I found the sci-fi elements to be a distraction. As I've said before in this thread, give me a good mesh of comic book style fighting and World War II combat and I'm a happy man. We don't need
Saving Private Ryan intensity -- just more Raiders-level mayhem -- so why the Ray-guns? All the more perplexing for me is when I watch the trailer for the upcoming Sherlock Holmes film, I'm struck by its great emphasis on bolt action and first generation automatic weapons. Gun powder is good enough true believers.
Also disappointing was the lack of epic scope for a WWII film. I didn't feel transported anywhere. Brooklyn felt like a set (why not use a real backdrop like the
Eagle Warehouse for some authenticity?). And the World's Fair and Alps backdrops were especially two dimensional -- and the scale of some of the Hydra facilities were preposterous. Unfortunately, there was more the look and feel of
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003) and not a contemporary film, such as John Carter (watch the John Carter Trailer in HD and you'll see what I'm talking about).
I'm sorry for the granular nits -- this film was a challenge for Marvel and it exceeded my expectations. Unfortunately, it will be a
Gladiator type film for me -- one where I occasionally watch the first half from time to time -- but rarely (if ever) the whole way through.