I saw the new Captain America with some of my friends today. Here are my thoughts after the cut.
The good stuff:
Story – The storytelling is very well done. The movie does a very good job of making it feel like our heroes are completely and utterly screwed. The writing is also very good. The interaction between Captain America and Black Widow is very well done and always draws the viewer in, and they do it without over-relying on corny campy one-liners that the 80s and 90s comic book movies were so fond of. And for most of the movie, we’re left completely in the dark, trying to guess just what is going on.
Action – The car chase sequences were great, and the gunplay sequences were amazing, especially the ones involving the Winter Soldier. The action sequences were very tight, intense, and generally fun to watch.
The bad:
Camera-work – Specifically, the super-closeup-jumpy-camera thing for the close quarters combat. I wish directors and producers would stop making that a thing. It makes the Zach Snyder slo-mo thing tolerable by comparison.
Running out of steam – After the big reveal toward the end of the movie, the plot kinda petered out. The final action sequence was full of explosions, but otherwise was kinda sloppy compared to the rest of the movie.
Overall, I thought it was a pretty good movie. 4 stars out of 5, definitely worth watching. Sure, the payoff wasn’t worth it, but this is one of those “it’s the journey that counts” kind of movie. Also, for a Disney movie, this movie was surprisingly violent.
Bonus: You ever notice that Black Widow changes her hairstyle with each movie? Iron Man 2, Avengers, Captain America 2.