It was really good! Maybe not as many “super-great” moments, but nothing I disliked, either (apart from the filmmaker’s misconceptions of just how far a human body can fall and not die). I do agree that Falcon felt a little crammed in, and I wish they had just a quick quip for why they didn’t call in Hawkeye or Stark. But Cap, Black Widow and Redford all really shined, and I’m glad Maria Hill got to show up again. Definitely a good “political thriller” vibe, too (including the start being unneccessarily complicated… but hey, it fits!)
Just got back from seeing this. Great, great movie. I still like the Iron Man movies the best, but this one was one hell of a story, fantastic and believable action. And Jenny Agutter wiping the floor with the Hydra agents was possibly my favorite moment. The after-credits scenes were really setting up the next movies too. And Stan Lee’s best cameo ever.
So SHIELD is just gone now? Never to return? Agent Hill is going to work for Stark Industries?
That’s the other Scarlett Johansson movie opening this weekend.
Oh, and from the Agents of SHIELD thread:
silenus, you were 100% right, except that they burned him in the movie. I’m amazed it turned out that Sitwell was Hydra, but I guess in the MCU no one’s life or honor is safe.
Man, gone are the days of Singer saying that Wolverine only wounded the soldier when he stabbed him in the chest.
Let’s see:
Not too bad of superhero film. Its pacing was good and there were not too many slow moments.
Several highlights:
[ol]
[li]Captain America acknowledging his age was pretty unique - The comics simply gloss this over.[/li][li]Falcon - Not using Marvel’s origin for the character was a good move. I never felt comfortable with Marvel’s version of the Falcon[/li][li]Hand to hand combat scenes are great[/li][li]The protagonist gets seriously injured - You don’t see that too often.[/li][li]It did present some serious thoughts about the nature of freedom and terrorism[/li][/ol]
The bad:
[ol]
[li]Scarlett Johansson has to do something about her eyes - They look they are two dead holes in her skull. They make it impossible to believe any emotion that she attempts to portray.[/li][li]Cobie Smulders was out selling her role in CA2 a little too much methinks - Her role had a grand total of 8 minutes of screentime[/li][li]Jenny Agutter is looking very old - For being such a pretty woman in her youth, she has sadly not aged very gracefully[/li][li]Not giving The Falcon a helmet was sheer stupidity - Even if you could fly that fast, protecting your head would be a vital part of it.[/li][li]Robert Redford makes a poor villain - He lacked much in the way of menace and he really hasn’t been acting enough lately so his “rustiness” really shows.[/li][/ol]
WTF? No mention of Robert Redford and his tragically askew hairpiece? Jenny Agutter looks fucking amazing compared to that.
They made a stereotypical Frenchman with a pencil mustache and a purple jumpsuit into a bad guy who can go up against Cap and have an entertaining battle. That’s the magic of movies!
I think this is almost as good as The Avengers! I’m amazed since I found the first Capt movie a chore to watch. Did anyone catch the Stephen Strange mention? The interwebs are going nuts over the possibility of Dr. Strange popping up in the future. I really got wrapped up in the dread and paranoia of SHIELD being compromised. The elevator scene with the thugs getting on at every floor was just building tension. Then the control room during Cap’s speech. What could any of those agents done? I would probably be under my desk. I kinda can’t wait to see the movie fallout on Agents of SHIELD Tuesday! P.S. Sitwell, noooo…
I think she’s aging pretty gracefully, but she did look a lot older than she does in Call the Midwife.
Nitpick: Sam Wilson (quick skim of the thread and I didn’t see a correction - sorry if I missed it)
I read Evans has a contract for 6 (Dark World and the late added shawarma scene don’t count) and that Sebastian Stan is contracted for 9(?!). Also that Evans wants to move behind the camera after his Marvel days.
Batroc the Leaper was introduced back in the 60s. He’s French and a master of savate. In the movie, I believe he was Algerian (but don’t quote me on that).
Sorry, missed the correction on reading (versus skimming) the thread.
Yes, Algerian. Although quite possibly with mixed ancestry.
I haven’t read pretty much any in a while, stopped during the age of multiple glossy collectible covers. I’ll pick one up occasionally, but I’ll admit that things like seeing Dani hemicorporectomized with the cutoff being a ruler-straight line over a set of mechanical hip and legs that are connected to the top by a single rod isn’t likely to drag me back in.
I guess I’ll be the first–and perhaps only–one to say the movie seemed incredibly dumb and bored me to tears.
But I’m not a big Marvel or Superhero guy anyway, so there’s that.
I guess I’ll be the first–and perhaps only–one to say the movie seemed incredibly dumb and bored me to tears.
But I’m not a big Marvel or Superhero guy anyway, so there’s that.
I enjoyed it, but it was a bit long. Robin Shabotski is more bad-ass than Maria Hill.
Scarlett Johansson filled out the suit nicely, but this was the weakest acting I’ve seen from her.
On both instances, I’m going to fault the director. These are actors who can deliver, but the need the time and motivation to interact with the other characters.
Redford should lose the hairpiece and go bald, or silver. I’ve never met a natural redhead who wasn’t completely gray by his/her late 60s. It just looks really weird and vain and has been for about two decades now. Hell, three if you go back as far as The Natural where it strained credulity. That said, he can still act and did a pretty good job of it where everyone else was merely action acting. Sam Jackson was the only cast member who really sold it.
Wow, couldn’t agree less.
It felt short…I wouldn’t have been surprised, upon walking out, if I had been told it was a 90 minute movie. I didn’t even think about going to the men’s room.
And I thought Scarlett Johansson’s performance was one of the strongest in the movie.
Great Stan Lee cameo–the audience was laughing with delight before he even delivered his line.
That bugged me too, that part was entirely TOO easy (Bucky interference notwithstanding 
) But I sat through that whole part thinking “Do government facilities NOT have a freaking BREAKER BOX!?”
Even if the back up came on almost immediately, it still would have thrown everyone in Shield into confusion, messed up a computer or two and bought the good guys a little time.
And the underground facility, they walked into the near pitch darkness? I thought “Natasha! Shouldn’t you be expecting a trap?” Maybe I’m just over paranoid, but after multiple assasination attempts, wouldn’t it make sense to be a tad more cautious?
For some things that worked: Sam and Steve’s meeting was perfect and the chemistry between them golden.
Redford’s slippery, not quite used car dealer charm
Bucky OMG! Bucky I completely second the person here who mentioned his air of menace and confusion
The little kid in the Smithsonian
Cap getting hurt, seriously hurt. I concede on the earlier point about the gun caliber, but one of the things I dislike with Superman is the invulnerability, it’s boring, in my opinion, you KNOW nothing will happen to him. But Cap, Cap still gets hurt, he feels it, he bleeds for every person he’s defending. That was one of the things I thought Whedon got right in The Avengers: when the bomb blast knocks Cap out of the bank window he lands on a car and crushes the roof. You can see it hurt, you feel it hurt when Cap moves, that kind of thing pulls me in and keeps me rooting for the good guys.
Overall I really enjoyed it, it was well paced. The fight scenes were well choreographed and while the dialog wasn’t as snappy as in an Ironman, there was enough humor to break up the tension.