Captain America: The First Avenger

The things I did not like about Captain America:

1. The historical inaccuracies
There were no black people in World War II.

Well, technically, there were. But they had their own batallion. You see, there was this thing called segregation, people. Black people did not fight side-by-side with the whites. If you don't believe me, see Band of Brothers. Everything I learned about World War II, I learned from Steven Spielberg. Just kidding.

P.S. I don't think there were Asians in World War II, either. Even those from Fresno.

See? No black people. Nor Asians.

2. Tommy Lee Jones' face
Let me just make it clear: I love Tommy Lee Jones as an actor. But I just don't like his face. It's not really ugly ugly. It actually has character. It's just that his face reminds me of Hoggle from Labyrinth.

Tommy Lee Jones

3. Casting Chris Evans as Steve Rogers
In my honest opinion (and this is just me), you should never cast one actor for two roles in a single universe. Especially in the Marvel universe, where crossovers happen left and right. So does this mean that you can't have Captain America and the Human Torch together in one movie? Well, you can, but the Torch should always have his flame on. What you can't have is Captain America and Johnny Storm together in a single shot. Which sucks.

Strangely, if you google "Chris Evans", you get more pics of him as the Torch than as Captain America.

4. The exaggerated explosions
This isn't a Michael Bay film where "bigger is better". Sometimes the explosions were so exaggerated that the science geek in you would wonder, "I don't think that thing actually had that much combustible material in it to make an explosion that size."

Cap with an exploding motorcycle behind him.

5. Letting Stanley Tucci die very early into the film
Why? Why? Stanley Tucci is a bloody brilliant actor. But why does he die, and Tommy Lee Jones lives? Huh? Why?

And why doens't the guy have an Oscar yet?

And now, the things I liked about Captain America:

1. Hugo Weaving's German accent
Hugo Weaving's didn't use the stereotypical standard-issue German accent like Stanley Tucci did. When I heard it, I was like, "This is a different kind of German accent. It's probably Swiss-German. Or Austrian. Or maybe Belgian." Turns out, Weaving based his accent on filmmakers Werner Herzog and Klaus Maria Brandauer. And, just like I predicted, Brandauer is actually Austrian.

And like Voldemort, he also has no nose.

2. My new-found appreciation for Captain America
I never liked Captain America as a kid. I didn't think his powers were cool enough. I even liked Dr. Strange more than him. But this movie made me see something in Captain America that I wasn't able to see in the comic books (I've never read a Captain America comic book, by the way), and that is the goodness in Captain America's heart.

This is an alteration of the most iconic Captain America pose I can remember.

3. The whole popcorn-y feel of the movie
I love movies that make me shout, scream, or cringe in suspense. You know, those types of movies that make you yell, "Watch out! He's right behind you!" even though you know that the character doesn't even know you exist.

OMG... Stanley Tucci's dead.

Finally, despite my dislikes outnumbering my likes, I would say this is a great movie. It didn't come off at all as a lame-o excuse of a prelude to The Avengers next year.


Captain America: The First Avenger. USA. 2011.


Rating: Seven out of ten.



*some info from IMDb
pics from YouTube here and here, 101 Airborne WW2, Labyrinth Film, Foxy Reign, HG Girl on Fire, The Daily Zombies, Captain America Trailer, and Visual Photos