Time to Give Poor CNN a Hand!

Meme #74

Captain America vs. Hillary

Captain America - Civil War

Saw "Captain America - Civil War" yesterday. Don't want to do a full fledged review, as it would contain many spoilers and I wouldn't want to diminish the film's appeal if you haven't seen it yet. I saw it in 3D, which is a far cry from the 3D films of my youth, and liked it. While several people mistook me for Clark Kent, in the glasses, the theater was relatively empty (on a Thursday afternoon), so there were no squalling rugrats to detract from the experience.

If you are a fan of the comic book movie genre, I highly recommend it. It stayed pretty true to its Marvel Universe roots. Without giving away a whole lot, Aunt May was much younger and hotter than she's ever been!

I'm typically not fond of CGI fight scenes, where one CGI creature battles another, in blurry, blinding speed, you have to sit through to get to the next plot point. Civil War uses a great deal of CGI, but it is blended with the live action to keep your attention on the characters and the story line rather than the techniques.

The "Civil War" is brought about by politicians appalled at the amount of collateral damage that sometimes (often) occurs when superheroes save the world from super villains. So the UN (Yea, bureaucrats!) draws up a set of laws that will put them under UN supervision. Not all of the Avengers agree. It is a parable, perhaps, of how two or more people can see the same set of facts and draw entirely different conclusions from them. Neither side becomes "evil" in that they sign or don't sign. Captain America isn't "throwing a tantrum" because he doesn't sign. He's just guided by a different set of principles.

If you saw the movie and want to discuss it, I may drop some spoilers in the comments, so Spoiler alert! Don't read the comments if you don't want to know.

And, by the way... fire the Fed Ex guy!

Excelsior!

Captain America: A Movie Review

Speaking of Captain America, I went to see Captain America, The First Avenger tonight. I thought it worked quite well on two levels, one as a stand alone movie for those of you not familiar with the story. (Perhaps, you were in suspended animation for the last seventy years??) And second as a fairly faithful rendition of the comic book story. Nothing in this review should constitute a "spoiler", so if you haven't seen the movie yet, you should be good.

Purists might be put off a bit by the introduction of a few new characters not in the comics, or the transformation of "Bucky" Barnes from boy sidekick, to adult soldier*. Instead of Robin to Cap's Batman, Bucky is an adult, inducted into the army before 98 pound weakling Steve Rogers can get past his 4-F status.

The back story of using Rogers in a war bond tour adds some semblance of reason as to why the good Captain might end up in red, white and blue Spandex.

It takes a while to get Cap into the fight overseas, but once the action starts, it's worth the wait. The movie has all you could want in a pleasant couple of hours of entertainment: action, humor, pathos and just a hint of unrequited love.

There are, as in most comics, improbabilities of science, history and reason in order to make everything work. Captain America has enough heart for you to want to suspend disbelief and go along for the ride. There is the obligatory cameo by Stan Lee, and a couple of characters show up that are immediately recognizable to long time Marvel comic readers. I won't spoil the surprise, but the term "Howling Commando" might ring a bell!

Some mention should be made of Chris Evans, who plays the Captain. As Johnny Storm, (the Human Torch, in the Fantastic Four), he was one of an ensemble, mostly used for comic relief. Here, he has to carry the entire picture and does so, if I may say so, with flying colors (pun intended)!

The closing credits are wonderfully retro. And for those with the fortitude to stick through the credits to the very end, you see a teaser for the Avengers movie coming out next May.

Those of you who have read the comics will appreciate the line "Some assembly required."

I would heartily recommend "Captain America, The First Avenger" to comic book aficionados and non-nerds alike. Go see it. Four out of five stars.



*Bucky Barnes as boy sidekick

Quote du jour -Captain America Edition

“Back then, America had a ruined economy and was fighting wars with two different countries. It was a totally different time.”

“Captain America is patriotic. Of course, Superman wore the American colors, but he wasn’t born here — much like our president.”

–Craig Ferguson