Aug 23, 2014 23:22
This was a lot better than I expected.
I found the first Cap film to be....okay. Heartfelt, but a little sentimental, and Hydra/Red Skull seemed silly. This film still has the silliness of Hydra infiltrating SHIELD (not a spoiler - its pretty much out there early on in the film), but has a much firmer basis for its position: the war on terror. As with the Civil War comic book, this film takes the approach that the cost of "winning" that war is too high, in terms of civil liberties, and that SHIELD is as much a problem as Hydra. Bravo.
Evans does a fantastic job, evoking Christopher Reeve in his wholesome, earnest, but not cheesy idealist. Johansson gets a much bigger role here than she does in any previous Marvel film, and that's good to see. She does deadpan well, but there's too much where Cap gets to be the rescuer, compared to the Avengers Assemble, where each shone equally.
Jackson also gets plenty to do as Fury, and newcomer Mackie does well as Falcon, a character entirely new to me.
I just rented this, but I liked it enough that I'll probably fork out for a copy.
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