Captain America: The First Avenger Review

Captain America: The First Avenger is the fifth movie in the Marvel film series which ultimately lead to The Avengers film in 2011 which features several of the characters from prior films including the Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and more. Captain America does succeed admirably in introducing the character and preparing audiences for his existence in The Avenger. However despite this and the many promising moments Captain America has, the film as a whole never comes together into a cohesive satisfying whole.

The most problematic issue present in Captain America is the action is simply nothing special. Their action is admittedly rather well staged, but they fell more like a collection of action moments sporadically edited together in the hope that they may wow. This does work when it is intended to be viewed  in such a way, for example when Captain America is shown defeating enemies in several locations at different times in a montage it works ever so well. It however does not work when it is in a more straight forward scenes with moments from the same action scene lacking the sense of flow and continuity between shoots one shoulkd expect from an action film, let alone from a film with a budget the size this film commands.

The previous Marvel films where action films but they also contained many laughs as well. Captain America is comparatively devoid of such humour which given the setting does make sense. However it must be said the easiest way to have one pay less attention, or at least care less about the larger leaps in logic present would be to them laughing (and laughing with the film, not at it). This is something the Thor and Iron Man films understood and implemented extremely well, and something that could have helped the few cringe worthy moments present in Captain America be less problematic then they unfortunately are.

Performances throughout are strong as one would expect from the cast present. Hugo Weaving in particular helps the villain seem more threatening then he really should be. It doesn't help that the henchmen are so stupid and incompetent that they make Stormtroppers look like super soldiers. Thankfully the films finale is one of the films strongest points. Both bitter-sweet and providing a level of maturity and emotion that is otherwise not present the ending propels Captain America to be far more memorable then what the rest of the film deserves.

Captain America is not the spectacle film many would have hoped for, and is without doubt the second weakest film in the Marvel series thus far (Iron Man 3 would have to take the 'crown' for the weakest). It however is still a decent action film with a few moments that seem to pull away from the cliché and the fantastic end one well likely be reasonably entertaining throughout. Sadly reasonable is hardly the most positive of comments and Captain America: The First Avenger like the Thor films comes recommended as a decent rental.


What about the 3d?
Captain America, much like all the Marvel films thus far presented in 2d is yet another 2d to 3d conversion and the results whilst not bad aren't anything special either. Captain America is a fairly good conversion and doesn't feature any of the egregiously obvious cardboard cut-out effect moments that are present in Thor. It however also tends to feature very little depth and whilst the 3d adds to the experience the mentioned lack of depth remains problematic. Thus far the only Marvel film worth viewing in 3d has been The Avengers (which was rather spectacular), which is sadly expected as The Avengers along with this film are the only two films that where shoot with 3d in mind.

Thor: The Dark World Review

When Thor was released in 2011 I was left satisfied yet still somewhat disappointed with the final results. Sadly Thor: The Dark Wolrd follows the first film to a fault. It is similar in numerous ways with many of the same strengths and weaknesses as the first film. But The: The Dark World ultimately falls flat and is a step back for the series with the action being less imaginative and the humour not as entertaining.

One of the primary issues I imagined Marvel Studio films would have post Avengers is that everything would fell smaller and more confined then the individual stories otherwise would. This isn't necessarily a bad thing but when a story requires a larger scale and then fails to deliver, things can start feeling rather tepid. Thor: The Dark World falls into this trap and as big as the stakes are told to be, we never truly understand why or are giving any reason to care about what is occurring on screen. The fundamental issue seems to be the villain who's motivations are so simplistic and undeveloped we might as well have no idea why he is striving towards his final goal. The result is there is little weight behind what occurs and the film fells oddly small given the at times larger then life imagery. It doesn't help that the action itself whilst reasonably well staged is only momentarily exciting and lacks the punch that one would expect from an end of world story featuring Thor.

With that being said my primary issue with the first Thor film is once again the primary issue I have with Thor: The Dark World. That issue is love story between Thor and Jane which in Thor: The Dark World is once again forced and unnecessary. This is most impressive as they even turn Jane into the Macguffin of the story, apparently in a vain attempt to make the character relevant. A good idea in theory but one that ultimately fells contrived and a rather desperate attempt to keep a character present who should simply have been dropped from the series. Thankfully Chris Hemsworth is once again excellent as Thor despite the lack of forward direction for the character and Natalie Portman simply seems bored as Jane which result in even less chemistry between the two, something I wouldn't have believed possible prior to release.

Conversely two of the greatest strengths of the first Thor film was its humour and the character of Loki. Loki is once again a joy to watch and whilst his screen time isn't notably increased when compared to the first film he thankfully doesn't fell underutilised this time around. Unfortunately the humour which was notably catapulted forward in the first film by the fish out of the water aspects (by having a god essentially become human) and by juxtaposing the surreal with the mundane, is not as successful here as it was in the first film. The same style of humour is present, but more frequently fells forced and present only to try and bring life to an otherwise tired scenes. As a result Thor: The Dark world is rarely amusing and often fells more like a poor imitation that was simply ticking of a list of what to include in a sequel to the first Thor film.

One could easily describe Thor: The Dark World as more of the same, but mostly not as good as in the first Thor film. The action is less exciting, the humour less amusing though the unnecessary and forced love story remains as uninteresting, unnecessary and forced as it was in the first film. Thor: The Dark World is not a bad film, it however is a very average film and as a result does not come recommended as anything more then a potential rental.

Thor Review

After a great deal of waiting that extended well beyond the titillating tease for a Thor movie in Iron Man 2 a Thor film was finally released in 2011. To this day I still sadly can't help but be underwhelmed by the final results with Thor being the second weakest Marvel Studios film thus far. To be clear, Thor is not a bad film like I found Iron Man 3 to be and still remains enjoyable, it however is in many ways also a wasted opportunity.

The strength of Thor is most notably the comedy and the film contains many extremely funny moments. The visuals are also simply stunning, though the scenes that take place on earth do fell dull and lifeless especially when they are are compared with Asgard. The 3d, which was yet another conversion at times displays the cardboard cut-out effect and clearly was not taken into consideration by the film makers. Put simply the 2d release of Thor is the version to see.

The main issue however resides with the pacing and forced love story. To put it simply whilst both Chris Hemsworth as Thor and Natalie Portman as Jane both give strong performance their is little chemistry between the two and as a result the love story present fells forced and completely unnecessary. This is particularly an issue as Thor fells overcrowded with little to no breathing room and could have likely benefited from either a longer run-time or the removal of a the forced and contrived love story. Likewise whilst Stellan Skarsgård provides a good performance he fells underutilized and once again unnecessary and is seemingly included for his more pertinent role in The Avengers.

The whole angle of the 'villain' also doesn't carry the emotional impact that the film-makers seem to have been aiming for which leaves the ending rather anticlimactic. Admittedly Tom Hiddleston as Loki provides for what is easily the strongest performance and also the most interesting character present. It is just a shame we get a tired, predictable and unneeded love story instead of a more in depth look at Loki and his relationship with his brother Thor and father Odin.

Thankfully the humour is successfully enough to overlook some of Thors more obvious flaws and the action scenes are generally exciting and keep everything moving forward at a brisk pace. Sadly the humour and action isn't enough to overlook Thors wasted potential. Thor is a film that I would have no hesitation recommending to fans of comic book films and those who like large doses of humour in their action films. For those less ecstatic about such films Thor is by no means a film that is likely to change their mind on the genre and thus comes tentatively recommended.