Marvel's Ant-Man MOVIE REVIEW

So I just found out today that Ant-Man just topped this weekend's box office, but falls short on the estimates. I mean it's a good movie, but can you really blame people for not wanting to see a movie about a superhero named Ant-Man? Their loss though 'cause liked I said, it's a good movie.

The thing is that in every superhero movie, the titular character(s) should always own the show. Thankfully, the filmmakers found a way to make both Ant-Men, Scott Lang (present) and Hank Pym (past), pretty damn great characters to root for. It's nice to see the contrast between these two people and see them interact with one another.There's something these two that makes our extraordinary vision towards superheroes, human. 

Compared to Avengers: Age Of Ultron, Ant-Man is A LOT smaller in scale. But once the viewers are taken into the realms of our tiny superhero, the experience is other-worldly. Often times seeing movies like these in 3D felt unnecessary, but this time seeing it in 3D really adds-up to the experience. 

I also LOVE the way this movie ties into the rest of the Marvel movies. It doesn't feel forced or redundant, it felt natural and flowed perfectly at the time it needed to be addressed and it's fun to see a couple of folks from the previous films show up here on Ant-Man.

It's very unusual for the Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase 2 to end with an origin story and with that Ant-Man actually had a quite a bit few tropes that were acquired from the first Iron Man movie. I wouldn't go into details and I wouldn't say it's a bad thing because if it worked for Iron Man then it also worked for Ant-Man. 

I fear that the film will suffer the loss of its original writers Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish, the former being the original director. Good thing is that it didn't really deteriorate, but the changes somewhat held back the movie. It could have been more witty, some characters could have been written better, this could have been THE definitive action-comedy experience from Marvel, but it still a fine movie. 

There's still a lot of great things about this movie. The cast is spectacular, Paul Rudd (Scott Lang) and Michael Douglas (Hank Pym) are my two favorites. There's some good humor in it and the action/adventure sequences truly are immersive, considering the scope when you really think about it. I mean it's a guy who shrink to a size of an ant and pulls off a heist, to us it looks like tiny ants trying to get tiny bits of your food, but to him it's like Die-Hard meets Guardians Of The Galaxy, even though none of those movies were heist movies but you get the point. 

Like every other Marvel movies, Ant-Man is adventurous, action-packed, comedic at times and above all else, a full fledged fun experience. It may not be a perfect movie, but this film in particular shines above its peers because it tells us that sometimes you don't have to be bigger to be better. 

(+)

Enter the world of the Ant-Man (the Microverse)

The Ant-Men

Wright-ish influences

Great cast

(-)

Wright-less Wright film

Score: A-

Marvel's Ant-Man now showing in theaters.

Marvel's Avengers: Age Of Ultron (SPOILER FILLED) MOVIE REVIEW

CLICK HERE TO READ THE SPOILER FREE REVIEW.

WARNING, THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS! CLICK THE LINK ABOVE TO READ THE NON-SPOILER FILLED REVIEW. Now don't say I didn't told you so. 

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Avengers: Age Of Ultron starts out with a very comic book-y, Joss Whedon-y, giant fight sequence between the Avengers vs. what remains of the evil organization H.Y.D.R.A. led by Baron Strucker somewhere in the high a snowy part of Europe. The Avengers mission is to retrieve the Loki's Sceptre from Baron and as they were able to infiltrate the base and knock out Baron, they run in with the Maximoff Twins, Pietro the speedster and Wanda the weird mind bender. As Peitro shows off his ability against some Avengers, Wanda sneaks and messes up Tony Starks mind with vision; the defeat (and perhaps death) of The Avengers after they went on with a round 2 match against the Chitauri. 

Frightened by this, Tony Stark had a brilliant idea on how to prevent such trouble and damage, proceed with the Ultron program with the use of Loki's Sceptre. Because he's Tony Stark, he kept this a secret from his teams mates, except from an dismayed-Bruce Banner and went on to pursue with his plans and thus Ultron is born.

Unfortunately, Ultron (as an artificial intelligence) is displeased with how the humans run the world (or atleast with what he saw) thus set out a plan to make things right, restore peace by eliminating all human life form. So he kills the other artificial intelligence in the room J.A.R.V.I.S. and attacks the Avengers at the Avengers Tower as he caught them off guard. 

The Avengers disassembled (pun intended) Ultron but his consciousness traveled through the internet and this makes every single one of our superheroes mad at Stark. Jumping back to the twins, Pietro and Wanda were contacted by Ultron, now with a new body and promises them that together they will destroy the Avengers.

Team Ultron and The Avengers faced again once more at the cargo ship of Ulysses Klaue, a smuggler on the strongest metal on earth vibranium, which is what Ultron is after for. The Avengers failed to subdue Team Ultron as they got their heads messed up by Wanda with visions. Natasha under going the Black Widow program, Steve with his dream dance with Peggy Carter, Thor with something bad going on in Asgard and Bruce with something that makes him mad. Probably a sad, disappointing and furious face of Betty Ross knowing this growing thing going on with him and Natasha. As Bruce is forced to wreck havoc in South Africa as Hulk, a back-up less Iron Man pursues him with his Hulkbuster armor. Now in what point of time did Tony made this armor and what made him do this armor? I don't know, they never said, just roll with it. 

Because of the incident, The Avengers had to go hiding for a while at a barn which turned out to be Clint Barton's home with his wife and kids, which brings our heroes to an internal turmoil among themselves. Thor temporarily left the team to pursue some unanswered questions from his visions. Nick Fury randomly shows up to be this not-a-director-but-a-concerned-old-man. 

Ultron uses the vibranium to create a new artificial intelligent life form, powerful and bent with his vision. The Avengers knew about this so Captain America, Hawkeye and Black Widow went on a sparring match with Ultron and his buddies through South 'Korea, or atleast Seoul to steal the Ultron's new A.I. that is still in process. They successfully snatched the packaged and they were able to bring a long a now convinced-that-The-Avengers-are-good-and-Ultron-is-bad Maximoff twins, but Black Widow is kidnapped. 

The Avengers had a small fight among themselves, a sample of a physical confrontation that foreshadows Captain America: Civil War (Captain America v Iron Man, yes it really did happen, but it was short) as they were debating whether it is a good idea to activate Ultron's A.I. and probably use it against him. Thor interferes the fight and activates the A.I. who keeps saying the word vision, thus maybe we should call him Vision. Thor did this because he had some sort of clarity from his premonition, which we never really saw get resolved. Thor concluded that it is okay to trust Vision, since he carried his mighty hammer. 

Steve called it enough, it's payback time and put an end to this. So with all they got, they pursued Ultron who took over Baron's base and terrorizes a city nearby, but before doing so they made sure everyone got out of the city and save Black Widow, or so they thought. Before they could get anyone out, Ultron unveiled his ultimate plan. It is to create a gigantic propeller with the vibranium, carry half of the city into orbit with it and strike the earth down with the floating city like a meteorite in hopes to create an explosion powerful enough to wipe humanity, I kid you not, this is his plan. Thus embarks on a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooonngg roller coaster of action, destruction, superheroes vs. robots. 

As you might have guessed it, The Avengers thwarted Ultron and his plan with a little help from Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. who just randomly pop-out of nowhere to help and with them is War Machine. Lots of casualty and one in particular is the life of one of the heroes; Pietro. Yes, it is Pietro who died. Ultron is "killed" by Vision and mission accomplished. 

Sometime has passed, the New Avengers head quarters was formed. Iron Man and Thor left The Avengers, Hulk went missing after the fight with Ultron, which made Natasha sad, and Captain America formed the New Avengers; War Machine, Falcon, Vision, Wanda Maximoff, Black Widow and of course, Captain America. With one epic final shot the last lines (from Captain America) are "Avengers, Assemble!", but before he could say the second word the screen cuts to black into the credit scenes. 

There is no after-credit scene, but there is a mid-credit scene. With Thanos, finally getting his hands on the Infinity Gauntlet and says the words "finally, I will handle this myself.." or something like that. I think I'm paraphrasing it, but I'm pretty sure he said something like that. 

In terms of visual entertainment, I liked this movie a lot. There are a lot of action sequences and a lot to choose from. The final fight was long, very long. I really like the humor in this film, there is a good amount of them. Some of the work, others don't, but that's normal. The characters interactions are top notch, especially the way how they unconventional relate themselves to each other as monsters and how we the audience segregate the good monsters from the bad monsters. 

There are certain things I don't understand though like, why does Ultron hate being related/compared to Tony Stark when he acts, thinks and speaks so much like Tony Stark?

I didn't mind the build-up to the Black Panther movie with Ulysses Klaue, I initially though it was going to feel forcefully stuffed, but it worked out just fine. 

The visions the Avengers had were visually haunting. We get a better look to Natasha's past in the Black Widow program. We get to see Steve feeling incomplete as he really didn't witnessed and experienced the end of the war and also his supposedly dance with Peggy Carter, thus showing him how much of a war freak he is. 

It is those Thor that makes me scratch my head. It is about asgardians partying to their death and Heimdall blaming their impending doom to Odinson. So he went to see Erik Selvig to get some sort of resolution from this that we never got to see. But it did contribute to the story, still this a big question mark on my book. 

Now there's this thing with Black Widow and Hulk. Practically, it wanted to show how tormented these two souls are and shows that they are destructive monsters of the team. But it's hard to get invested with this. But to the grander scheme of things, this just felt random. Not in a bad way though, but let's just say it wasn't as touching and moving as it should. 

I was really pumped up to see the New Avengers and this made me intrigued to see this roster in action. 

Marvel's Avengers: Age Of Ultron hits theaters this April.

Big Hero 6 MOVIE REVIEW

It was quite funny to hear the people at my cinema's reaction to the fact that Big Hero 6 is a Marvel franchise.. quite funny...

Right now is a good time for a comic book fan to be alive, with the upcoming film releases from both Marvel and DC, plus now we can get Marvel movies in the form of Disney animated films, oh yeah this is the good life. 

Big Hero 6 is the story of Hiro Hamada and his inflatable companion Baymax, who sets on an adventure that will bring the two of them and their "Nerd" friends to the path of becoming the superhero team of San Fransokyo.

The movie maybe titled Big Hero 6, but the very core of this film is Hiro and Baymax. Individually, they are likable characters, but together they're just so lovable you don't wanna let go of these two, especially Baymanx, everybody needs a hug from Baymax, The rest might fall on the background, but make no mistake they're still some really good side characters. 

The animation is easily beautiful. Especially San Fransokyo, I would move to that place if I can, and if that place existed. It's a combination of the best things from San Francisco and Tokyo, I'll leave the rest to your imagination. The amazing CG animation did help a lot to bring more flavors to an already roller coaster ride that is the big sequences, especially the action scenes. 

The movie seemed to borrow a lot of elements from previous blockbuster films, Familiar concepts, but new faces and believe me they still work. The action's fun and exciting and it plays the strings of your heart when it wants to.

Even if some concepts are familiar, even if didn't reach the epic-ness of previous Disney efforts, Big Hero 6 is still entertaining, amusing and one of the most beautiful animated films of 2014. It's a refreshing tale that has nothing to prove to the others, it is its own masterpiece. 

(+)

Entertaining from beginning to end 

Outstanding animation

The personal nurse (Baymax! duh!)

(-)

Borrowed elements, with refreshing takes

Score: A

Big Hero 6 now in theaters

MARVEL STUDIOS' BIG ANNOUNCEMENT Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase 3 Announcements THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS

So basically, Marvel Studios has invited a lot of press and fans alike to a mysterious event in Los Angeles that is probably still on going right now as I type this blog.

For those who haven't figured it out, I live in a different continent FAR AWAY from Los Angeles, so as all of these things unfold, I am at my bed quietly taking a power nap. 

But tonight I found a benefit for sleeping really early and then waking up early as well. A good friend of mine sent me a link to keep me updated on that specific event as I watch everything fall into their places, and what have I learned?

Marvel Studios is on a roll tonight!

A total of 9 movies consisting their Phase 3 act for the Marvel Cinematic Universe and I'm about to give my thoughts and opinions on this films one-by-one right now because I'm running out of ideas for intros.

First movie on the list is Captain America: Serpent Society...

nah, just kidding, Captain America: Civil War will see the return of Captain America: The Winter Soldier directors, brothers Anthony and Joe Russo (Arrested Development, Community, Captain America: The Winter Soldier DUH!), with actor Chris Evans returning as the Star-Spangled-Man-With-A-Plan and taking with him is MCU's resident armored avenger Robert Downey Jr. as.. you know.. Iron Man.

*insert duh! pic here*

Iron Man? on a Captain America movie!? Well to be honest, anything is better than an Iron Man 4 movie at this point. 

With very few heroes with secret identities in the MCU currently, it's interesting to see where will they take this specific story even as many of the comic's pivotal characters are not in Disney/Marvel's grasp, but only time will tell. Maybe some of this studios will change there, or won't.

and then an announcement was made for Doctor Strange, to be directed by Scott Derickson (Sinister, Deliver Us From Evil) starring every-fanboy-wishes-it-will-be-Benedict Cumbervatch-but-let's-be-honest-it's-still-not-confirmed and god knows who else. The film is to be released on November 4, 2016 and was suggested introducing us to the super natural side and parallel dimensions of the MCU. Not much has been announced for this one, will we see Benedict Cumberbatch as Stephen? Who's going to be the villain? We'll wait and see. 

The following year will see Guardians of The Galaxy 2 or as some of friends call it the sequel to ther  ooga chaka ooga chaka movie. To be honest, this is the one I'm most confident seeing, probably because as how the first film suggested, it takes place galaxies away from where the heat is going on, so basically that alone gives this film more creative freedom than the others, but a certain Marvel movie might feature our beloved Guardians teaming up with Earth's Mightiest Heroes against a common threat, if you know what I'm talking about.

BTW, Guardians of The Galaxy 2 will see the return of director Jams Gunn and many of its cast, The film is to be released on May 5, 2017.

Taking Guardians of The Galaxy 2's original release date of June 28, 2017 is Thor: Ragnarok, starring Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston as Thor and Loki respectively. The movie is said to be "the end of all things", well atleast maybe for Thor and his godly friends (and family, maybe even his "girlfriend") and is said to pick up after Avengers: Age Ultron. I don't really have that much to say other than I hope this won't be as mediocre as Thor: The Dark World. Is director Alan Taylor returning though? They don't know so I don't know, but we'll see.

Finally, a Black Panther  movie to be released on November 3, 2017 (MCU's last film for 2017), starring Chadwick Boseman (42). Did anyone see this casting coming? If so, raise your hands, anyone? Exactly! To me this is a biggest surprise. I don't want to speculate too much on this one, I want my mind clear of speculations and expectations for this film, and just let this concept art here sink deep inside my brain as it should...

Let that sink in.

Moving on is Captain Marvel and The Inhumans to be released on July 6 and November 2 of 2018 respectively. 

You might be asking, why are did I put this two together? Well, these two happens to be fillers between Marvel's first two-parter film (or event). Captain Marvel maybe Marvel's answer to WB/DC's Wonder Woman and The Inhumans as replacement for X-Men which are on Fox? Maybe. No directors, writers and actors are announced as of the moment.

And then finally, the biggest event of Phase 3. An event so big they have to divide this film into 2 movies, Avengers: Infinity War..

Much like WB/DC's Justice League, Marvel Phase 3's biggest finisher is a two-parter. Other than the fact that this film will be based on Marvel Comics' The Infinity Saga, but knowing Marvel Studios I'm in for all changes and surprises. So like most of this films, I will clear my head for any speculation, but my expectations are off the roof, and I live in a very tall house. Part 1is to be released on May 4, 2018 and then Part 2 will be released on May 3, 2019. 

Now this is how you make an announcement!

So that's it, Marvel's 10 biggest upcoming movies. Are you guys excited to see all of them? Maybe just some of them? Are you happy we'll be getting 20 SUPERHERO FILMS IN TOTAL from Marvel Studios and WB/DC (excluding other franchises)?

"The Amazing Spider-Man 2" MOVIE REVIEW

The Amazing Spider-Man 2, it's action-packed, drama-heavy, (one of) the best teen-rom chemistry and pure comical adventure. Put them altogether and it's quite a mess.

I must say this one of, if not, my most anticipated movie of 2014. Been waiting for this sequel since the first movie came out in 2012, but before we proceed to my review of this film, let me first discuss my thoughts on the first film.

The Amazing Spider-Man was the re-boot of the franchise that came out way back in 2012. The film had an excellent cast, a good story with a really good twist to it. I ended up enjoying the movie, thinking this is the superior Spider-Man movie. But for some reason, the film isn't staying on me on home video. I started to see the flaws of the film that bothered most of the film's naysayers. 

First off, while the film did have clever fight scenes, but none are as memorable as the ones we've seen before. The film also brings up many question we all hoped will be all answered, but most aren't, which serves its purpose to build up for future sequels. And, the film is just too gritty and dark for Spider-Man. I get that they're trying a more realistic and practical approach to Spidey and even if they delivered well, it just feels odd the more you watch it. 

Now that I have covered the first film in three paragraphs, we now proceed to the matter at hand. 

Right off the bat, let me say that this is the coolest looking movie I've seen so far this year. By any means, the film is a lot more colorful than the first one. This film feels alot more confident about being a Spider-man movie, whereas the first film tries to live under the shadow of Nolan's The Dark Knight Trilogy. It almost feels like a re-boot of a re-boot. It doesn't feel like a sequel to The Amazing Spider-Man at all, until someone mentions Dr. Curt Connors and the trouble he caused as Lizard. 

The film features Peter Parker, played by Andrew Garfield, who is at the prime of his career as Spider-Man. Granted, the actor never looked 19-20 years old to me or to anyone at the theater, but he has perfectly portrayed a young man who has to deal with his double life as an ordinary college kid and superhero, even if life gets more "complicated". Andrew Garfield IS THE quintessential live-action Spider-Man. This is probably one of the biggest praise I could give to this movie.

Emma Stone's Gwen Stacey is also another hit in terms of acting and as a well written character. Thank goodness she's more than a damsel in distress, and even on a few occasions she is the hero, which makes her even more likable as a leading actress and probably one of the best in all comic book movies. 

The chemistry between Peter and Gwen are actually better than ever. We're talking about some really good teen romance chemistry that has ever been put to screen. There on and off relationship might be one of the reasons this movie drags up a bit, but you just can't get enough of seeing this two together on screen. 

Jaime did a good job portraying Spider-Man's super stalker, Max Dillion. Who then falls victim to an accident which will transform him to the electrifying freak show Electro. Serving as the main antagonist of the film, Electro has showcased his power, and by that, I mean he's absurdly powerful. He has imposed a real and great threat not only to Spider-Man but to the entire island of New York. Seriously, this guy puts whatever Lizard has up against Spider-Man to shame. 

Another great performance was from Dane DeHaan as Harry Osborn. He's definitely a better Harry Osborn than James Franco, seriously. And, him turning into the Green Goblin? Way different beast than William Dafoe. This guy is definitely killing it. 

The film does have some iconic fight scenes. Especially the fight scene at Times Square, were Spider-Man and Electro head on the battle of full on power and character, as both characters are portrayed perfectly in the scene and the collision was just brilliant. And, they are really colorful and brighter than ever, not like the first film where you could barely see the light. 

The film's story itself, however, feels bloated, not because it had too many characters, but it had too many plots. The film is goes into different directions, from one plot point to another, it's just all over the place. Sometimes it forgets the importance of each plot points to the point that things just fall short in terms of execution. 

Take the villains for example. This film is two hours long, and with three villains you feel like that length of time should be enough to cover the buildup of each villains. But nope, Rhino was only in the movie for like four minutes, Electro somehow completely disappears from the film in certain point in time and Venom had more screen time in Spider-Man 3 than Green Goblin did here. 

And as I have mentioned earlier, this films does drag. With all these drama, tension and build up, it's really hard to not miss Peter put on that Spidey suit and do his Spidey stuff. It would have been all good all these fillers captures our interest so we wouldn't realize that it is killing our time. But it's hard to not notice that almost have of them are repetitive. 

Would it be better if Peter and Gwen just break up in the first film and this film had Peter struggling to win Gwen back, instead of the on-and-off again route they went that is undeniable cute but repetitive? 

And with all this time killers, it's really disheartening to see the villains be underplayed. Taken, they are really good villains and they are well portrayed, but there's just not enough explorations to these characters to make us invested to their sudden twisted faith. At one point they are troubled souls and in a blink of an eye they are full on hateful super villains, no questions asked. Where's the buildup to these characters? Give us time to actually believe they have good reason to hate Spider-Man.

But with all these troubled build up do come together perfectly in the third act. The film just became more exciting during Spidey's last fight with Electro and then everyone just had chills when Green Goblin comes to take down Spider-Man. The "final fight" was thrilling, even if it was horrendously short. 

And talk about build up, we all know why certain characters that could have been in the movie, shouldn't have been in the movie are in the movie. That is their purpose was to build up for future sequels. This film also feels a bit like Iron Man 2, the film strays away from the actual story to focus on a buildup that contributes nothing to the story, as if the movie would have been better without it. That's marketing crap, you know, when you show 75% of the film in trailers? 

And yes that one scene we all knew coming. Even though we've read it in the comics, even though if it was hinted many times in the trailers, when everything came down, it still hits you hard like the first time. Especially if you're unfamiliar with the comics or trailers, I can hear people at my theater crying and I teared up a bit. Yes, this is the first time it happened in any comic book movies to me. It was a bit different, but perfectly portrayed, yet it still hits you in your gut, really hard. 

The movie is filled with iconic shots, looks like Director Marc Webb learned a thing or two from Zack Snyder. He's also very attached to soundtrack of this film. He wanted the music that would feel as contemporary and kinetic as Spider-Man, and composers Hans Zimmer and the Magnificent Six has come up with the perfect soundtrack for the film. It surely isn't Zimmer's best work compared to others, but it's definitely a step up the previous score of the first film. This film is definitely a must-see in 3D, no questions asked. 

If you're expecting a mid-credit scene, just go when the credits starts rolling. It's just another marketing crap that doesn't really make sense. 

Final Verdict 

If there's one thing we've learned about The Amazing Spider-Man 2, is that whenever you make a sequel of something, you always go bigger. But sometimes, bigger isn't always better. If you can look past its obvious short comings and its messy buildup, this film can be something truly Amazing.  

It's disappointing I couldn't give this movie an A, because it doesn't deserve an A. However, I'm relieved that this film will never get my lowest grading. Because no matter how scruffy the story is, this movie is just visually amazing and I loved every single bit of its visual extravaganza and I just can't deny that. That's why I have to give them credit for that. 

You can check out my original fan-made poster I used for this review on my DeviantART account by clicking HERE. 

"Captain America: The Winter Soldier" REVIEW

The Review

So, you want a Marvel movie with a star studded cast, a promising story, but in a lazy-written script filled with impractical and out of placed comedy and grand, but dumb action? Well if you want Iron Man in it go check out Regular Man a.k.a. Iron Man 3. But if you're looking for those things in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, then you're looking at the wrong movie. Except for the first part though, this film has a star-studded cast, but we'll get into that latter.

The movie is a plot heavy joyride, filled with conspiracies, conflict within the organization S.H.I.E.L.D. and Steve Rogers, played by Chris Evans, stands in between the conflict. Steve Rogers, who still is trying to figure out his place in this world, must act on this war even when things get a little more personal on his side. The synopsis is a little complicated to tell, as there are many things that is happening in this film, and you surely don't want to miss any of those. The action in this movie... is PERFECT. It's not just any other superhero movie action sequences, they are more than that. It's like the action sequences is a love child of everything awesome and cool about the fight sequences from the 007 movies and Bourne movies. Its griity, grand, epic and over-the-top and everyone will love it. Just like the very movie itself, it doesn't entirely feel like a superhero flick, it also feels like a political thriller, which in some ways it is. 

As far as cast and acting, PERFECT as well. Chris Evans just out did his own performances from The First Avenger and The Avengers and has made his best performance as Steve Rogers/Captain America yet. When not in action, he's really nice, cool and very well mannered as well (kids, don't put your feet on top of the dash) and very sensitive and dramatic as well, as how one particular character puts it. But when he's on the action, he's ON the action. He is the Anti-Terminator in a star-spangled outfit, he is unstoppable with or without the shield. By the way, that shield, boy it is brutal. Have you played as Captain America in Marvel vs. Capcom games? yep, that kind of brutal. He's still THE star-spangled man with a plan, and he gets better in time (or as the movie progresses). No matter if he's on the field of battle or his on the field of his apartment, he's a very like-able and relate-able character. Because honestly, everyone is a little lost on the inside. Also, there is a lot of Easter eggs here, let's see how many did you catch. 

The other cast members did an excellent job as well. Robert Redford as Alexander Pierce, who did a pretty good job as the senior head of S.H.I.E.L.D. Comic book fans and/or even ordinary movie goers might like where this movie is taking his character. Scarlett Johansson is still a fine Black Canary, it doesn't matter if you think someone could pull off the better than her before, what matters is that she owns as Black Widow. The latest addition, Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson/Falcon also did a great job in his role. He's the lesser Captain America, he's a hero, but he's no super soldier, and his bonding with Steve Rogers just makes both characters more human, especially when they both discuss about getting back into the world.  

So far, I only have VERY few gripes about this film. One is that I don't get to hear that score from The First Avenger by Alan Silvestri. Well, we get to hear a small portion of it at the beginning of the film, but it's pretty much understandable why they did a new score for this film because tonal wise, this movie is a little more aggressive and gritty and that cheesy 1940s influenced theme just won't fit. 

Before we move on to my other gripe, here's an aspect of the film that I couldn't find anywhere in it, the comedy. Yes, there is humor but surprisingly no dumb and out of place comedy in it. I am not sure if there is no joke, there is a joke only that it's not funny enough, or it is funny only that I'm just too focused on the bigger picture. I'm just sayin'. 

My other gripe is none other than the Winter Soldier himself. First, his character is a badass, he is the Terminator of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it is just impossible to take down this dude. He didn't get you with a grenade launcher, he will just stab you instead. If you get in his way, don't bother running, you're already dead. But because of that, he feels more of a plot device than an actual character. It might be understandable for the kind of situation he's in, but there was very little time to establish him as still a human being with all of this shenanigans going on. Even then, the limited time span made the confrontations between him and Captain America restricted, even if it looks like they're just going to kill each other eventually, it feels like they could do more with some emotional gravitas as they go down the big revelation. It's not like you didn't see it coming anyway, thanks trailers (sarcasm).  

Final Verdict

So let me ask you again, do you still want a Marvel movie with  a promising story, but in a lazy-written script filled with impractical and out of placed comedy and grand, but dumb action? If you still do, then go see Iron Man 3, if you don't then good for you, 'cause now we have Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Not only this movie surpasses its predecessor in every aspect, but also every other Disney/Marvel flick out there. Yes, I think this movie is better than The Avengers, there I said it. Why? Because this movie proves that you don't have to be a superhero ensemble flick to be the better Marvel film. You just got to have a really great source material, add in an original and superb story to it, fill it with the right characters and you will have an action packed superhero/political thriller film with a story and action that will blow your mind. This is definitely the Marvel solo flick that deserves a billion dollar mark and a recognition as one of the best Marvel movies or CBM ever. This is the game changer of MCU Phase 2 and the best of the series as well, let's see Guardians Of The Galaxy and Avengers: Age of Ultron top that. 

"Captain America: The First Avenger" - LATE MOVIE REVIEW

The Review

If you're going to make movies for several Marvel characters which will eventually have (almost) all of the most recognizable characters team up in the very first superhero ensemble flick, it's only practical you make a movie about the leader of the group itself, Captain America. Growing up seeing re-runs of the 60's cartoon back at the early late 90's and early 2000's when it still a routine for small kids to catch Saturday morning cartoons. Until you started reading Captain America comics as a teenager, you really have no idea who Captain America is and what it's like to be a part of his universe. Consider this film an introductory of the character to the wider audience who's lazy enough to even pick up a comic book. Because knows heaven we shall never speak of the 90's disaster movie which stared what's-his-face-again as the titular character, it's best dive into this film instead. 

We start off with Steve Rogers, played by Chris Evans, a young man with a purest heart of gold who wanted to give his life to serve his country during the heat of World War II. The only problem is, Steve is tiny stick even thinner than a regular BBQ stick, you might feel pity to skim through his medical record. But then a government doctor, Dr. Albert Erskine, played by Stanley Tucci, has offered Steve a chance to serve the military, as long as he volunteers to undergo an experiment which would give him peak physical strength, speed, agility and a chance to look more like Chris Evans in his best days and less like Christian Bale from The Machinist. Now the man named Captain America has emerged. America's walking flag sent to every dangerous missions of the war wielding a powerful vibranium steel shield that gives the sport Frisbee and whole new name. With new found abilities, a superhero status, Steve Roger's wishes has been fulfilled, but his life will never be the same. 

Reading that, the movie itself sounded patriotic and inspiring, which at times it is. The movie itself has a very fun story to tell. The World War II setting sets it apart from the previous Marvel movies at that time. But if you're looking forward to a war movie with comic book characters in it, you have another thing coming. The movie by any means, is a treasure hunt film, much like the Indiana Jones movies. One of the key plots is the Tesseract, a (or the) Cosmic Cube, which is being used by Nazi's science division, H.Y.D.R.A. under the leader ship of the film's main antagonist, The Red Skull, played by Hugo Weaving. When our characters start fighting over the possession of the Cosmic Cube, the film itself steps away from the usual war film formula, as if these certain events takes place behind the public's eye. People knew who Captain America is, but they kinda didn't knew what he does. The action scenes are grand and epic in its scale, but damn are they cheesy. Captain America infiltrates a H.Y.D.R.A. prison and sets free and mob of US soldiers held captive without being spotted while doing so? That's something. The film has some crazy ups and downs when it comes to tonal variation that should have been done really well if not for the writing that wasn't thought through, it's kind of a bummer to be honest. 

The film itself has a pretty interesting cast. Chris Evans did a good job playing both Steve Rogers before his transformation and Steve Rogers as Captain America. You are fully convinced of his performance as a small New Yorker who doesn't want to get his new found status into his head and a character who wants to keep his pure heart until the end his days. But even with star studded cast, somehow no one really stood out to me other than Evans himself, though he didn't really steal the movie. Doesn't mean the film had bad acting though, I'm just saying.

The score composed by Alan Silvestri fits perfectly for the tone of this film, it's not Hans Zimmer/John Williams/Danny Elfman' level by any means, but still pretty epic and patriotic. The special effects are passable, but the set pieces are very astonishing. The editing, my gosh, the editing though, is friggin' lazy. Who edited this film? Looks like someone didn't bother to have a second look. 

The Final Veridct

The concept of Captain America himself is patriotic, heroic, epic and super cheesy. But Captain America: The First Avengers wears them like the titular character's armor and shield that not only made him look silly, but also iconic. Even if it's lacking, this is the Marvel movie that has a pure heart in it, like its titular character.