Tag Archives: Hayley Atwell

Avengers: Age of Ultron {Film Review}

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One of the most anticipated movies of the summer has finally hit cinemas and anticipation would be an understatement. After the release of both Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy last year, both fans and general audiences were expecting this 11th entry in Marvel Cinematic Universe to top everything off.

After the events of The Winter Soldier, The Avengers (consists of Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans), Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Bruce Banner/Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner)) pursue the last HYDRA commander, Baron Wolfgang von Strucker (Thomas Kretschmann). However, they also come across Strucker’s experiments with the twins, Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) (changed from being mutants and Magneto’s children to experiments, due to 20th Century Fox owning rights to X-Men). Stark starts thinking about retiring from being Iron Man and starts creating, along with Banner, a new set of A.I. drones to tackle future threats (even extraterrestrial). Thus Ultron (James Spader) is born but doesn’t pan out as expected. Like a new child, he quickly takes action by having one primary goal; human extinction.

avengers_age_of_ultron_ver11_xlgThe movie doesn’t waste any time setting things up (if you haven’t been following the events from previous movies, good luck) and we’re straight into our first big action set-piece. It may feel a little rushed at times but it all flows seamlessly together. The whole MCU is already established at this point, though the few scenes where it takes a break from the action is one of the highlights. The entire cast fits into their characters like a glove, fully adjusting to their roles that we’ve been following since 2008. It completely shows their camaraderie as working in a team, as what made The Avengers such a treat to watch. Their witty banter and emotional connection are probably one of the most compelling moments in this movie (especially a running gag with Rogers and the team). We’re even given more back-story to Barton and Romanoff, which fleshed out their characters in a huge way than before. Both Maximoff twins are a welcome addition, giving Avengers an extra challenge to tackle. Wanda uses her hypnosis to bring out the team’s fears, thus adding a human layer to their characterisation.There are a few additional characters put into the mix (Andy Serkis as Ulysses Klaue to name one of many and antagonist for future Black Panther film) and may feel a little much to take all in but you tend to go along with the ride. Though it’s James Spader who steals the spot-light and he’s the most charismatic and intimidating villain since Loki. His introduction is undeniably gripping and quite spine-chilling with his speech towards the Avengers. He observes the world with childlike perception, slowly growing incredibly intellectual but also persistent on bringing total destruction on a global scale.

Writer/director Joss Whedon may excel on delivering wisecracks here and there but doesn’t fall short of the spectacle and there’s plenty of that on display! The creative fight combos between the heroes (mainly from Captain America and Thor) shows their ability to work as a team. The Hulkbuster vs Hulk scene was incredibly entertaining to watch, yet follows Man of Steel’s complete utter city destruction (may not be on the same scale but comes close). The design of Ultron is pretty much a Terminator pumped with steroids but given a face similar to Michael Bay’s Transformers movies. Given a lot to deliver expressions from the face with Spader also providing motion-capture performance. Although Quicksilver was the scene-stealer from X-Men: Days of Future Past, this portrayal of Quicksilver is just as creative and does convey his intense speed through-out the movie. Brian Tyler and Danny Elfman’s score gets you pumped for rooting our heroes but also delivering the right emotional notes during such scenes with our characters.

Overall; one of the best entries in the series. It somewhat surpasses the sequel on expanding the MCU series but also fleshing out our protagonist’s and making it worth investing from beginning to end. Joss Whedon makes his last outing with Marvel a bang and has given us a fantastic villain with Ultron. Next up, Ant-Man.

5 out of 5

p.s. Stay for a mid-credits scene, though you probably were ready to do that anyways.

56th BFI London Film Festival: What’s On

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The programme for the 56th BFI London Film Festival in partnership with American Express launched today under the new creative leadership of BFI’s Head of Exhibition and Festival Director, Clare Stewart, bringing a rich and diverse programme of international films and events from both established and upcoming talent over a 12 day celebration of cinema. The Festival will screen a total of 225 fiction and documentary features, including 14 World Premieres, 15 International Premieres and 34 European Premieres. There will also be screenings of 111 live action and animated shorts. A stellar line-up of directors, cast and crew are expected to take part in career interviews, master classes, and other special events. The 56th BFI London Film Festival will run from 10-21 October 2012.

This year sees the introduction of several changes to the Festival’s format. Now taking place over 12 days, the Festival expands further from its traditional Leicester Square cinemas – Odeon West End, Vue West End, Odeon Leicester Square and Empire – and the BFI Southbank to include four additional new venues – Hackney Picturehouse, Renoir, Everyman Screen on the Green and Rich Mix, which join existing London venues the ICA, Curzon Mayfair, Ritzy Brixton and Ciné Lumière.

GALAS

The Festival opens with the European Premiere of Tim Burton’s 3D animation FRANKENWEENIE, whilst Mike Newell’s visually stunning adaptation of GREAT EXPECTATIONS, starring Helena Bonham Carter and Ralph Fiennes will close the Festival, with key talent from both films expected to attend. Among the highly anticipated Galas is the American Express Gala World Premiere of CROSSFIRE HURRICANE, a documentary celebrating 50 years of rock legendsThe Rolling Stones who are also expected to attend the Festival. For the first time this year both the Opening Night Gala and the American Express Gala red carpet events and screenings will be screened simultaneously to cinemas across the UK. Other Galas include the American Airlines Gala of Dustin Hoffman’s directorial debut, QUARTET, featuring an outstanding British cast including Dame Maggie Smith, Billy Connolly and Michael Gambon; and Ben Affleck directs and stars in the Accenture Gala presentation of political thriller ARGO which he also produced with George Clooney. British film directors making their mark this year include Paul Andrew Williams with London-based comedy drama, SONG FOR MARION, which screens as The Mayfair Hotel Gala and features a sterling cast headed by Vanessa Redgrave, Terence Stamp, Gemma Arterton and Christopher Eccleston; and Roger Michell, whose HYDE PARK ON HUDSON is the Centrepiece Gala supported by the Mayor of London, stars Bill Murray, Laura Linney, Olivia Colman and Olivia Williams and is set on the eve of WWII when the King and Queen of England make a visit to see Franklin D Roosevelt in upstate New York. Nintendo Gala THE SAPPHIRES, is an inspirational Australian musical comedy set in the 60s starring comic man of the moment Chris O’Dowd, who appears alongside Australian Idol star Jessica Mauboy; and THE SESSIONS, is a moving drama, based on a true story with superb performances from John Hawkes, Helen Hunt and William H. Macy.

AWARDS AND COMPETITIONS

The BFI London Film Festival Awards have undergone a significant change this year by introducing competitive sections that are given much more prominence in the Festival campaign and programme. The Best Film Award in partnership with American Express; the Sutherland Award for Best First Feature and the Grierson Award for Best Documentary will now be presented to the winning films from three programme sections: Official Competition, First Feature Competition and Documentary Competition. Each section is open to international and British films and 12 films have been shortlisted for each Competition.

Official Competition

The inaugural Official Competition line-up, recognising inspiring, inventive and distinctive filmmaking, includes four European premieres:

· Michael Winterbottom’s EVERYDAY

· Sally Potter’s Ginger and Rosa

· Deepa Mehta’s Midnight’s Children

· Martin McDonagh’s Seven Psychopaths

Together with UK premieres of

· Michel Franco’s After Lucia

· David Ayer’s End of Watch

· Rama Burshtein’s Fill the Void

· Daniele Ciprì’s It Was the Son

· François Ozon’s In the House

· Cate Shortland’s Lore

· Pablo Larraín’s No

· Jacques Audiard’s Rust and Bone

Titles in consideration for the First Feature Competition recognising an original and imaginative directorial debut are:

3 European premieres

· Masaaki Akahori’s The Samurai that Night

· Anand Gandhi’s Ship of Theseus

· Barry Berk’s Sleeper’s Wake

and 9 UK premieres

· Benh Zeitlin’s Beasts of the Southern Wild

· Tom Shkolnik’s The Comedian

· Maja Miloš’ Clip

· Gabriela Pichler’s Eat Sleep Die

· Sally El Hosaini’s My Brother the Devil

· Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Neighbouring Sounds

· Scott Graham’s Shell

· Andrey Gryazev’s Tomorrow

· Haifaa Al Mansour’s Wadjda

In the Documentary Competition category, in partnership with the Grierson Trust, recognising documentaries with integrity, originality, and social or cultural significance, the Festival is screening:

4 World Premieres

· Charlie Paul’s For No Good Reason

· Nick Ryan’s The Summit

· Sarah Gavron’s Village at the End of the World

· Greg Olliver’s Turned Towards the Sun

1 International Premiere

· Sébastien Lifshitz’s Les Invisibles

4 European Premieres

· Jay Bulger’s Beware of Mr Baker

· Shola Lynch’s Free Angela and All Political Prisoners

· Alex Gibney’s Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God

· Amy Berg’s West of Memphis

3 UK Premieres

· Katja Gauriloff’s Canned Dreams

· Ken Burns, David McMahon and Sarah Burns’ The Central Park Five

· Ulises Rosell’s The Ethnographer

Closing the Awards section is the prize for Best British Newcomer, in partnership with Swarovski, which highlights new British talent and is presented to an emerging writer, actor, producer or director. The recipient of this prize will also receive a £5,000 bursary, courtesy of Swarovski.

This year’s nominees are:

1. Rowan Athale – director/screenwriter Wasteland

2. Sally El Hosaini – director/screenwriter My Brother the Devil

3. Fady Elsayed – actor My Brother the Devil

4. Scott Graham – director/screenwriter Shell

5. Eloise Laurence – actor Broken

6. Rufus Norris – director Broken

7. Chloe Pirrie actor Shell

8. Tom Shkolnik – director/screenwriter The Comedian

STRANDS / PATHWAYS

This year significant changes have been made to the structure of the Festival programme with new focused categories that are clustered around the themes of Love, Debate, Dare, Laugh, Thrill, Cult, Journey, Sonic and Family. With over 200 features screened during the Festival this new approach is designed to help Festival goers find the films that mean the most to them and to open up entry points for new audiences.

LOVE

Sweet, passionate, tough – LOVE is a complex and many splendoured thing.

The Love Gala is Michael Haneke’s Cannes Palme d’Or winner AMOUR, with Haneke making a welcome return to the Festival this year.

Other titles in this section include: BROKEN starring Tim Roth and Cillian Murphy; Ira Sachs’ KEEP THE LIGHTS ON; Xavier Dolan’s LAURENCE ANYWAYS; Liz Garbus’ documentary tribute to Marilyn Monroe LOVE, MARILYN; ROBOT AND FRANK starring Frank Langella and Susan Sarandon, and Ursula Meier’s SISTER with Léa Seydoux and Gillian Anderson.

DEBATE

Riveting films that amplify, scrutinise, argue and surprise screen in the DEBATE section and this year’s Gala is the European Premiere of THE PERVERT’S GUIDE TO IDEOLOGY an absorbing documentary sequel to THE PERVERT’S GUIDE TO CINEMA from Sophie Fiennes featuring renegade philosopher and bionic cineaste Slavoj Žižek who also takes part in an ‘In Conversation’ event during the Festival.

Other highlights in this section include Marco Bellocchio’s DORMANT BEAUTY featuring Toni Servillo and Isabelle Huppert, Thomas Vinterberg’s THE HUNT featuring Mads Mikkelsen’s Cannes award-winning performance, and the European Premiere of ZAYTOUN.

DARE

In-your-face, up-front and arresting, the films in DARE will take audiences out of their comfort zone. The Dare Gala is Mira Nair’s Venice-opener THE RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST, starring Kate Hudson, Kiefer Sutherland, Riz Ahmed and Liev Schreiber.

Other highlights in this strand include: the European Premiere of HELTER SKELTER featuring Japanese supermodel Erika Sawajiri, the World Premiere of KELLY + VICTOR Kieran Evans’ adaptation of the acclaimed novel by Niall Griffiths, and the International Premiere of Antonio Campos’ SIMON KILLER, Carlos Reygadas’ Cannes-winner POST TENEBRAS LUX, Pablo Trapero’s gripping and intelligent drama, WHITE ELEPHANT, and Sergei Loznitsa’s critically celebrated IN THE FOG.


LAUGH

From laugh out loud through romantic comedy to dry and understated – humour in all its forms can be seen in the LAUGH section. A romantic caravan trip quickly descends into chaos when a young couple’s dream holiday takes a wrong turn in acclaimed British director Ben Wheatley’s dark comedy SIGHTSEERS which has its UK premiere as the Laugh Gala.

Other titles in this strand include the International Premiere of Bollywood-meets-Tollywood Amelie style AIYYA, the UK Premiere of romantic comedy CELESTE AND JESSE FOREVER starring Rashida Jones and Andy Samberg and the European Premiere of Stephen Gyllenhaal’s GRASSROOTS, and the International Premiere of Australian cricketing ‘bro’mantic comedy SAVE YOUR LEGS!

THRILL

The films in THRILL are nerve shredders that will get the adrenalin pumping and keep audiences on the edge of their seat; The Gala presentation for this section is the World Premiere of Bollywood action epic CHAKRAVYUH, directed by Prakash Jha who will be attending the Festival.

Other highlights in this section include: controversial Sundance hit COMPLIANCE, Nordic Noir double bill of EASY MONEY and its sequel; the Berlin Golden Bear winner CAESAR MUST DIE and Korean box office smash NAMELESS GANGSTER: RULES OF THE TIME.


CULT

The CULT section features films from the mind-altering and unclassifiable, to fantasy, sci-fi and horror. The Cult Gala is the European Premiere of A LIAR’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY chronicling the life of Monty Python’s Graham Chapman through multiple animation styles and featuring Chapman’s fellow Pythons in the voice cast.

Other highlights in this section include: ANTIVIRAL, the feature film debut of Brandon Cronenberg; the International Premiere of Actress Katie Aselton’s directorial outing, the survival horror BLACK ROCK; Japanese maestro Takashi Miike’s FOR LOVE’S SAKE and Juan Carlos Medina’s fantasy horror PAINLESS, along with documentaries MY AMITYVILLE HORROR, THE JEFFREY DAHMER FILES, and ROOM 237.

JOURNEY

Whether it’s the journey or the destination, the films in JOURNEY will transport and shift perspectives.

Celebrated Romanian director Cristian Mungiu returns to the Festival with BEYOND THE HILLS screening as the Journey Gala . The film won Best Screenplay at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, where actresses Cristina Flutur and Cosmina Stratan also shared best actress award.

Other titles in this strand include: riveting Moroccan drama HORSES OF GOD, Raymond Depardon and Claudine Nougaret’s documentary JOURNAL DE FRANCE, Jem Cohen’s MUSEUM HOURS, Michel Gondry’s THE WE AND THE I and the World Premiere of Marc Isaac’s new documentary about the A5 –THE ROAD: A STORY OF LIFE AND DEATH

SONIC

Music inspired films and events that will have audiences dancing in the aisles can be discovered in SONIC.

Highlights in the Sonic screening programme include Mat Whitecross’ coming-of-age story SPIKE ISLAND about an Indie band of 1990 vintage, who are determined to see their heroes The Stone Roses; GOOD VIBRATIONS, the biopic of Terri Hooley, Belfast’s Godfather of Punk, which was declared the best Irish film at Galway Film Fleadh earlier this year; and world music is represented with films from Africa and Chile, KINSHASA KIDS and VIOLETA WENT TO HEAVEN.

The Festival is delighted to include two popular events from the year-round programme at BFI Southbank for the first time – BUG and Sonic Cinema, both celebrating the links between music and film. Sonic Cinema presentations include a focus on the Sigur Ros Valtari Mystery Film Experiment featuring premieres of new clips and, in celebration of Warp Films’ 10th Birthday, a special presentation of Shane Meadow’s THIS IS ENGLAND screening with a live score from composer Ludovico Einaudiand and musician Gavin Clark. Regular BUG host Adam Buxton will present a special artist focus with talent to be announced.

FAMILY

The Festival showcases films for all ages in its FAMILY section and this year’s Family Gala is ERNEST & CELESTINE, the delightful animated story of an unlikely friendship between a bear and a mouse from the directors of A TOWN CALLED PANIC. In addition to Opening Night Gala FRANKENWEENIE, there are five other animated features screening in the Festival as well as an animated shorts programme. Three of the family features are hand-drawn films from France, and WOLF CHILDREN is the new hotly anticipated animated title from Japanese director Mamoru Hosoda.

SHORTS

An original and innovative line-up of short films and animation that will enthral audiences young and old make up this year’s SHORTS programme including a dedicated section for younger audiences. Animated shorts for children include THE SANDPIXIES: DA CAPO GEORGE, THE MISSING MEATBALLS and I WANT TO SEE DWARFS.

Short film compilation programmes include Crime & Punishment with films featuring criminals, their actions and the consequences; Blood is Thicker Than Water with films examining interactions and relationships between friends, lovers and families and Obsessive and Compulsive with films that examine far-from-healthy obsessions.

Once again the London Calling section features a selection of shorts from budding filmmakers from across the capital and this year student films from some of the UK’s best film schools will be showcased in Back to School

These short films feature a host of well known faces including: Alison Steadman, Ralf Little, Tom Hollander, Martin Freeman, Stephen Graham and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

EXPERIMENTA

This year’s the Festival will present its largest ever series of artists moving image programmes, culminating in the annual EXPERIMENTA Weekend from 19-21 October 2012. In collaboration with the ICA, the Festival will also present several screenings of artists’ films to coincide with the Frieze Art Fair, from 10-13 October 2012. Peter Kubelka’s new work ANTIPHON will screen with ARNULF RAINER in an expanded projection event – Monument Film. Both films will be physically installed on the walls of the BFI Southbank Atrium for the duration of the Festival. The extraordinary presentation of Monument Film in the NFT1 cinema forms the centrepiece of an Experimenta Weekend which is full of outstanding visions. Thom Andersen, Nathaniel Dorsky and Laida Lertxundi return with new films, whilst Mati Diop introduces her award-winning work in London for the first time, and Beatrice Gibson premieres THE TIGER’S MIND.

TREASURES

Treasures brings recently restored cinematic treasures from archives around the world to the Festival.

This year’s previously announced Archive Gala is the World Premiere of the restoration of Alfred Hitchcock’s THE MANXMAN at the Empire Leicester Square with a live accompaniment by Stephen Horne. The Gala marks the grand finale of the BFI’s The Genius of Hitchcock project which commenced in June 2012 and is currently screening at BFI Southbank.

Digital restoration can have spectacular results, as shown in, David Lean’s LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, the full length director’s cut of the brand new 4K digital restoration which will premiere at the NFT1 showcasing BFI Southbank’s new 4K projector for the first time. The screening will be accompanied by a presentation from Grover Crisp, who will give a talk about the restoration work. Sir Laurence Olivier’s iconic RICHARD III also benefits from a fully restored print which will be screened at the Festival. Other highlights include silent movie THE SPANISH DANCER, a lavish costume romp with a live piano accompaniment; the BFI-backed revival of Roman Polanski’s TESS; a newly made documentary BERGMAN & MAGNANI:THE WAR OF VOLCANOES screening alongside a restoration of Roberto Rossellini’s VIAGGIO IN ITALIA and the latest restoration by Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Foundation, AFTER THE CURFEW which is a political commentary on what happened after Indonesia was liberated from Dutch occupation.

EVENTS & EXHIBITIONS

The EVENTS programme features the highly anticipated Screen Talks and Masterclasses.

This year’s Screen Talks in partnership with American Express, includes celebrated author Salman Rushdie whose adaptation of his own novel MIDNIGHT’S CHILDREN screens in Official Competition and Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney who is at the Festival with his new film MEA MAXIMA CULPA: SILENCE IN THE HOUSE OF GOD in Documentary Competition.

The Masterclasses, presented in partnership with Swarovski, feature leading music supervisor Ian Neil (SPIKE ISLAND) and production design team David Wasco and Sandy Reynolds-Wasco who designed Martin McDonagh’s SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS. Time Out continues to support the free access ‘In Focus’ events, which this year sees four events with a focus on British Cinema.

The Art of Frankenweenie Exhibition supported by American Express is taking place at the Festival Village, Southbank Centre. In addition, the Festival is proud to be working alongside the V&A’s major autumn exhibition Hollywood Costume with two events celebrating the role of costume on film and featuring the exhibition’s senior curator, the Academy Award- nominated costume designer Deborah Nadoolman Landis.

The Festival will announce its complete guest line-up in early October.

Captain America – The First Avenger – Movie Review

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With every single month over the summer bringing with it a new superhero movie, none could argue that despite the good, the bad and the downright ugly; this year has almost been a vintage as far as comic book heroes are concerned. Only 2012 with its sequels and reboots could possibly offer more.

This month’s new release brings none other than the incredible Captain America to the big screen and this latest offering whilst perhaps not as well-known as that as Spiderman, Iron Man or even Thor is still well-loved and has its fans. I think that few, if any, would admit to seeing the trailers for this and failed to be excited. After all, Captain America is still the all American hero and with a line up featuring none other than Chris Evans (Fantastic 4, The Losers), Tommy Lee Jones (Men In Black, Fugitive) and Hugo Weaving (V for Vendetta, The Matrix) on paper at least Captain America has all the foundations in place for a huge blockbuster and a hero reinvented.

For those not up to date with the comic book material Captain America is really Steve Rogers and, much like Spiderman his is a story about true heroism, true bravery and the whole underdog overcoming insurmountable odds to emerge victorious.

After a short beginning set in present day where a crashed vehicle is discovered in the arctic a flashback reveals our protagonist as one hell of a skinny man, a diminutive asthmatic who has lost both his parents in the war and who dreams of enlisting in the Army and serving his country in World War II, but his physical ailments and pocket-sized frame keep him from being accepted. He is repeatedly beaten up for standing up for himself. His best friend Bucky Barnes (played excellently by Sebastian Stan) is all he has left, but Bucky has landed his place in the army and through their comradery you can tell he sees himself as Roger’s big brother.

A chance meeting leads Steve to meet Dr. Erskine (Stanley Tucci); a scientist who has developed an incredible serum that physically enhances the subject and what’s more believes that the best solider is one with the humblest heart and determined mind. He is captivated by Roger’s dogged, raw persistence to join the army and he gives him a chance.

Colonel Phillips (Tommy Lee Jones) is the only obstacle standing in his way as he is in charge of the Doctor’s secret government programme their aim is to manufacture super-soldiers for the war, and he thinks Rogers does not have what it takes. However Steve shows his worth and in no time at all he is bulked-up, super-powerful and not to mention one hell of a buff prototype. I mean that in a man-to-man way of course, and may it go on record that I am not in any way jealous.

Of course, now he is no longer invisible to women and every hero needs a love interest. Here we have the surprisingly tough let lingering military agent Peggy Carter (played really nicely by Hayley Atwell) at his side to help him believe in himself. Of course to every hero there are villains, and here we have a secret faction of the Nazi’s called HYDRA led by the tyrannical Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving putting his seriously evil Mr Anderson looks to the test as Red Skull).

Schmidt has located an energy source powerful enough to change the war and the world, and his plans are a whole lot worse than whatever Hitler had in mind. Of course, Captain America is the only one who has the strength and heart to take him on and so the story begins.

Captain America is one of those films which stand out as being excellent yet deep down you just know they could have done so much more with it. I think of Iron man 2, I think of Green Lantern, I think of Spiderman 3, I think of great opportunities; little glimmers in movie history where if the directors and screenplay writers were honest with themselves would say “Damn, if only we had done this better.” This is not to say this movie is bad; far from it. In my opinion Captain America stands as probably the second best film this summer – right next to X-Men – First Class, it’s just you get the feeling that they rushed it. Maybe they were trying to get it out before the Avengers, maybe they were just looking for a way to tie it all up, maybe they were just so caught up in it all that they didn’t give it as much heart as they could have done.

There are many excellent touches. Staged in the 40’s era there are resounding set pieces; the gorgeous black and white, yet in colour approach. The fact that lessons were learnt from Green Lantern in the way that CGI has improved so much that unlike Hal Jordan Chris Evans head is attached firmly this time to his skinny ‘body double’ frame and it looks good, so much so that it is almost a shock when he bulks up. Talking of which, Chris Evans should be applauded as he does carry the role well and his acting quickly dismissed any doubts in my mind along with any memories of the Green Lantern. There are some huge explosions and incredible sequences to make you go wow. I loved the sequence on the train and there is another fantastic one where he is on a motorbike. There are even some sad moments too and look out for Tony Starks dad making an appearance, all I can say is ‘like father like son’. There is no denying that the Marvel mythology all ties together.

However, in contrast the film is heavily sanitised, and along with it any real ‘bad boy’ moments. Hugo Weaving struggles with a lack of material or direction to work with and it shows; I don’t think towards the end even the Red Skull knows what he is doing. There is a lot of time just after the mid-way point which is just stretched out and feels like padding. Finally, whilst the movie is a marvel of CGI and action the 3D effects are disappointing I could only count around ten 3D effects used in the entire two and a half hour film. So the question is what was the point? You might as well see it in 2D and save yourself some money for more popcorn – at 2.5 hours you will need it.

 

My Verdict:

Taken all of the good and bad into account Captain America is still a fantastic movie to go and see. It might not go down in history as the best superhero movie ever, and stand as no more than a prequel to The Avengers but it is still worth watching and is still a great treat for kids and grown up kids alike.

8 / 10

A word to the wise – stay till the end of the credits – you won’t regret it!