Captain America: The First Avenger

It’s almost impossible to evaluate it objectively. It’s a film full of excellent lines, details, camera sweeps, several dialogue scenes, and a beautiful chemistry between the main characters. It’s slightly naive, and gradually turns into self-parody, but I couldn't help but feel a certain fragmentary and inconsistent mix of styles. Sometimes the it doesn't know what it wants to be, so it throws in everything just to be sure. A bit like combining Tomorrowland and Indiana Jones. I didn't enjoy the action and the visual effects were average, except for a few exceptions – I expected much more in this regard. Visually, the trailer was much more captivating, which is quite amusing in hindsight. But it's not all bad. Hayley Atwell is a first-class babe who will make a career out of this role, and the final scenes with the bomber are visually stunning - I haven't seen such mix colours in a long time. (2011-08-14)

This is much better than the entire Avengers films combined. It’s got a great WWII atmosphere, a great cast - especially Tommy Lee - and even though it's all as transparent as that Americana costume, I have absolutely no problem with it. WW2 was also the only time you could realistically believe in superheroes. Long live the golden age of comics on the silver screen after the year 2000. And the catchphrases: "Arrogance may not be a uniquely American trait." or the one about the Viennese Sacher :D And it only gets better the more you watch it. I'm therefore shaking hands with Agent Carter. (2012-09-03)

I wanted to believe in it after the good trailers and mostly positive feedback. But Joe Johnston and I once again don’t see eye to eye. I don't mind the poetics of Captain America as such, I understand the time period and why the comic was created, and how it got moving according to Hollywood rules is appropriate to all of that. Yet the whole thing is so perfectly staged, it has a lot of visual frills, and it overflows with insight that is delivered by precisely cast actors, until in the last third I stopped enjoying it just because of how perfectly it copies the classic template. It's not the failure that Green Lantern was, and the king of the naive comic book films this year was Thor (and the film made do with half the bombast!). (2011-11-26)

He came last, but when things get worse, be sure that he will be standing at the front line. Steve Rogers stayed somewhat on the sidelines throughout the Avengers journey, but in the end, to my great surprise, it is precisely him who got under my skin the most. His loyalty, bravery, and naivety in the most positive sense, combined with his style of fighting, are simply unrivaled. When the dark Red Skull or the self-sufficient Agent Carter join, there is nothing left but to applaud. Marvel won this war, and I gained a hero who has been appearing on several t-shirts to me for almost a decade since the filmed origin. (2011-08-13)

This stupid bullshit has better reviews than the brilliant Green Hornet? Poor taste rules the world :D… Captain America felt bland already from the trailers, so I didn’t bother going to the cinema – thanks God for that! It’s been long since an expensive Hollywood blockbuster made me suffer so much. I didn’t like the story, the visuals were very ugly; I really can’t find anything to praise. After the trailer for Avengers (that looks every bit as derivative as the Captain and the other origin stories), I’m now feeling almost certain that the Marvel Universe will not produce anything great. (2011-10-24)