CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER (Joe Johnston)

-

I don't know what the critics are raving about this latest superhero movie. I mean it's an enjoyable popcorn flick, and the action is pretty good. Plus, the focus on the little guy who can also become a larger than life hero is notable, but come on, between XMEN FIRST CLASS and THE DARK KNIGHT, CAPTAIN AMERICA is generic. 

I still haven't seen THOR. The teaser for THE AVENGERS sure whets the appetite.

But let's go back to CAPTAIN AMERICA. The pitfall of most superhero films is that they start at the very beginning and work they way to the end in a linear fashion. I guess not everybody can be Christopher Nolan. But with due respect for Joe Johnston, CAPTAIN AMERICA works best when the story emphasizes on the humility of its lead character. Chris Evans is truly superhero material. He previously played THE HUMAN TORCH in FANTASTIC FOUR, and I am surprised and delighted he didn't bring any notion of his Johnny Storm ladies man, full of hijinks character in CAPTAIN AMERICA. 

And I feel that Hugo Weaving is miscast. Sure he can pass as a Nazi, but the character is so one-sided that all of Hugo Weaving's talents may have actually gone to waste. How dare them do that to Agent Smith and V?

Then again, it's a popcorn flick so what can you expect? When Captain America starts wielding his shield, the film starts to get interesting, though a bit forgettable. It's not annoyingly loud like TRANSFORMERS 3, but there are not enough scenes for the viewer to relate to, like IRON MAN. 

RATING: 3/5


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

TUHOG (Jeffrey Jeturian)

-
Image
Film within a film-structured movies are always interesting watch. Not only do they provide a much-needed deconstruction of form and content of cinema itself, but also that much-needed emotional punch a cinephile would surely love.  Like in BAD EDUCATION (Almodovar, 2004), we witness the characters tell the back story via montage, as if we are part of the cast of characters watching an actual movie. The form was successful in evoking pain and regret, and also of empathy. In TUHOG, Jeffrey Jeturian and screenwriter Bing Lao tackles sensational media in the Philippines, especially in cinema. The film opens as a film producer hears a pitch for a possible movie- a story of a grandfather who rapes his own granddaughter.  The director of the film soon after visits the victim of the crime, Floring (Ina Raymundo). Coercing both she and her mother, Perla (Irma Adlawan) to sell them the movie rights to their story, we witness as exploitation cinema unfolds. To think of it, capitalizing on ta
Read more

ANINO SA LIKOD NG BUWAN (Jun Lana, 2015)

-
Image
* English title "Shadow behind the Moon" The best term to describe Jun Lana's latest film would be a cinematic charade- a game of identities, of motives, of suppressed passions, and of uncertainty. Or the film equivalent of a Russian doll, if you will. "Anino sa Likod ng Buwan" only has three characters- husband and wife Nando (Anthony Falcon) and Emma (LJ Reyes) and military man Joel (Luis Alandy). What started as a seemingly routine banter among friends gradually and intensely escalated into an examination of society, where the definition of immorality is blurred during a time of insurgency.  And in fact, the film does discuss the subject of immorality from various paradigms. When does adultery become acceptable, and to whom? Is sexual liberation more heinous than murder? Why is immorality always a double standard? The film plays out the ideas in endless games. Or are they really games at all? Lana could have stopped there, but he didn'
Read more

A study of spaces in Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit's 'Happy Old Year'

-
Image
Space is both an overarching theme and visual signifier in Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit's Happy Old Year . Its protagonist, Jean (Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying) comes home from a lengthy stay abroad, determined to declutter her life, and along with it, old things that belong to a past she is desperately running away from. As we watch Jean plan the redesign of their family house into a more spacious and minimalist residential office, we also witness the transformation of the persons that inhabit the house, as well as their connection to other people, most of them absent from the frame. Jean the destroyer Millennials have often been criticized for being rash with their actions, and for having their way, no matter what. The filmmaker, a millennial himself, understands this stigma, and subliminally argues that millennials are the way they are because of a multitude of factors: rising cost of living, the evolution of discourse as a result of technology (such as film streaming se
Read more