Mellie at the Movies

This afternoon, we saw Captain America: The First Avenger.

I've really liked the other 'Avenger' movies, my favourite being Thor, I think. I know that on the whole, super hero movies are pure movie popcorn, but I can't help falling for them every time!

I liked the X-Men movies and Spiderman (the first 70 times I watched it - Oli was a touch obsessed), it always gave me that emotional tweak (especially number 2 for some reason), and as I kid I had a super crush on Christopher Reeve.

There have been some bad ones. I didn't get into Fantastic Four as much as I thought I would, and the Green Hornet had some boring bits, but on the whole, super hero movies are cool. I like being able to switch off my brain for a while.

Captain America was probably not my favourite, but still enjoyable. The first half especially was very good, with the setup and development of the story. Stanley Tucci played his German doctor as a sweet and interesting character, and Tommy Lee Jones was great as the gruff (when isn't he?) but likeable Colonel. Even Chris Evans, who was just annoying in Fantastic Four was good. He played the weedy Steve Rogers very believably (with some amazing CGI!) and was entertaining as the propaganda-spouting Captain. Even Hugo Weaving, who's in danger of being typecast as the creepy bad guy, was good. He certainly did the German accent convincingly.

The period style was well put together, with beautifully created New York streets, and some great war-room and society scenes. The effects were good, and thankfully not too much of the action went on in darkness.

There was a lot of unbelievable stuff in there, especially the 1940s 'technology', but hey, it's a superhero movie, so I'm prepared to suspend judgement on that one. The love interest angle was a little predictable and there were a couple of scenes that weren't explained well or played out to their potential.

Still, it was an enjoyable movie, which left me keen for the Avengers movie, due out next year.

I'd give it 3.5 out of 5.

Oh, and it had the Wilhelm Scream too, something that's captured my attention lately. It's a recorded sound effect that's a bit of an in-joke in the movie industry. It's been used in lots of different movies, from Star Wars to Indiana Jones to Toy Story (see below). Ever since I found out about it, I notice it in everything. I've even got the app on my phone (all it does is the scream!). Now that I've told you about it, you'll notice it everywhere too!