Rae

“A strong man who has known power all his life may lose respect for that power, but a weak man knows the value of strength.” I found this movie perfectly fine. Not exceptional, certainly not horrible, just fine. I keep going back in forth with myself on if this movie was a three or three and a half star, so my rating may change eventually.  What this movie did best, in my opinion, was the characters. Everyone was so badass and interesting, unique in their own little ways. Well, maybe not poor Agent Carter, who caused my dad to say, “Who is Peggy?” at least five times throughout the movie, but I digress (I love you, Peggy). We barely got to know most of the Howling Commandos on a personal level, and yet I was rooting for them even before they were the Howling Commandos. I don't even like Howard Stark typically, yet I cheered whenever he was in a scene. The good guys were easy to love, and the bad guys were easy to hate, which felt very fitting for a Marvel movie, if you ask me.  Where the movie fell flat for me was the plot and pacing, though the plot was certainly the lesser offender. I personally found the plot itself a little dry overall, but I'm willing to give it a break, seeing that it's here to give us the rundown of Captain America's backstory. I feel like the last few films followed a very similar trajectory with their plot, which unfortunately made this one very predictable. What bothered me about the pacing is that I felt as though some parts of the story that seemed to be important were glossed over, Bucky's death, for example. Bucky is a key character in Steve's story, yet all we got after his death was a short scene of Steve trying and failing to get drunk, alongside one singular mention of him during the interrogation of Dr Zola. Meanwhile, we were gloriously granted several long minutes of Steve Rogers on a theater stage knocking out Hitler and spewing military propaganda while several attractive white women sang about the "star-spangled man with a plan" in the background. Perhaps that part was designed to drag on to show how long Steve was performing instead of fighting, but it felt odd to me nonetheless.  Overall, the movie was okay. I enjoyed pointing out little easter eggs and foreshadowing to my dad, even if they were obvious. For example, Schmidt having cuts down the sides of his face and neck, or when the camera panned to the blood on the skull brooch on his uniform, teasing him as the red skull. My favorite was the little callback to the scene of Steve pretending to lead soldiers in a march in a movie when he was returning from the Hydra base with the soldiers that had been taken, now actually leading a group of soldiers in war. I'm sure this movie would be great for a Captain America super fan, but for me it was simply an enjoyable stepping stone to get to The Avengers (2012)

"A wise king never seeks out war. But he must always be ready for it." I really enjoyed this movie! After my intense, one-sided war with Tony Stark, it felt like a breath of fresh air. Since learning a bit more about how films are made, this was the first movie that made me curious about everything. I pondered why a specific camera angle was chosen, why specific lighting choices were made, and why the camera moved the way it did. It may seem absurd to have that kind of epiphany during a Marvel movie, but it made the experience for me deeply fulfilling for me.  I found this movie quite beautiful from start to end, but there was a specific scene that captured me. It happens soon after Thor destroys the Bifröst; Thor and Loki are blown off the bridge, Odin catching Thor and Thor catching Loki. Odin has Thor by his feet, but Thor is grasping Loki by his hand. A sensible catch by a father attempting to save his beloved son, compared to a desperate catch from a man trying to save a brother he has already lost, and possibly never truly had. I also loved the casting for this movie; everyone felt perfect for their roles, my personal favorite being Idris Elba as Heimdall. He was so stoic and authoritative; he made even me nervous.  Overall, a good, fun film that definitely deserves some more appreciation.