Strong Beginning; Falls Apart in Second Half

Rating: 5/10 (16 January 2012)

Wow, the first hour of this was so promising and then it just completely fell apart. People warned me of that and I didn't believe it could nosedive so hard, but it did. I loved the first half. They got the tone, with the period setting and Captain's origin story just right... it was really spot on how an origin story should be.
But then the second half, Jesus, it went downhill very fast- right when he goes to rescue his friends behind enemy lines. The villain was outrageous and ridiculous in a totally nonthreatening way. All of this futuristic blue lasers evaporating people seemed to come out of nowhere and was completely out of place with the more realistic period setting of the first half, and the whole struggle between Cap A and the "villian" became an incoherent mess. Not to mention, and I know I like my movies gritty and with an edge, but for such a "I'm a patriot, blah blah" kind of hokey character... it was a little jarring to see Captain America murdering enemy soldiers with no qualms- you know, shooting them, grenading them, and the like. I don't know, it just seemed out of character. And then that ending- it was confusing, completely anti-climatic, and IMO terrible. One of the worst endings I've seen all year.
5.5/10 (C)-- it gets points for the first half but could have been a lot better.