Amazing action, silly political statement

Rating: 5/10 (5 August 2014)

I understand that the whole Captain America concept arises from a jingoistic WWII political milieu. Having him cryo-frozen and resurrected in the modern age was a clever strategy on Marvel's part. However, the writers chose to use Captain America as a way to smack the viewer in the face repeatedly with a political message that really didn't do anything to advance the plot or make the movie more compelling. It was insulting, really, especially when it was done in such a ham-fisted manner. Surely Robert Redford has enough clout (and common sense, despite his own political leanings) as one of this generation's most revered actors to refuse in good conscience to have his character utter the cheesy "Hail Hydra" in his dying breath.
In addition to the non-stop, in-your-face preachiness, the film suffers from absolutely silly plot devices. For instance, there's a Nazi scientist whose brain lives in a computer system... in case you didn't get it that the computer has a Teutonic soul, its synthesized voice has a ridiculous German accent. And Captain America's boyhood pal is resurrected as his arch enemy, fifty years later. It just doesn't get any goofier than this.
If you can ignore all that's wrong with the movie and focus only on the action, there's plenty of that to keep a viewer interested. Despite wanting to leave ten minutes into the film, I sat through the entire thing just to watch the badass fight scenes.