Surprisingly good

Rating: 6/10 (12 September 2014)

I half wanted to see this, as I'm not the biggest fan of Marvel's film franchise. The first Captain America was less than convincing to say the least, and he's never been anywhere near my favorite comics character. But here he's a badass! The action sequences are pure eye-candy. CGI is kept to a minimum (or at least -- the minimum a superhero movie would allow). The fighting choreography is fast paced and varied, the Cap isn't overpowered or getting his ass handed to him all the time (like movie Wolverine). His powers are developed in an ingenious way and don't deviate from the source material, to please the Avengers fans out there. Chris Evans' performance is solid, even though the Captain can be annoying at times with his naive outlook on today's world. Still, those are only fleeting moments, and overall, the character is quite likable. There's definitely a nice dynamic with Scarlett Johansson, who is convincing as a more fleshed out Black Widow. The tone of the movie is quite different from other Marvel blockbusters: it's much darker, more inspired by high tension thrillers. Obviously, the plot doesn't hold up to any Robert Redford classic, and isn't all that deep but then who would go into a Marvel movie expecting Citizen Kane or the Manchurian Candidate? The weak link here is the antagonist, who is definitely poorly handled. I didn't remember him from the first movie and honestly didn't care about the emotional aspect of his confrontation with the Cap. These appear as relatively minor flaws compared to the rest of the film though, and the highlight really is the action sequences.