Good but not Great

Rating: 6/10 (20 September 2014)

I can't understand the lack of imagination in so many comic book movies. While this movie is put together well, and the acting is great, it lacks the vision and humanness that compelled the actual comic books to be so enjoyable. Kids and teens read comic books because they speak universal, mythological truths' in the language of unconscious energies. This is also known as religion. Deep down everyone understands powerlessness, inferiority and immortality within the framework of one's personal history, time period and culture. Given we grow up in families, these issues are all the more important to kids and teens, especially issues of power and growing pains inherent in the developmental stages. Captain America personifies the sensitive and vulnerable person who is transformed into a superhero with superhuman abilities in the blink of an eye. Add patriotism and unquestionable evil (Hitler and Nazism) and the formula for a great character is born. He represents the fears and potentials we all hope for but cannot achieve due to our animal, mortal nature. One reason why Star Wars was so successful was because it understood that myths are alive and well in the modern age (though obscured by Rationalism and Science) and it transferred this psychological need onto celluloid. Movies are no different than superstitions; we just don't believe them as such. But they are still private dreams in the public domain, and because of this it feels dishonest and mindlessly inauthentic to gloss this value over with endless CGI action, lack of depth, and most of all characters who are so one dimensional and simplistic they could not have come from anywhere but a derivative formula. A convenient villain with a metal arm forged in the same time crucible as Steve Rogers who looks like one of the werewolves (in human form) from Twilight and is so totally devoid of imagination the viewer is easily distracted by the most mundane of distractions. How about this for a villain: Deep in the depths of lunatic asylum, festering and wasting away in a cell of powerful medications and medical experiments, the villain one day begins to hoard his meds and slowly remember who he is and where he is from—a Nazi experiment that used the same technology as that which was used on Rogers. And instead of a lame metal arm, when he is consumed with hatred and revenge his superpowers become more powerful, more diabolical and more fascinating whatever they may be. I'm not saying I know the political and financial ins and outs of making a great movie. But come on.