Billions of blue blistering barnacles!!!

My first Tintin comic was happened to be “The Secret of the Unicorn”, when my aunt passed her legacy of Tintin collection to me back in the early 90's. As a huge fan of Tintin, too bad she will no be able to see it in the big picture (she passed away this year, may she rests in peace). Since that first experience with Herge comic series, I became hooked up and starting collecting them all. I remember I read the Unicorn continuation, “Red Rackham Treasure" years after, since I was not able to find it anywhere (by then, I managed to complete my Tintin set).

And it was a very exciting news to see this legacy and one of the world most celebrated character (outside US of course) to be transferred into the big screen. The names involved are no small feat, Spielberg and Jackson, (they'll take turns on directing) along with WETA and a bunch of great writers ranging from Steven Moffats ("Sherlock" TV series), Edgar Wright ("Shaun of the Dead", "Hot Fuzz", "Scott Pilgrim"), and Joe Cornish ("Attack the Block"). To use live actors and animation has always been a conundrum into how to appropriately put Tintin in the big screen, although previous attempts was made (and it was awful). Seeing the trailers was already giving me some worries, especially in the CGI and story department. Firstly, I was afraid this will turn to be another "Polar Express" or "Beowulf" catastrophy, where they missed out the inhuman facial and eye emotion. Secondly, how they can make Unicorn to be a great and exciting movie and won't end up be a total boring and flat storytelling still remains a big question from me. Lastly, most important thing, how they will be able to design and put 'personality' into all the virtual/3D cast, plus a white dog.

Fortunately, it turns out that Spielberg and the team did a truly great and satisfactory job! The CGI (using famous motion capture technique ala "Avatar") was splendid, awesomely rendered, flawlessly and sharply animated, even Snowy is believable and you'll like him a lot (too smart in many several scenes, and easily lost control because of a cat and sandwich). Spielberg geniously opens the movie with 2D silhouette (remember "Catch Me If You Can"?) with amusing John Williams' piano music background introduction to transfer the viewers from the comic into his animated world. Then, the most clever part was revealed (I won't spoil it here) when he seamlessly changed the 2D into 3D. Tintin and Snowy, in almost 'real' life condition. Well done, Steven, I fell in love with the movie already. 

Now onto the next part, story telling. I must tell you upfront, this Tintin is a combination of at least 3 stories, Unicorn and Red Rackham Treasure for the main plots, and the injunction of Crab with Golden Claws as a mean to properly hook up Tintin and Haddock. Tintin loyalist might be well dissapointed, but for others, I think it turns out to be decent, especially with he very fast pace of story telling, these different plots were placed one into another appropriately. You'll get lots of action, crazy chasing scenes, awesome ship battles (way much better than "Pirates of Carribean"), and not to mention Bianca Castafiore tries to rip off both Haddock and Snowy eardrums (yes, she is in the package).

From casting point of view, Jamie Bell and Andy Serkis did a marvelous job on portraying the main characters, especially Serkis, where he made Haddock is the main star and scene stealers, as in the comics, complete with all the swearing and drinking issues. Serkis is truly an expert on making virtual characters into a 'personality', and with memorable and strong performances from Gollum, King Kong, Caesar, and Haddock, he should have an Oscar already!

Daniel Craig is a good addition as the main villain, while I have some dissapointments with the world most bizzare Interpol twins. No offense for Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, they are both talented and super funny comedians. It's just that the jokes and slapstick acts from Thomson and Thompson have only 50% hit rate, leaving only few memorable funny lines. Calculus, a more bizzare persona, is absent on this one, a sign which Jackson will attempt to exploit him for the next installment.

“Secret of the Unicorn” does no wrong as a family and entertaining flick, especially for the fans. Some parts were a bit bland, and common viewers might expect more action and explosions. Yet, this is Tintin, no superhero, no superpower, no hot chicks, no gadgets, just a young fella with common sense and thirst of adventures. A fairly good role model for kids, don't you think? This one also boasts technical innovation in animation, yet still lack of better storytelling. Nevertheless, Spielberg and Jackson will have no trouble on selling out the sequels, since they have done a marvelous job on capturing our Tintin imagination into the big screen. 


My Review: 8.5/10

His name is Atom. Get'em a fight.

Plot:

Ex-boxer Charlie Kenton just had one of his bad days: owing too much money due to robot boxing bad bets on, his ex-girlfriend has died leaving him with their eleven-year-old son Max. Thankfully, the ex’s sister wants the boy, and he wants to get rid of him (convincingly). After making a deal with the sister’s husband, Charlie takes his son for the summer. Max, while at first resentful of his father, begins to appreciate the wild life (involving robots) his dad leads. He soon becomes involved in the rough and tumble world of robot boxing with a robot that he discovers named Atom. Get ready to rumble!

Review:

Adults loves Rocky, kids are crazy about Transformers, so I guess combining them was not such a bad idea, wasn’t it? Apart from the cheesy and corny script, plus the unimaginable and non-existent notion of replacing humans with robots on boxing, Real Steel is a fun, enjoyable, and entertaining family movie. Frankly, I did not expect it to be this good, even much better than the Transformers series (yes, you read that correctly).

Everybody loves the underdog story, especially in boxing flicks, where most of its famous movies have the similar plot, from ‘Rocky’, ‘Cinderella Man’, ‘The Fighter’, etc. Even better, Real Steel added the robots, father and son bonding, and video games. Its robotic premise would appeal any boys and men, and the drama (plus cheesy parts) surely would attract the girls and women. It’s amazing that Shawn Levy is able to connect the dots adequately and making Real Steel actually a good flick, considering his last movies such as Night at the Museum 2 and Date Night did not perform that well.

Hugh Jackman is pretty good at his rare parent role (is it the first time he was cast as a dad?), where he was pretty much hateable during the first half, and transformed into a ‘perfect’ dad near the end. A good casting, he’s likeable, charismatic, and women are craving for him (that’ll do). But the scene stealers has to be the Jackman’s long lost son, newcomer Dakota Goyo (remember the little Thor?) And like any other kids in Hollywood movie, he was ‘blessed’ with advanced intelligence, likes video games, and has DNA for customizing robots (who does that, anyway?). I bet everyone must be fall in love with Max and his antics, although in latter parts during the big boxing matches, he tends to scream a lot, and that was kinda annoying. Nevertheless, the heart of the movie lies in these two pivotal characters, and added by other splendid cast such as Evangeline Lily and Anthony Mackie, not to mention the robots, Real Steel’s corny script was propelled by the terrific cast.

Technical point of view, the fighting scenes were amazing, and I actually prefer this kind of thing rather than the shaky or quick editing ala Transformers kinda thing (you barely see who’s punching who). In Real Steel, the boxing scenes were well choreographed (Sugar Ray Leonard handled the thing), the robots movement were logical, easy to follow, and as intense as the real human boxing. And also, they come in cool names as well which you can use for  your avatar nick names, from Noisey Boy, Twin Cities, Midas, Six Shooter, Ambush, and last but not least, the great Zeus. Every one of them has its distinctive feature, easy for the audience to actually remember them. Especially for Atom, I guess Spielberg gave some advice from his E.T experience, just give it a pair of humble blue eyes. Conclusively, it is a budget well spent by the CGI department.

Nevertheless, Real Steel is not that fully polished movie in the end. One of the major low downs is that the ending was quite premature, and I believe it should have been concluded even further than the current version. I felt disappointed since there are still many question left unanswered, and I bet after you see the credit title, you must be asking, “What about this, what’s next?”, and so on and on. Added to that, 127 minutes running is kinda long a straightforward plot, some scenes were actually safe to be excluded. With no major surprises or even twisted plot, it is a happy-go-lucky movie after all. Of course it sounds totally unfair to compare this Disney theme flick to calibre movies such as ‘The Fighter’ or even ‘Cinderella Man’, but still watching Hugh Jackman and the robots is a celebration of joyful and fun entertainment despite of the rusty script writing, coupled with a good dose of genuine heart. In the end, you’ll root for Atom.

My Review: 8/10

the 1st full AVENGERS trailer...

Okay fanboys, here's what you've been waiting for...a full 2 minutes AVENGERS trailer. This time, you can see clearly all the members in full action, unlike the short several seconds preview from the CAPTAIN AMERICA ending. Nevertheless, I think this flick can be huge, I really really hope it won't suck...

PS: I want more Hulk...

Don't Talk to Anyone, Don't Touch Anyone

Plot:

Mitch (Matt Damon) found her wife, Beth (Gwyneth Paltrow) fell sick and died with unknown symptoms after just got back from work trip. Soon within the same time line, other people from different locations randomly also died with more or less same symptoms. Afterwards, number deaths are increasing. It is inevitable, a lethal virus breakout has spread throughout the world. An international team of doctors contracted by Central for Disease Control (CDC) to deal with the sudden outbreak. Each person has different agenda but together they are mixed up to survive. 

Review:

Watching the trailer of 'Contagion' brings memories of the 1995 hit 'Outbreak', starring Dustin Hoffman and Morgan Freeman (it was a very good movie). But, Steven Soderbergh provides a different taste, a more realistic and drama, and less Hollywood approach for 'Contagion', compared to 'Outbreak'.  Soderbergh is quite known on assembling A-list cast, remember the 'Ocean's Trilogy' and 'Traffic'? 'Contagion' is a mix of those movies with a mouth-watering cast from Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, and Marion Cotillard. Not many directors who can do this, but Soderbergh always able to bring out the best from his cast selection, and 'Contagion' is a proven one!

 

I can't say 'Contagion' is a thriller; it's a more drama for me, and part semi documentary you've seen on TV, but minus the interviews of course. The pace is quite steady, not too fast nor slow, it was okay for me since I was hooked after the first 10-15 minutes. But the great thing is, 'Contagion' manage to provide the 'fear effect' halfway through the middle. It's pretty scary to see how the virus managed to spread sporadically, without knowing how to contain it. Trust, you'll get paranoid for a while, even I felt uneasy when somebody coughed in the cinema. What makes it even more scary is that Soderbergh put all the plots as if this thing a real deal, talking about realistically creepy. A world-wide scale panics, socialization becomes your worst enemy, people are separated from their lovely ones, and even the President has to go hiding in his bunker.

Laurence Fishburne plays the role of Dr. Ellis Cheever, the head of international team to handle the outbreak. I like the way his story evolves that he’s just a normal human being, not Superman or has special power, but spend most of the time, scientifically, medically, and not to mention politically to put an end to the issue, and at the same time he has to take care his loved ones. As his team member, Kate Winslet has different role as Dr. Erin Mears, who has to go to the contaminated city, collect data, interview patients, and arranging countermeasures to keep the sick people contained. However, dealing with the sick people directly proved to be the most dangerous task she has ever been handed. While Jude Law is Alan Krumwiede, a famous blogger who tries to dig up conspiracy theories about pharmacy industries who tries to hold up the cure for the disease. What makes his role is believable, is that in this modern era where people can be easily connected, it is scary to see how an unknown persona can reach millions of people and could ask them to do stupid things. While Marion Cotillard plays a WHO officer, Dr. Leonora Orantes, who goes to Hong Kong, where it was assumed the location of the ‘first patient’. However, she has to deal with some unrest from local officers, and mixed up in a desperate attempt by these guys, which by the way (no spoiler!) could happened in the real world.

And this brings us to the last main cast, Matt Damon as the husband of the first known body count caused by the deadly virus. Almost half to the storyline tells us about how to deal with the outbreak from the government perspective, while Damon’s character tells us the story from the normal people, how he has to go through daily life activities, and protect his daughter altogether.

 

After a series of bombastic summer movies, it’s nice to see a change of menu, and ‘Contagion’ deserves an appraisal on its effort to bring us a realistic survival story, without zombies or end of the world disaster. It’s damn spine-chilling, thrilling, and makes you a bit paranoid at least (use Purell all the time, and avoid Hong Kong, perhaps!). ‘Contagion’ is perhaps the best epidemic/pandemic movie to date. It begins with a high tense moment, and it stays there right until the end, with no breaks or happy moments in the middle. The downturn, is that, it ends up in a loose end with no clear conclusion or direction, leaving audiences craving for a more definite and purpose. Nevertheless, it is still a great movie, something like an adult movie that makes you not want to touch any adults near you when it’s over. In short, ‘Contagion’ is a disaster movie with brains involved. 

My Rating: 8/10

"The Raid" trailer will blow your mind!!!

It's been some time, or maybe a very long time since the last time I was totally excited to watch an Indonesian movie on the big screen. If I can recall, perhaps "Berbagi Suami" was my last one, and even I watched it on DVD (bought original one, of course).


Suddenly, when I was following the movies screened at the Toronto Film Festival, I read the hype on the web, people claimed that they just saw 'the best action movie' of 2011, and it happened to be....surprisingly,  Indonesian movie...


I immediately gave it a look, and damn man...it was like blew my brains out! Not just that it was cool, but it was ass-kicking altogether....Similarly, I remember I was quite interested also when I saw "Killer Elite" trailer...but this one totally nailed it...


Brought by the same team who created "Merantau" (another martial art / silat fighting movie back in 2009), Gareth Evans and his team (including the main man, Iko Uwais) are back and take it to the next level...


you can check the link below for the trailer...reminder, it's kinda violent, but I guess it's better than to see any  'pocong' or anyone 'ngesot'.

Seriously!? It’s like you’re photoshopped!

Plot:

Cal (Steve Carrell)  just received a divorce request from his wife, Emily (Julianne Moore). Even worse, she even told him blatantly that she slept with her colleague, David Lindhagen (Kevin Bacon).  Heartbroken and devastated, Cal has to deal with his marital crisis and manage his relationship with his children. Then, he met Jacob (Ryan Gosling), a super cool dude who is an easy going man with any women he met. For pity sake, Jacob decided to help Cal out of his misery, by changing his looks and alter the personality, and especially how to approach women better. Afterwards, Cal has to juggle with too many balls: handle the new ‘Cal’, get Emily back, grow confidence in his kid, and has to decide which ‘Cal’ is the best for all.

Review:

I used to be big fan of rom-com-cheesy and full of cliché flicks (read: romantic comedy), especially the 90’s ones. I grew up with Nora Ephron’s “Sleepless in Seattle” and “You’ve Got Mail”, I enjoyed also particularly “When Harry Met Sally”, “Before Sunrise”, ”Before Sunset”, and not to mention, the cheesiest and my favourite, “Serendipity” back in the 2001. But then, I found it difficult to enjoy any rom-com especially for the past decade. Only some titles worth mentioning, let’s say “Love Actually”, “Definitely Maybe”, and “500 Days of Summer”.

Nowadays, there is a new ‘breed’ kind of flick, which is the R-rated one (my favourite would be “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”). Especially in this year, we have seen some of the successful examples, from “Friends with Benefit”,”No Strings Attached”, “Bridesmaids”, and “Bad Teacher”. But somehow, I still miss those 90’s PG-13 rom-com which could be watched by a wider range of audiences. And fortunately, “Crazy, Stupid, Love” happens to be a good one.

Although the whole movie didn’t live up the expectation of the title’s first word, “Crazy, Stupid, Love” is one of the most enjoyable rom-com I’ve seen since “500 Days of Summer”. With a title like that, I was expecting harsh reviews or bashing from the critics. Apparently, “Crazy, Stupid, Love” was reasonably smart, and remarkably sane. Surprisingly, this is a good and enjoyable rom-com flick, with a lot of surprises on the menu which you don’t see in the trailer. Plus point, I’m quite glad to see the ‘cheesy’ level does not go over the top. Plotwise, is kinda similar with things we have seen in “Love Actually” and “He’s Just Not That In to You”, with several plots mixed up altogether to show how different characters are related to one another. Added up with nice soundtracks, “Crazy, Stupid, Love” is a good example how perfect cast chemistry can determine how good your movie is.

Carrell and Gosling are the definitely the frontmen, where each performance is as good as what you expect from them. I really enjoy Carrell’s character, since I think he’s way better to deliver this kind of thing rather than slapstick crap such as “Dinner with Schmucks”, “Get Smart”, or “Date Night”. Although he’s pretty good as Cal, a more rather serious character, he’s still one of the funniest guy alive. On the other hand, Jacob’s character perhaps is an easy play by Gosling, especially after his emotionally drowning act in his previous “Blue Valentine” (it was depressing really) or “the Notebook”. With Jacob, Gosling seems to fit in seamlessly as one hell 6-pack womanizer dude.

For me, the real traits must be the women cast, ranging from my favourite hottie Emma Stone, Julianne Moore and Marisa Tomei, which both seems to become hotter and hotter in their 40s. As Gosling’s love interest, Stone always seems to be a perfect cast in any kinky, independent, and ‘smarter than blonde’ role (although she’s originally blonde). Big green eyes, freckles, sultry voice, and fetching overbite, I simply adore her. Moore did okay as dilemmatic wife who didn’t have any grip on moving forward, while Tomei was involved in a ‘very surprising plot’, which looked nothing in the beginning, but will leave your mouth open halfway through.  

Another scene stealer performance came from the little kid, Jonah Bobo playing Robbie, Cal’s kid, who fell in love with his babysitter, and just can’t stop saying it out loud. For the rest, it was kinda disappointing to see Bacon’s character did not develop too much apart from Cal’s marital threat. But again, I think the cast ensemble worked pretty well.

There’s a lot of great scenes in this movie, and you should watch it yourself, cause I’m not gonna spoil it for you. Some are funny, unpredictable, and some are quite touchy also. There is one memorable scene when Cal was sneaking in into his own home just to mow the lawn, he has to watch his family life without him, when suddenly Emily called her just to say ‘hi’ not realizing that her husband is just about 200 m away.

During a summer when every other rom-coms have R-rated scripts, “Crazy, Stupid, Love” provides a well scripted plot and sensible date-night choice. Overall, perhaps this does not have the same quality than those 90’s rom-coms I mentioned earlier, but clearly it’s a lot better and fresher and most importantly, less recycled than much of the available romantic comedy flicks in the current era. There is still some flaws, especially with the pace and the end conclusion, but nevertheless, it is still enjoyable, and worthwhile to spend this with your dates.

My Review: 8/10

movie trailer (courtesy of Youtube):

No. You’re not a pet.

Plot:

Will Rodman (James Franco) works hard to find a perfect medicine to cure Alzheimer, which his dad, Charles (John Lithgow) has suffered for some quite time. Using apes as test subjects, a female one showd a bright future and potential cure after showing an enhancement of intelligence, but not until she created havoc in the lab. Turns out, she gave birth, and indirectly the ‘intelligent upgrade’ was genetically transferred to the baby ape. Decided to adopt it, Caesar (Andy Serkis) grew up intelligently, and staying with Will. Can Caesar become both part of a family and society, or forever still being a pet and lab test?

Review:

The original 1968 Planet of the Apes was a cult classic, with several sequels followed afterwards which never came close both quality and money making compared to the original one. Tim Burton's remake in 2001 was even a disastrous one (starring Mark Wahlberg). So, when I read the idea of people try to bring this franchise again, in a prequel form, I was totally sceptical, it was doomed to fail big time!

Now, I have to eat my own words, Rise of the Planet of the Apes (RoTPoTA) is a great and superb summer movie, although I still think the title was silly. Story was good, stellar cast performance, plot pace was never boring and kept me on the hook, and what a brilliant CGI usage. Using an animals (in this case, apes) as test subjects is nothing new really, but the idea of make them smarter is a tough thing to deliver. Using real apes to perform many of human thingy convincingly of course can be totally difficult, but using a CGI to make them as real as possible is even more challenging. Apparently, RoTPoTA opted to go through the latter way, and it worked awesomely!

From the cast point of view, RoTPoTA actually has a stellar cast, ranging from James Franco, John Lithgow, Frieda Piento, Brian Cox, Tom Felto a.k.a Draco Malfoy, and lastly Andy Serkis as the magnificent Caesar. But halfway through, it was overwhelmed by the CGI apes. Overall, the movie is kinda divided into 2 halves, where the 1st one mostly filled up by the humans, before the apes took the whole scenes downturn on the latter half. This role maybe an easy job for Franco, but he is still mesmerizing and captivating as a young scientist whose goal was solely only to cure his father's Alzheimer. Even only as a supporting role, I think Lithgow's character is probably the scene stealer, as his performance was kinda heart-breaking one. While Piento didn't do much, only as Will’s love interest, nothing more...but she's cute, so I'm okay with it. On the evil side, Brian Cox as the nasty 'ape prison' warden, never fails me with antagonist roles, while surprisingly, Felton's character is much more hateable and irritating than his Malfoy's portrayal...let's hope he does not stick up with this stereotype (although he did a pretty good job on it).

The second part of the movie is like 80% dominated by the apes revolution. It was a well crafted plot, especially when most of the time the apes communicate through body language. Fast fact, the movie costs only $90M, and by looking the amount of CGI usage, I must say it's pretty damn impressive. The apes' motion capture, especially Caesar (thanks to the brilliant performance by Andy Serkis), and the fur rendering, even facial expression, was rendered perfectly, efficient, and most importantly, convincing! Andy Serkis' performance may not tops Gollum, perhaps on par or even better than King Kong. The best thing from him is that he gave a ‘personality’ to the character, which made us stick up with him. Caesar, being both the leader and smartest ape, shows lots of human emotions and intelligent body language, but still in the ape form. There will be some moments the distinction between CGI and real apes became undistinguishable...well done WETA, another good portfolio!

Stylishly directed by unknown Rupert Wyatt, he must be grateful to have a bunch of great artists such as Oscar-winning Cinematographer, Andrew Lesnie (Lord of the Rings trilogy), and of course the WETA team to render the whole magnificent motion capture CGI-apes. Storywise, I felt the third act was kinda rushed a bit, and the conculsion was not satisfactory (save for sequels, I assume). Half drama, half action, and partial moral message to save the apes. It’s far better than those mindless summer entertainment flicks, and although it’s not as grandeur and complicated as Transformers, the CGI is a technological marvel indeed. Pass on the banana!

My Review: 8.5/10

ONE DAY trailer...'Serendipity' wannabe?

ONE DAY starring Anne Hathaway (looking good with English accent, irresistible), and Jim Sturgess...it's a rom-com ala Serendipity I guess, combined with the idea of 'Friends with Benefits'...but this thing is a much more serious movie I guess. The trailer looks good and promising, and perhaps less melancholic or depressing compared with 'Like Crazy', similar theme but different plot...Directed by Lone Scherfig, she's the one who brought you 'An Education' (one of my 2009 favorites)...Make sure you don't watch this thing alone, bring ur loved ones!

Steven Soderbergh's CONTAGION trailer...

After some break, Steven Soderbergh is back with a new disease outbreak thriller....Soderbergh is quite famous on assembling great A-star cast (Ocean's Trilogy)...this one is no exception...Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Marion Cotillard, Laurence Fishburne?

Looks good though! At first glance, I thought it's gonna be another zombie movie...and frankly I dunno whether I should be happy or disappointed...anyway, it also comes with a good looking poster as well...CONTAGION is coming out 9 September worldwide...and lucky me, it's premiering in Singapore a day earlier...

check the trailer below....

I'm just a little kid from Brooklyn...

It was WWII, America was recruiting and rebuilding its military power to overwhelm Nazi's resistance in Europe. Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), a young kid from Brooklyn, had been refused to join the army because of his physical disability. Amused by his determination, Dr Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci), a German miltary scientist who crossed allegiance to the US, decided to admit him into a special group. Admitted into the 'Super Soldier' program, this was the point of no return for Rogers, a start of something heroic, in the name of America.

Finally the last piece of the Avengers puzzle has been thrown to the audience. Following the similar trend of previous Avengers member team (that being Iron Man, Hulk , Thor, Hawkeye, and Nick Fury himself), I found Captain America is quite fun and entertaining. but sadly that's all. In term of action, plot, characterizations, I hardly found something new and exciting. Previously, Iron Man's suit was awesome, Bruce Banner's Hulk was intense and emotional, while Thor was elegant and action packed. In short, Cap is not as mesmerizing or even captivating as a super hero icon. True he got the bulky body. agility, and the infamous shield, but what this movie offers is something that we have seen many times in many other movie. Nevertheless, this is a comic book adaptation, and I never read any of Cap’s comics, so who am I to judge whether the story sucks or not?

The action scenes were okay and entertaining enough. I was expecting Cap doing amazing things with the almighty shield, and it turned out to be quite good and versatile enough. Okay, perhaps it’s not as destructive as Thor’s hammer or as cool as Iron Man Suit, but the idea of a very strong shield which can withhold any projectile? Gotta see that in the Avengers for sure!

The plus point of the movie perhaps lies in the retro vibe feeling. I think Joe Johnston (director) is doing a good job at creating the 1940ish scenes, reminds me of ‘X-Men: First Class’ production. Perhaps that’s why some of the action scenes were kinda old-fashioned blockbuster movie. Although I must say, Red Skull hideout and war factory are a bit to modern for that era.

On the bright side, I think Chris Evans is a good cast for Cap, he embodies the physical character and embraces his patriotic attitude convincingly. Although I think his face is a bit to boyish, but nevertheless he delivers well. Sometimes I tend to think Rogers being both himself and Captain America is being too good-hearted and naïve. I like the his intention and determination before he was being submitted into the Super Soldier programs, which can be a great plot afterwards. Before the incident at the lab which costs (SPOILER!) Dr. Erskine lab, he made Rogers promised to still be the old himself. Too bad, I think the plot went haywire afterwards, until he jumped into the action to save his bestfriend, Bucky.

Every superhero needs 2 elements, the villain and the chick. In this case, we got Johann Schmidt/Red Skull (Hugo Weaving) and Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell). As the main villain, Red Skull probably the worst from all previous Avengers movie. Poor in character and undeveloped, and not to mention it’s a waste of Weaving talent. His bad antics are not menacing nor intimidating, it’s like old school James Bond villain. I thought he built a good tension, by creating super weapons and a massive army, but how come they are so easily infiltrated, trespassed, and defeated. Give me a break, I cannot even remember seeing these bad guys in action let’s say, threatening the Allied forces or occupied important cities. All we got is their secret hideout maps, and one by one was taken down by Cap and the gang.

While on the counterpart, Hayley Atwell might be the strongest female character I’ve seen compared with Pepper Pots or Betty Ross, but lack of chemistry. As Peggy Carter, she was really captivating, I really enjoyed her presence in every scene (her appearance with the red dress made me drooling). But her love interest with Rogers was a bit rushed, or even forced in halfway through. But it turned out better near the end, which has lots of potential to be a tear-jearking moment (such in Star Trek opening), but it didn’t.

Tommy Lee Jones, in my opinion gave the best performance as Col. Chester Phillips. He’s both funny and not to be messed up with, especially with his one-liner jokes. The scene where he was interrogating Zola, Red Skull main scientist, was hilarious. It’s just that I can’t believe he really looks old, but I guess he has been that old since I saw him at ‘The Fugitive’, almost 2 decades ago. Another strong performance was delivered by Stanley Tucci. That man was the heart of the movie in the early part, and unfortunately his character didn’t last long enough. Dominic Cooper also made a short appearance as Howard Stark, but effective enough to bridge this movie with Iron Man.

As a conclusion, Captain America is a happy-go-lucky superhero thing, easily digestible, but nothing revolutionary. A lousy mid-part may prevent this thing being the best of recent Marvel adaptation, but with great cast and an attempt to take the character on faithfully and without irony works more often than not. In the end, the moral message we can get from the Cap is his undisputed determination, loyalty, and lastly never-run ethos. Finally, after a great run from all the Avengers member, I must say I’m a bit burnout by them. I’ll see you all in the next summer.

My Rating: 7.5/10