Captain America: The First Avenger

[akh43]

I think that the screening from sky tonighht was done poorly overall at ashton as one cineworld member of staff was saying one thing and the sky rep was saying another we all had to que in a very long line while the sky rep was trying to give out 3d glasses (didnt have to p*y) after they finally let us in to the cinema at arround 6:15 which in my eyes was to late as i had been waiting around there for a good 20 minutes after we got in there there was no free popcorn or anything like the virgin screening and i didnt really get the film it was to complicated and the 3d wasnt brilliant overall it was poorly organised by sky and cineworld and wasnt a great film for me

overall

Sky 3/10
Film 5/10

At least you got in to see the film. My daughter and I went to Ashton tonight, after over 45 mins travelling, bad traffic and sat nav sending me the wrong way just managed to get there around 6.25, my friend had arrived earlier than me and he had not got in either, he got there around 6.20 - around 30 people apparently did not get - well oversubscribed. We were not at all happy - no id checks or lists by sky! The duty manager offered us to see any other film - problem being we had already seen everything he offered. My friend took the sky contact details, the sky person did not even come out to see us even though my friend asked to see him, apparently there were 187 seats allocated and he said there were 188 people in there as one was in a wheelchair. My friend is intending to send a strongly worded email to sky re this.

As we had seen everything I asked could we have tickets for another day to watch it, and a different cinenworld as I did not really want to travel this far again, and he gave us all unrestricted tickets with 4 months expiry dates on so at least if we decide to we can go to the Didsbury Cineworld instead.

This oversubscribing seems to be happening more and more now, not sure if its sky is actually oversubscribing or whether people are faking/copying tickets, but for any future screenings I intend to turn up early as I dont want this to happen to me again. I think sky need to get their act together and have lists and proper checks for future screenings live the virgin ones.

[Beate]

Grrr, my brain is getting frazzled by a combination of a hot flat and loud Status Quo from over the river (it's really bad), and I can't even open a window as it would be even louder then. THey are singing "In the Army now" at the moment, I can hear every word.

Anyway, how blooming disorganised was that? OH got there quite early and said there was already an almighty queue snaking to the screening room. Thankfully he got his brain together and queued as well instead of waiting for me. He got us good seats at the back next to canadian_turtle, and thankfully we didn't have to p*y for the 3D glasses as I had completely forgotten to take some with me. I then tried to get my free popcorn with the voucher and it took me 15 minutes to get it, queuing up with hdaniel82 and her OH. When I got back I faced an almighty queue to get back in but decided to jump it under the ruse of needing the toilet but when I was coming out of there they were suddenly turning everyone away or so it seemed. I got back in and only then did it occur to me that what they were actually doing was showing them the way to the upper circle which they had opened, because from then on no new people arrived in the room, only peeps laden with food and drink.

[steve9872]

To answer TheOnes:
[spoiler]Why was Cap frozen for 70 years?
Simple, the crash would have killed a normal person. He survived because of the serum but the crash still badly injured him and rendered him unconcious. As his temperature fell he went into a hibernation state to stay alive. 70 years later, all they had to do was thaw him out and let the serum finish healing him.[/spoiler]

[Beate]

All this endless stream of people that needed to get their popcorn and then to be seated is probably the reason why the preview did not get under way until 7pm. It made me miss the first half of Torchwood but I couldn't hear the second half anyway due to Status Quo!

Anyway, when it finally started I enjoyed the first hour. It started strong and gave a lot of character info. There were some top-class actors in there like Hugo Weaving and Tommy Lee Jones, not forgetting Dominic Cooper and Stanley Tucci. But then it got tedious and repetitive, with too many fights and explosions for my liking. The obligatory love story was very schmaltzy in the end (all that pathos, God help me), and Captain America's last line was just dumb. I found myself getting really bored in the last half hour and just wanting to get out of there, so I wasn't bothered about staying for the credits and any extra scenes. Btw, I liked Steven better when he was scrawny.

7/10

[biggins]

Cineworld, Edinburgh tonight was full and we didn't need to p*y for 3D glasses. No sign of anyone from sky.
Met up with Marjoreemarjora and her mum so all got seats together. Enjoyed the film and thought the 3D very good in parts.

A very long list of boring credits to sit through before seeing the trailer at the end. 6/10

[kevinknapman]

Hands down the most fun I've had at the cinema this year. Personally I thought this was awesome. Great fun, with Joe Johnston bringing some of that retro Rocketeer magic (which I watched last night and is still wonderful 20 years on).
Evans was a likeable hero and the rest of the cast were really good too. Tommy Lee Jones had fun with the sarcastic one-liners and Hugo Weaving had fun chewing the scenery ("You are FAILING!!!"). Toby Jones was suitably creepy as the scientist, Hayley Atwell a likeably tough female love interest and Dominic Cooper was very good (though not looking much like John Slattery who played the character in Iron Man). Stanley Tucci sadly not in it enough but I liked the quieter scenes he had with Evans. Would have been nice to have seen more of the 'Howling Commandos' as they were good value for the brief time they were on screen. Poor Richard Armitage didn't get much screen time did he?

The effects were good, costume and period design was top-notch and the action was effective. Bobble-head Evans actually worked really well within the film itself and was a very effectively done. I personally loved the cheesy song-and-dance number and thought it worked really well. Disney regular Alan Menken is bound to be nominated for Best Song at the Oscars. I liked how they didn't just jump into him being a full-on hero straight away and allowed the film to wallow in the period detail for a bit, which I enjoyed. It wasn't too overly patriotic either which is quite something for a film called Captain America.

Perhaps the final showdown between Cap and Red Skull was a little anti-climactic but the lead up to it was very exciting. I also thought Cap's introduction to the world of the Avengers was well-handled. In fact, I think this worked remarkably well as a stand-alone film and wasn't (as some have suggested) just an extended trailer or The Avengers. Which was definitely what Iron Man 2 felt like.
It's connections with the rest of the Marvel universe weren't overly intrusive. Aside from Tony Stark's dad (I liked the way the World of Tomorrow felt like an early version of the Stark Expo. Howard showing himself as much as a ladies man as his son) and the last minute appearance of a certain Shield agent. And thankfully the Stan Lee cameo was mercifully brief.

Overall I thought this was great fun. Occasionally corny, yes, but it never took itself too seriously which was important. I actually enjoyed it a bit more than Thor and spent a great deal of the time with a huge grin on my face.
With Super 8 on Tuesday and this tonight, it's been a good week for satisfying Summer blockbusters.

Oh and the Avengers teaser was fairly brief and didn't give too much away but I'm still hopeful that it's as much fun as this was. The 3D was typically pointless but didn't spoil my enjoyment.

[claire]

I brought mu yep nephews to this tonight at wandsworth as they really wanted to see this. Was worried when we got inside as they were youngest inside 9 and 12. Thought in the middle it dragged a bit until the action started. I enjoyed this but thought my nephews were bored until we got outside. They kept telling me how good it was all the way home. Quite surprised really

[TheOnes]

To answer TheOnes:
[spoiler]Why was Cap frozen for 70 years?
Simple, the crash would have killed a normal person. He survived because of the serum but the crash still badly injured him and rendered him unconcious. As his temperature fell he went into a hibernation state to stay alive. 70 years later, all they had to do was thaw him out and let the serum finish healing him.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]Yes! Thanks. Thats always bugged me from the start and seemed too much of a suspension of disbelief and i was convinced Odin's cube was going to induce a state similar to being frozen to combat the logic lapse but then that happened. But that explanation satisfies me and im a bit red faced at how i didnt come to that conclusion. Bumps up to 8.3 now [/spoiler]

[soonforgotten]

So we waited an extra 30 f**king minutes for the film to start. No explanation what that was about and it started so on the dot at 7pm, that it really made me wonder.

Anyway, the film. I was really looking forward to this and while I won't say that I was let down, it was slightly disappointing. I'll get my 3D gripes out the way first. It was pointless. Utterly pointless. It wasn't as distracting as it was in Harry Potter, but it was totally unnecessary. The world surely does not need to see Tommy Lee Jones' face in 3D.

What I loved about this was how well written the progression of Rogers to the bad-ass version of Capt was. I thought it was a stroke of brilliance to work in the original outfit and shield design. I thought it was great that Tony Stark's grandfather (too far back to have been his father, right) was included. The effects looked great as well. Tommy Lee Jones' character was really enjoyable and Stanley Tucci was fantastic in his small, but not minor role. Haley Atwell looked beautiful and I felt for her, never getting that date. As for Chris Evans... well, I thought he looked the part quite convincingly. What he lacked, though was charisma. It fits the character at the start, but it seems out of place once the transition occurs. The story skips through many battles quite quickly, and I would have expected his confidence to grow more and I just didn't see that. I think the story would have been more exciting if Evans had been more exciting. This film will obviously be compared alongside Iron-Man and Thor and in that company, Evans' Capt just seems dull.

The major problem for me, though, was Hugo Weaving. I'm normally a big fan of his, but what the hell was that? His German accent was horrible, I didn't particularly like the physical appearce of Red Skull either. It just worked to remind me that I'm watching a movie. I think X-Men: First Class incorporated the whole Nazi aspect into its story much better than this did.

On a whole, I liked it well enough. I'd rank it about Iron-Man 2, but below the first Iron-Man and Thor. The Avengers teaser at the end was interesting because, a brief scene aside, it's actually a proper teaser trailer. I was expecting something more like what was at the end of Thor and Iron-Man 2.

I was gonna go with an 8 because I did enjoy this, but after thinking about it, I feel 7.5/10 is much more reasonable.

If anyone is gonna p*y to see it, save some money and catch it in 2D. You'll miss out on nothing.

[Yinster]

Back from a full Glasgow screening where at least 10 people were turned away. Some tried to sit in the aisle but were told they couldn't. Pretty funny that it was at least 3 different member of Cineworld staff kept coming in to do what exactly? Cos they weren't checking the empty seats or lack of. SKY rep did not do anything to appease those who didn't get to see the showing. That was left to cinema staff. Ok SKY rep might not work for SKY but is probably a promotion girl but she is there as an agent of SKY.

Also cinema didn't realise it was a 3D showing until half of the cinema was full so glasses were passed out for free.

Onto the film. Not as great as Thor. I loved Thor. But it wasn't bad either. Very patriotic and American but that is what to be expected. Lots of big stars in this. The mains actors/actress were good enough for me. The transformation of Steve from weakling to super human was great. Thought Tommy Lee Jones had all the good lines.

The Avenger trailer was such a teaser. Can't wait for it next May.

7/10 for me