re: Captain America sucked hard.

I watched it again last week. Sorry, but I don't think you can "spoil" a movie that is on DVD, so here goes.

"It was predictable." -- Well, for the most part, of course it would be. Cap is in the Avengers movie, so you knew he wasn't going to die, and you knew he would win in the end, even if he did have to be frozen and revived to do so. The story arced through him being chosen to be a super soldier, becoming a joke of himself with the real soldiers, and then becoming a real hero. It was a very good origin story for a world that hardly remembers who Captain America is. This is very evident by the predictability of the distributor to market the film overseas as The First Avenger, instead of Captain America: The First Avenger. God forbid we piss off the second and third world with calling a superhero by his name.

"The second half was boring." -- It was a huge popcorn flick designed to bring Cap into the fold of the Avengers. It was a summer time release with huge explosions, big fights, a menacing Hugo Weaving as Red Skull, and a beautiful Halley Atwell brightening the screen with her face and British accent throughout. I was entertained by the big war machines, people getting blown to smithereens by the Gods' energy, and Tommy Lee Jones' one-liners.

"shite was pretty weak." -- No it wasn't. The look and patriotic feel of the 1940s was captured perfectly by Joe Johnston's directing and Alan Silvestri's score. The major difficulty this movie had to overcome was that it had to fit in the Marvel Universe and the plot to get to the Avengers movie, which will feature Loki as the villain. To do that, the movie had to include even more unreal elements like the power of the Gods as an energy source for Hydra and Red Skull to use.

Was it as good as Iron Man? No. Was it better than Thor? Yes, and it was better than Green Lantern, too, although Green Lantern was nothing but a popcorn flick as well and didn't have the limitations of fitting into an arc preparing for say a Justice League movie. Where Iron Man simply had the Avengers part tacked on to it for the most part as a coda, the Avengers movie setup was a core, driving force for Cap' film.

If you are looking for Grand Tarino, Casablanca, or Schindler's List, this isn't it. But if you want something to fill two hours that will keep you entertained if you don't scrutinize it like it's supposed to be the pinnacle of dramatic film, there are way worse ways to go.