I saw the second Captain America film this afternoon. It only came out last Thursday here in Australia, so I’m not too far behind this time. Although it may have been out for four months already in the States. J

It was fine, but great? Not really. Some good character acting in there, spoiled by too much pointless action sequences.

Really? I go to a Marvel movie and complain about action sequences? Well, yes, I do. These days, if there’s an action sequence, I need it to be advancing the story and not just a gratuitous “let’s see some guys fighting each other”.

More than that, the film really, really felt like it couldn’t advance any of its themes. There’s a lot of introducing stuff, or referring to things that happened in the last movie, but precious little closure on them. It really felt like there were too many things being thrown at the wall, and no time to actually explore them in depth.

I really enjoyed the first Captain America film. I see it as primarily a character piece and an exploration of what happens to Steve Rogers as he becomes Captain America. Sure, there’s a lot of action in it as well, but the story is anchored by Chris Evans’ fantastic turn in the main role. (One of the highlights of the earlier film for me is when he’s selling war bonds; the tension between what’s good for the country and what he wants to do is brilliant).

With The Winter Soldier, there’s not really a good character journey for him. Where he was at the beginning of the film is pretty much where he is at the end of the film. I think the film could have been much better – I hope the next one is!