Customer Reviews

Captain America 2 [VHS]

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I know that this and #1 stretched the storyline of Cap a little, but it was a TV movie after all. At least these were better than that stinkeroo movie that came out a few years ago. (PEEEUUU!) Also, Reb Brown at least had the build that made him playing Cap believable. Anyway, Marvel can't seem to make a decent adaptation of their heroes from the comics to the big/small screens so I'm afraid that this is one of the better ones.

This film may be hokey (like to sound effects for Cap's stength), but it's not so bad. It trys to stay close to the actual comic character, but makes him somewhat bland. I'd recommend it for the avid comic collector,but don't watch it too often, you may go crazy.

OK. So you got past the hokey remade origin of Cap in the first one and, granted, he's got a clear shield of plastic and a motorcycle helmet. But hey, the story got a little better. When terrorists threaten to unleash a plague virus, Captain America steps it up to put a stop to it.These movies aren't bad bad, but as a little kid who liked comic books, Cap was the Man. Still is, although, whereas I'd admit I owned a Batman movie, I'd keep this one in the closet. I'd get it and the first one ONLY if you were a DIE HARD comics fan. (Like me.) eeeeesh.

In this second and last movie of the series Captain America(Reb Brown) must fight a ruthless terrorist (Christopher Lee) who has a deadly weapon. It's not a bad movie and it has a lot of action and funy scenes You'll notice there are a lot of bloopers in the movie (Watch Cap's hands when he is at the beach. We see him with gloves and then he does'nt have gloves)Althoug there are bloopers, it's a viewable movie. It would have been interesting to see a regular t.v. series of Captain America or another t.v. movie with Spider-Man,Hulk and Captain America. Who knows, maybe one day ?

A few weeks ago, me having been all anticipate-y about the new CAPTAIN AMERICA movie, I dusted off this old clunker, hoping against hope that this time out I'd regard it with a more forgiving eye. But nuh-uh. CAPTAIN AMERICA II - a 1979 CBS made-for-TV film - is just as full of stink.

You'd think a villain the caliber of Christopher Lee would elevate this film, but what it does instead is drag the actor down with it. Lee plays the international bio-terrorist "Miguel" who threatens to unleash a rapid aging virus unless blah blah blah. Our main man Steve Rogers occasionally drops his art kit long enough to don the Captain America costume (which includes that lame motorcycle helmet) and strap on that funky clear plexi-glass shield. This Sentinel of Liberty manages to frustrate purse snatchers and thuggish dock workers. He bruises up five town bullies, and, of course, he eventually tangles with Miguel. It's some kind of bleak that when you glance at poor beefy Reb Brown's résumé, his two Captain America movies just may prove to be the highlights. I looked up Reb Brown on IMDb and IMDb promptly forwarded me to Michael Dudikoff's page. But I'll say this for Brown. He fills out the costume nicely.

Putting aside Reb Brown's golem-like acting and the listless story and the dearth of action, what really kills this interpretation is that the writer(s) absolutely ignore Cap's World War II roots, opting instead to reimagine him as a product of his contemporary times (in this instance, the late '70s). This Captain America absolutely does not resonate. I understand that these two films were low-budget television projects, but dang... even Nicholas Hammond is aghast at the shoddy production values.

Further impressions and observations:

- It only SEEMS like Reb Brown spends half the movie driving up and down the coast in his van

- At least his costume doesn't look like something Evel Knievel would wear anymore

- Colonel Steve Austin still wants his sound effects back

- There's nothing more patriotic than Captain America using a kindly old lady as bait to nab some hooligans

- Warehouse boxes absolutely have no chance of withstanding Steve Rogers' mega punch

- When you're a notorious wanted criminal mastermind, the best way to evade capture is by pulling a purloined letter and masquerading as a warden of an American penitentiary

- My belief is that a deeply ashamed Christopher Lee had demanded that his very own surname be stricken from the credits but that someone goofed and instead omitted the second half of his character's full name which originally was Miguel Frumpbottom

- When a thug speeds away in his cute yellow dune buggy vehicle, Cap instantly gives chase ON FOOT, absolutely neglecting his souped-up motorcycle parked just behind him

- My favorite moment is when Cap throws his mighty shield at Miguel, and the shield sails harmlessly over Miguel's head, boomerangs around and ignominiously lands on the ground by Cap's feet; it was such a fail that Cap doesn't even bother to pick the shield up

- I was surprised to learn that all those action sequences with Cap aren't presented in slow motion; Reb Brown is just that slow

- Captain America's most impressive super power is his ability to toss a motorbike over a wall and have it land safely on both wheels

- Captain America's next most impressive super power is smoothly sliding down banisters

- Cap has some kind of bad guy GPS that allows him, once in the villain's compound, to make a beeline to the right building and then straight to the bad guy's office

- If you close your eyes, you'd swear you were listening to the soundtrack of a relaxing travelogue film

- When Christopher Lee says this of Reb Brown's character - "He's no wandering artist... He's too intelligent and too inquisitive for that!" - he manages to keep a straight face, thus making him the film's most consummate actor

- If you ever accuse Connie Sellecca of being in this movie, she'll present you with an alibi

This one is fun, and alot better than the first made for tv one. Reb brown has the build and is great as captain america here, only they skipped the whole mythology of the comics and came up with this storyline instead. But it could have been worse for a tv movie from 1979 for sure. the print is in ok shape too, but this and the other one
are of their time truly and I could never understand why they couldn't follow the comics more.

This 'made for TV movie' was also the 2nd pilot film for a proposed Capt. America TV series, being made at the time that Marvel Comics and CBS TV had a hit in the form of the Bill Bixby 'Incredible Hulk' show.

The creators of the 2 Cap pilots messed around with the Cap legend so as to make the concept work on TV and so as to avoid having to bring in the whole super-team of Avengers who fished Cap out of the arctic ice flow in 1964. All those extra heroes would have been expensive and would have required a lot of back-story.

The new back story created for these 2 movies is not horrible and could have worked. The supporting characters are pretty good...they would have been counter-point to the Hulk, who had no supporting cast. It's good if a hero has other characters to talk to.

Reb Brown, as the eponymous hero, is not horrible but neither is he good. He is suitably muscular, but as a thespian, he makes Lee Majors look like Lawrence Olivier.

There is some fun superhero action in the form of fights and motorcycle stunts. The cycle is clearly a guest-star in this show...but for some odd reason, however, the only way Steve Rogers can put on his Cap suit is to go into his van, change clothes, hop on his cycle, and burst out the back doors of the van in a burst of smoke. I imagine the creators figured this was a good gimmick, similar to the bat-poles in Batman, but in an ongoing series it would have been pretty darn silly and awkward. Suppose Cap wants to do something that doesn't involve him riding his cycle? Silly.

Speaking of silly, the final showdown is marred by poorly worked shield-slinging FX. The producers really should have hired a good fight choreographer.

The villain is played by Christopher Lee, heaven knows why he took this role, but he does add to the enjoyment.

In defense of this film, I should point out that our Capt. is portrayed as a straightforward, principled guy, not some whiny self-pitying narcissist douche like a lot of the modern superheroes. And generally, this film does not overextend itself...it does not try to blow our minds on the most wild cosmic fight scene ever...that is to say, it stays within its means.

This is modest, somewhat better than average 1970's cheese.

Oh boy, I'm digging into obscurity here.

Full disclosure --- I caught this as a kid in 1990 when FOX 32 in Chicago did some late night airing of it. My brothers and I taped it, loved it, and forgot about it.

Because of the revitalization of Marvel characters these days, I felt compelled to find this one on YouTube. To my astonishment, someone actually had this movie posted, from start to finish.

So, how's it aged? I dare say that even though my childhood memories enhanced my experience, "Captain America II" actually is a harmless bit of fun. Sure, it's a product of the 70s, and even non-Marvel fans can sense that Captain America's very existence is questionable. (He's the son of a former crimefighter, and wears a costume because?...)

But you know what, it works for me because the actors give it their all. To them, this is a story worth checking out, and their enthusiasm and work is visible. Look, Reb Brown seems too nice to play a crimefighter, but his earnestness is almost like that of Christopher Reeve's Superman. This Captain America isn't a rugged hero; he's just a nice guy who hates seeing bad things happen to good people.

The supporting cast includes Dr. Simon Mills (the man who injected Steve Rogers with the superhuman serum to save his life). I know nothing about Simon Mills beyond these two 1970s movies. However, thanks to Len Birman just playing it straight, he becomes a believable character. Mills works in a government science lab, and tells Steve Rogers straight-up who his father was, and why he thinks Steve should accept his newfound physical abilities. It's nothing too deep, but in my opinion, his dialogue in both movies makes this superhero gig almost plausible.

Almost. After all, when you throw in Christopher Lee as the terrorist Miguel --- no last name? --- you can't expect much of a serious movie. He basically has kidnapped a scientist to develop a deadly poison. Who Miguel is, why he's taken so seriously, and how he's achieved his power is unimportant. It's Christopher Lee dammit! What more do you need than a couple guards roaming his fortress?

The action scenes are quite silly, but never boring. The movie begins when --- get this --- Steve Rogers saves an elderly woman from a knife-wielding thug whose gang leader drives a banana-yellow car along the beach. WHAT!?

Or how about when Captain America, with 1970s sound effects accompanying his dazzling jumps, raids a warehouse with some criminal cargo. Or how he takes on a few local thugs with baseball bats, just after being poked to the point of yelling, "STRIKE THREE! YOU'RE OUT!"

But underneath all of this silliness is a plot with some cheesy menace and some corny celebration of small-town America. How awful for Miguel the deadly terrorist to threaten our farms and neighborhoods with this terrible poison! Leave it to Steve Rogers, a painter with a red/white/blue costume, motorcycle (complete with helmet), and a shield boomerang to save the day.

Good God, will you just YouTube this movie already?
Don't worry about the first "Captain America".
It's not required to watch this sequel. After all, this one's got Christopher Lee!!! SCORE! :-)

With the bastardized origin story of the first movie out the way we skip straight to the action this time and Cap gets more screen time. The costume is much closer to the comics (though he still wouldn't take that helmet off when he parked the motorcycle although you can see he has a cowl underneath!) Reb finally stopped smiling as Cap, that drove me nuts in the first one! He actually has some command as the lead Avenger this time.

The Miquel character is clearly inspired by the Red Skull and Christopher Lee has great presense; too bad he didn't get more screen time (one can easliy see how he would be a great Red Skull watching this; much better than Scott Paulkin from the direct-to-video movie). Even the plot by Miquel to extort money from the US government by threatening to dump his aging gas on a densely populated American city sounds like a kid-friendly version of something the Red Skull would cook up.

The story and characterizations are actually surprisingly involving, nothing too heady, but good. A partriotic message of indepedence and love for one's country and respect for another's is at the heart of this tale, albeit laced in cheese, but what did you expect? I can't help but smile along with Cap and his female co-star at the end of it all. The villian and reticent townsfolk Cap encounters in this film remind one that hate and anger may motivate and protect, but if not released eventually kills the spirit.

Final Verdit: The 1991 film may have been more faithful to the comics, but this one is more energizing, has pound-for-pound more spirit from all involved and is just plain more fun. Ought to be released on DVD along with the original, if only for historical purpose.

My Rating: 6/10

I am a fan of Marvel Since I was a little Kid. I remember when I saw Captain in a 1990 movie, when he fought the Red Skull, but this is not it! , It is the 2nd T.V movie of Captian America, he has his cool bike, wierd shield, and corny custume but I love it, If you want to see this, I would buy, Captain America 1, then this (Captain America 2 Death to soon. I loved this and I hope you will enjoy this as much as I did!