Captain America II

Hats off to the creators of the 1970's Captain America movies, to get two feature length films out in one year is highly impressive.

This time Cap must take on a villian who intends to hold America to ransom or he'll unleash a virus that causes enhanced ageing in it's victims.

Once again alike the first film this is as cheesy as it gets and has a feel about it that it would have worked better as a television series rather than movies.

The whole thing is very silly and hard to take seriously at all but this is still an improvement on the first film. The story is sound, it's just the execution that is lacking.

I feel they swung above their weight and took on a project that was not only too big for them but too ahead of it's time.

Better than the first but still pretty damn bad.

The Good:

Christopher Lee

The fact it was churned out within less than a year from the previous film

The Bad:

Can't take that suit seriously

Very "A-Team" vibe

I get the impression animals weren't taken good care of on set

Damn cheesy

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Captain America's two main powers seem to be fight avoidance and fleeing

A common american 70's station wagon can outrun a superheroes "Super" bike

We never did get to see Captain Americas painting

Right, well I was not overly a fan of the 1979 movie "Captain America", and thus was in no particular rush to get to sit down and watch the sequel movie "Captain America II: Death Too Soon". But I would eventually get around to watch it, as I never had seen the movie before.

The storyline in the movie was actually pretty straightforward, I will say that much. So writers Wilton Schiller and Patricia Payne actually fared well enough.

I was surprised to see Christopher Lee in a movie such as this. Aside from Christopher Lee, then I was only familiar with Stanley Kamel on the entire cast list. The acting in the movie was actually fair, in all honesty.

The fight scenes in the movie are more comical than action-packed, and it just oozes with a 'made for a young audience' feel.

Captain America's costume is still every bit as hilarious to look at in this sequel, as it was in the first movie. I am especially fond of the motorcycle helmet.

Well, at least if you liked the first movie, then you will definitely also like this sequel, as they are equally campy and goofy.

Nothing particularly outstanding here, though slightly more enjoyable than the first movie. But definitely not a movie that I will be returning to watch a second time.

My rating of director Ivan Nagy's 1979 movie "Captain America II: Death Too Soon" lands on a four out of ten stars.

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 big puff 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; Captain America vs. Dracula! Sort of. Yes, America's Super Soldier returns, and this time, he has a decent villain. This is by far the best of the two TV movies; and, in my opinion, the best of all of the Cap cinematic efforts (including the serial and "theatrical" film). Christopher Lee rescues this film from complete boredom and makes it entertaining.

This time around, Cap has the right costume (or as close as they could get); unfortunately, it demonstrates how bad spandex costumes look on screen, even on well-built actors. The helmet was a bit much (you would think he would take it off when not riding his bike, but, nooooo!). The abilities are still more Bionic than Super Soldier Formula, but OK.

Connie Sellecca joins the cast, preparing her for her role in the future Greatest American Hero; and Len Birman is back to provide exposition and counteract insomnia.

We get some decent stunts this time, especially the motorcycle jump off of the dam. The story makes a bit more sense, as far as these things go.

My biggest gripe is the shield effect. When thrown, it rotates slowly and wobbles. They could have at least sped up the film to make it look like good! As it is, it appears that all you have to do is take a step to the side and wait for it to pass you by, ten minutes later.

Still, all in all, this was pretty entertaining. Don't expect X-Men or Batman, but it's good on a rainy day.

(Edit-This was written before Captain America: The First Avenger, and CA: The Winter Soldier, so Death Too Soon now ranks as third best. Until the next good Cap film. You get the picture.)

OK! Well, this is so bad its funny. First off, this film has nothing to do with the Captain America we all know and love in the comics. Some background from the first movie that I watched but am not going to review: Steve Rogers is a former motorcross racer, now free lance artist and is the son of the original Captain America....(may be the one in the comics). He was in a wreck and was injected with "FLAG" serum by the goverment....Riiiiiiight. Steve rides around in a big blue van...when trouble arises, the back doors of the van open, smoke poors out, and the Captain shoots out on his red, white, and blue motor cylce. He wears a helmet over his traditional mask and his shield is small...very small. Everything on the original design on the shield that was white is now clear. It is a super flimsy piece of work too. it bends and folds whenever he uses it, especially in a seen where he is pushing pack a pack of wild dogs. The story sucks here too. Instead of the Red Skull or Baron Zemo we get the villian from The Man With The Golden Gun. His name is Miguel and he is holding the country hostage. He is spreading an aging formula over cities and he will only provide an antidote for lots of money. Though we get to see a pretty fair amount of Cap in costume, he spends that time riding his motorcyle. I guess the director thought ten minutes of Cap riding his bike to be entertaining...whatever. The fighting seens are also kinda lame. Cap would rather throw a thug into a mud puddle than punch him. Also, every time he uses his enhanced strength or makes a big jump, we hear this supper annoying whistle sound and we hear it a lot. I will say this about the actor playing Cap, Reb Brown, is very big and very built,however, he sounds like a hick when he talks. This movie came out in the late 70s when Marvel comics and this big spread of superheroes on TV. The Hulk, Spiderman, Dr. Strange, and Cap were all planned TV shows. The Hulk and Spiderman both made it past the pilots but only the Hulk would last more than a season. The last try at making a Cap into a movie was in 1990. The movie was supposed to go to theaters but was held back and put on video in 1992. I personally find it to be a much better movie...you be the judge.