Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Woodyanders Captain America (well played by the supremely amiable Reb Brown) faces off against wicked terrorist Miguel (the always great Christopher Lee in fine villainous form) and must thwart Miguel's nefarious plot to use a serum that causes people to age rapidly on the city of Portland. Competently directed by Ivan Nagy, with an absorbing script by Wilton Schiller and Patricia Payne, this movie rates as an improvement on the fun, but rather slow fist one: It's got a snappier pace, a more eventful plot, and, most importantly, a whole lot more and better staged action set pieces (Captain America breaking into Miguel's prison fortress and chasing after Miguel on his hang glider motorcycle at the exciting climax rate as the definite stirring highlights). The sturdy acting from a bang-up cast is another real plus, with especially stand-out work by Len Birman as the passionate Dr. Simon Wells, Connice Selleca as the smart and attractive Dr. Wendy Day, Lana Wood as evil hench wench Yolanda, Katharine Justice as spunky single mom Helen Moore, and William Lucking as brutish flunky Stader. Vicent A. Martinelli's slick cinematography boasts several cool helicopter shots as well as a few neat fades and dissolves. The spirited score by Mike Post and Pete Carpenter does the rousing trick. A worthy follow-up.

Michael_Elliott Captain America II (1979) * 1/2 (out of 4) This sequel has Captain America/Steve Rogers (Reb Brown) going up against a bunch of thugs who pick on old women as well as a mad man (Christopher Lee) who has created a way to speed up the aging process and he plans to use this to wipe out cities unless he is paid. It's funny but the first film is considered one of the worst superhero movies ever made but I liked it's campy and silly charm. This sequel is considered by many to be the better of the two films but I actually thought there were a few too many problems to fully enjoy it. I think the biggest problem is the screenplay, which offers us up a rather neat idea but never really ever gets done with it. We keep hearing about this deadly chemical yet we never get to see it in full action and by doing this the viewer gets to know that it's not going to happen so there's never any real drama or tension that something bad is going to happen. Another problem is the dialogue, which once again is pretty laughable at times and what makes it worse here is that much of it takes itself so serious that you can't help but roll her eyes. Even though this film is shorter than the first I found it rather hard going at times because some of the pacing was just way too slow and there are many sequences that really go no where and contain very little entertainment. There are a few good things here and one is the performance of Lee. No matter what you think of the man, and I think little of him, he at least gives it his all even when appearing in something such as this. I thought he delivered another fine performance and really sold himself in the part. Brown doesn't turn in a "good" performance but I thought he was quite a bit better here than in the first movie. I also enjoyed most of the action scenes and the added bang given to Captain America when he exits his van was a plus as was the final fight between he and Lee. With that said, CAPTAIN America II still has way too many weak spots to be a complete success. It's worth noting that both Brown and Lee would appear in HOWLING II: YOUR SISTER'S A WEREWOLF.

flapdoodle64 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.

Andy Edwin Nystrom Not as funny as the 1966 cartoon, this TV movie still has its moments.SPOILERS: Miguel is said to be a master of disguise, but as far as can be told this is only so that Christopher Lee, who is decidedly not hispanic, could play someone called Miguel. The scientists test Miguel's aging serum on a cat, but can't seem to find a test subject for the antidote (the cat, perhaps?). Plus great 1970s TV sound effects. And the opening scene with the purse snatcher is pure cornball.A downside for both people trying to take it serious and those who are not is that Steve Rogers doesn't appear enough as Cap. On the other hand it must be conceded that the TV movie does have a very catchy theme tune.For people looking for the unintentional laughs, this one is best viewed with another person. For people wanting a solid Cap tale that's true to the source material and can be taken seriously...stick with the comics; the definitive TV or movie Cap adventure has yet to be told.