Review of Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) by Rorshach S — 03 Apr 2014

Out of all the movies in phase one of the MCU (Iron Man, Thor, Iron Man 2, etc.) Captain American The First Avenger is the one I was looking forward to the least. Captain America as a character never interested me that much. I liked him the Ultimate Avengers animated movies, but I liked most the other superheroes on the team more. I will say that the film is the one of my least favorite phase one movies. However, that does not make Captain America bad. I still thought the film was entertaining and Chris Evans did surprise me. I thought he was bad in Fantastic 4 so I had little hope here. However, he was able to pull-off the character rather nicely.

The story is as follows. A man named Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) wants to be a great soldier but gets gravely dismissed and underestimated because of his size. He then volunteers for an experiment which makes him a Super Soldiers known as Captain America. He then joins the Special Forces to fight the Nazi organization called HYDRA led by another Super Soldier called Red Skull (Hugo Weaving). He is joined by his sidekicks Bucky Barnes, Peggy Carter, and Colonel Chester Phillips (Tommy Lee Jones).

The film does accomplish most of what it is set out to do. Captain America is an entertaining character especially when he is throwing his shield around. The action scenes are decent although not up-to-par with action scenes in Iron Man, Thor, or Incredible Hulk. The side characters are decent especially Colonel Phillips. Tommy Lee Jones is great in every role he plays, even if the film itself is bad. I really liked his character, and he was quite funny. The majority of the funny moments in the film involve him.

The one issue I have is the CGI in the film. The CGI is not horrible, but there are times when it is off particularly in the fights and it can take me out. Compared to the effects in Iron Man and Thor, the effects in this are not up-to-par. Also, the film can drag a little in places, but that is more of a nitpick.

Overall, Captain America is an entertaining film and worth your time. If you are getting into the MCU and want to see Avengers then you should watch this film (as well as the other phase one films) first to get more of an understanding. It is one of my least favorite phase one movies but it is still good. I can definitely say I like it better than Iron Man 2.