Review of Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) by Jake C — 16 Jan 2019

In many ways, Captain America is the distillation of the entire Marvel ethos: What matters is the person, not the power, and that the unbreakable shield is only as important as the person it guards. Yet while the story cuts to the core of the Marvel narrative formula---the real super serum---and greatly expands on the backstory, as the fifth Avenger introduced thus far, if you're counting Black Widow, as well as the fifth movie, the movie nonetheless feels rote and tired, especially in its second half, fumbling around unsure of how to punt-kick Steve Rogers into the future.

Overstuffed with unusually uninspired action sequences that are subpar for a comic book film, the latter part of the film feels almost like filler before the more interesting origin story connects with the wider MCU narrative arc, before the first half of the title (CAPTAIN AMERICA) connects with its subtitle, the goal all along (THE FIRST AVENGER).

Yet despite the more boring stretches and lack of narrative drive, thanks to a rather generic and tame villain in Red Skull, Captain America has displayed enough of his own heart to have touched those in the audience (awww).