Review of Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) by Araiz A — 10 Mar 2014

Along with Marvel's excellent superhero release Thor, 2011 was the home of another Marvel release before the highly anticipated masterpiece that became The Avengers, and that was Captain America: The First Avenger, telling us the early days of the Avenger program and the "world's first superhero", well, at least in the Marvel universe. And while there are quite a bit of flaws (which I'll get to once I start reviewing), Captain America is a fun, old-fashioned superhero release.

Set in 1942 during WWII, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) is a small and weak American who dreams of fighting for his country. He gets his chance when he signs up for the Super Soldier program and after being experimented by German Dr. Erskine (Stanley Tucci), Rogers becomes Captain America, a tall, buffy man with more energy. As Captain America, Rogers uses his new strengths to defeat the HYDRA organization, led by the superhuman and purely whacko Red Skull (Hugo Weaving) from world domination.

Captain America also features Hayley Atwell as Agent Peggy Carter, Sebastian Stan as Roger's close friend, and soldier, Bucky Barnes, Tommy Lee Jones as military Colonel Chester Phillips, Dominic Cooper as weapons maker Howard Stark (yes, the father of Tony Stark/Iron Man), Toby Jones as HYDRA assistant Zola, a cameo appearance from Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, and Stan Lee makes another funny cameo as a general.

Joe Johnston does not have a good track record. While his early superhero film The Rocketeer had a good critical audience, the film was a huge flop, and when he did have box-office success, with Jurassic Park 3, the film turned out to be a critical disaster, and a rare 0% on my Tomatometer. With Captain America, Johnston finally has something to feel proud about, cause not only was the film a critical hit, but it also made money at the box-office. As for me, I mostly enjoyed the film.

What made Captain America the good film it is is Johnston's dedication to recreating the world in the 1940's. He did a fantastic job at that. Another fun factor to consider here are the action sequences, which in some places, including a thrilling motorcycle chase, reminded me of the great classic of Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark, which I think has to thank Johnston for creating fun action sequences. Besides the motorcycle chase, other fun action sequences include the Cap chasing a Nazi in New York, a rescue mission behind enemy lines, and a thrilling climax inside a Nazi plane, and a pretty satisfying showdown with the villain, The Red Skull.

I was also impressed with Alan Silvestri's score, which was filled with the techniques that made Silvestri one of my favorite composers in the business, especially when his resume also features great scores as Back to the Future and Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Disney regular Alan Menken provides the song "Star-Spangled Man", an awesome song filled with the wonderful Menken touch and loads of dancing girls in 40's American clothing. What a thrill!

When I first heard that Chris Evans was playing the role of Captain America, I knew he was going to do the role well, due to the excellent work he provided as The Human Torch is the not-so-good superhero film Fantastic Four, and I predicted that he would do better success here. Well, as Captain America, my prediction was right. Evans nailed the role, from his American dedication to his wit to his humor, Evans perfected this role. Even more amazing were the visual transformation to Rogers the scrawny guy to Captain America. I don't know how they did it, but I honestly thought Evans looked like the small guy. Awesome visuals on Marvel's part. For a villain, and for someone who I know really well as the elf Elrond in The Lord of the Rings films, Hugo Weaving was excellent here as The Red Skull. Again, the visuals for Weaving's face is incredible, and Weaving as a Nazi (or HYDRA) villain is very menacing. Stanley Tucci has a good small role as the German doctor who creates Captain America, Toby Jones (or Dobby, if you're a Harry Potter fan) is fine as HYDRA'S assistant, Sebastian Stan is good as Bucky Barnes, Cap's military friend, and Dominic Cooper was excellent as Howard Stark, and features the humor and wit that would make Tony Stark an even more excellent character. And last, Tommy Lee Jones was awesome as the Colonel, with a funny, scene-stealing performance.

Now is where I'll get to the flaws I mentioned earlier. First, while I was impressed with the action sequences, there were a couple of moments that I thought came out as cheesy, such as a convertible with turbo boost and any moments with Captain America running, though I do admit that being set in the 1940's makes it fun to watch. Also, I did not enjoy Hayley Atwell's performance as Agent Carter. Not only was she annoying and miscast in the part, but the romantic scenes between her and Evans seemed forced and awkward, and I felt that Marvel had better romantic couples (I'm especially looking as Robert Downey Jr. and Gwenth Paltrow and Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman).

Despite these flaws, Captain America: The First Avenger is still an entertaining superhero film, filled with fun action sequences, incredible retro settings, and old-fashioned American pride that is severely lacking in today's entertainment. While I find it so far to be the weakest of Marvel's Cinematic Universe, I still had fun watching it.