Captain America was really first created as a propaganda piece during the Second World War, especially since the first thought that popped into the creator's head was to have Hitler be punched square in the jaw by someone dressed as a giant American flag. Someone like that would be only be taken seriously in the comic book and cartoon world, though many great comic writers had given this character many great stories and development throughout the time. It is understandably hard to flesh out the character into a live-action format as there were many attempts, especially the infamous 1990 low-budget movie. In a time where superhero movies are now grounded and realistically-based, bringing Captain America to the big screen in a serious way would be a not-so-easy task, when establishing his origins and selling on the Steve Roger character. How did they pull it off? Its first crucial move: setting it in the time where its not totally grounded and realistically-based - the 1940s.
In doing so, the explanation of all the origins of Captain America such as the costume, ideals and character flows very well for the casual audience and the people who knew the comic. And the film didn't rush the audience into bringing up Captain America, but it took its time in progressively illustrates the stepping stones in how he becomes that hero ala Batman Begins. Secondly and equally important was for Chris Evans to portray not Captain America the Super Solider, but Steve Rogers the human being and he did it so magnificently. He completely sold it. Man that guy came such a long way from "Not Another Teen Movie", you guys didn't know that?
During the Second World War, Steve Rogers wants nothing more than to serve his country by joining the army. The only problem is that he has only spaghetti arms rather than a full body tank the U.S Army prefer, not to mention he has all the known health problems like asthma. Only the kind Doctor Abraham Erskine (played effortlessly by Stanley Tucci) gives him a chance to serve his country by enlisting him into the Super Solider program. After a dose of the Super Soldier serum (seriously, not steroids) and some Vita-Rays, small weak Steve transforms into one perfectly-sculpted muscled solider, coined the name Captain America. There, he faces off against his equally-powered, but hideously-grotesque Red Skull as he plans to destroy the world.
The hero that is Captain America relies heavily on the humanity of Steve Rogers and the writers pulled it off so well. The character strikes such a balance in being a good nature and incredibly sharp person. There are pivotal character moments such as the flag and grenade scene of Steve are so simple, but yet illustrates his characteristics so beautifully. The supporting characters were alsso great such as the wise Dr. Erskine, the fiery Peggy Carter (played by "wolf-howl" Hayley Atwell) and Red Skull (Hugo Weaving). The action scenes in this film are ranged from top-notch to pretty average, but all are very enjoyable . Though, I really need to talk about the special effect especially how it was used for skinny Rogers that is just so seamless and much impressive.
Some of the complaints were by the middle of the film, it all went a bit rushed. It seems like the film took a good time establishing and explaining all the development of elements that they rushed through the middle without that much context. The film score isn't that memorable or doesn't give that much impact except for certain parts. However the film's ending is very heartfelt and thoughtful, concluding with such a graphic novel style instead of a comic-book movie style. That last line at the last second of the film will just hit you hard in the gut.
Captain America: The First Avenger is no Dark Knight (I mean, what movie will ever be that?), but I'm proud to have it among my favorite superhero films. It is equally as good as Thor and Spider-man and its just gave me a solid faith in the upcoming The Avengers film. That and The Dark Knight Rises and all of the other BIG films... its gonna be one hell of a year next year. But the film just succeeds in not only being a big blockbuster film, but being a genuinely character-driven good film. The film had some problems, but only by an inch, I gave so much love for this.
4 out of 5 stars by an inch...
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