The Review
If you're going to make movies for several Marvel characters which will eventually have (almost) all of the most recognizable characters team up in the very first superhero ensemble flick, it's only practical you make a movie about the leader of the group itself, Captain America. Growing up seeing re-runs of the 60's cartoon back at the early late 90's and early 2000's when it still a routine for small kids to catch Saturday morning cartoons. Until you started reading Captain America comics as a teenager, you really have no idea who Captain America is and what it's like to be a part of his universe. Consider this film an introductory of the character to the wider audience who's lazy enough to even pick up a comic book. Because knows heaven we shall never speak of the 90's disaster movie which stared what's-his-face-again as the titular character, it's best dive into this film instead.
We start off with Steve Rogers, played by Chris Evans, a young man with a purest heart of gold who wanted to give his life to serve his country during the heat of World War II. The only problem is, Steve is tiny stick even thinner than a regular BBQ stick, you might feel pity to skim through his medical record. But then a government doctor, Dr. Albert Erskine, played by Stanley Tucci, has offered Steve a chance to serve the military, as long as he volunteers to undergo an experiment which would give him peak physical strength, speed, agility and a chance to look more like Chris Evans in his best days and less like Christian Bale from The Machinist. Now the man named Captain America has emerged. America's walking flag sent to every dangerous missions of the war wielding a powerful vibranium steel shield that gives the sport Frisbee and whole new name. With new found abilities, a superhero status, Steve Roger's wishes has been fulfilled, but his life will never be the same.
Reading that, the movie itself sounded patriotic and inspiring, which at times it is. The movie itself has a very fun story to tell. The World War II setting sets it apart from the previous Marvel movies at that time. But if you're looking forward to a war movie with comic book characters in it, you have another thing coming. The movie by any means, is a treasure hunt film, much like the Indiana Jones movies. One of the key plots is the Tesseract, a (or the) Cosmic Cube, which is being used by Nazi's science division, H.Y.D.R.A. under the leader ship of the film's main antagonist, The Red Skull, played by Hugo Weaving. When our characters start fighting over the possession of the Cosmic Cube, the film itself steps away from the usual war film formula, as if these certain events takes place behind the public's eye. People knew who Captain America is, but they kinda didn't knew what he does. The action scenes are grand and epic in its scale, but damn are they cheesy. Captain America infiltrates a H.Y.D.R.A. prison and sets free and mob of US soldiers held captive without being spotted while doing so? That's something. The film has some crazy ups and downs when it comes to tonal variation that should have been done really well if not for the writing that wasn't thought through, it's kind of a bummer to be honest.
The film itself has a pretty interesting cast. Chris Evans did a good job playing both Steve Rogers before his transformation and Steve Rogers as Captain America. You are fully convinced of his performance as a small New Yorker who doesn't want to get his new found status into his head and a character who wants to keep his pure heart until the end his days. But even with star studded cast, somehow no one really stood out to me other than Evans himself, though he didn't really steal the movie. Doesn't mean the film had bad acting though, I'm just saying.
The score composed by Alan Silvestri fits perfectly for the tone of this film, it's not Hans Zimmer/John Williams/Danny Elfman' level by any means, but still pretty epic and patriotic. The special effects are passable, but the set pieces are very astonishing. The editing, my gosh, the editing though, is friggin' lazy. Who edited this film? Looks like someone didn't bother to have a second look.
We start off with Steve Rogers, played by Chris Evans, a young man with a purest heart of gold who wanted to give his life to serve his country during the heat of World War II. The only problem is, Steve is tiny stick even thinner than a regular BBQ stick, you might feel pity to skim through his medical record. But then a government doctor, Dr. Albert Erskine, played by Stanley Tucci, has offered Steve a chance to serve the military, as long as he volunteers to undergo an experiment which would give him peak physical strength, speed, agility and a chance to look more like Chris Evans in his best days and less like Christian Bale from The Machinist. Now the man named Captain America has emerged. America's walking flag sent to every dangerous missions of the war wielding a powerful vibranium steel shield that gives the sport Frisbee and whole new name. With new found abilities, a superhero status, Steve Roger's wishes has been fulfilled, but his life will never be the same.
Reading that, the movie itself sounded patriotic and inspiring, which at times it is. The movie itself has a very fun story to tell. The World War II setting sets it apart from the previous Marvel movies at that time. But if you're looking forward to a war movie with comic book characters in it, you have another thing coming. The movie by any means, is a treasure hunt film, much like the Indiana Jones movies. One of the key plots is the Tesseract, a (or the) Cosmic Cube, which is being used by Nazi's science division, H.Y.D.R.A. under the leader ship of the film's main antagonist, The Red Skull, played by Hugo Weaving. When our characters start fighting over the possession of the Cosmic Cube, the film itself steps away from the usual war film formula, as if these certain events takes place behind the public's eye. People knew who Captain America is, but they kinda didn't knew what he does. The action scenes are grand and epic in its scale, but damn are they cheesy. Captain America infiltrates a H.Y.D.R.A. prison and sets free and mob of US soldiers held captive without being spotted while doing so? That's something. The film has some crazy ups and downs when it comes to tonal variation that should have been done really well if not for the writing that wasn't thought through, it's kind of a bummer to be honest.
The film itself has a pretty interesting cast. Chris Evans did a good job playing both Steve Rogers before his transformation and Steve Rogers as Captain America. You are fully convinced of his performance as a small New Yorker who doesn't want to get his new found status into his head and a character who wants to keep his pure heart until the end his days. But even with star studded cast, somehow no one really stood out to me other than Evans himself, though he didn't really steal the movie. Doesn't mean the film had bad acting though, I'm just saying.
The score composed by Alan Silvestri fits perfectly for the tone of this film, it's not Hans Zimmer/John Williams/Danny Elfman' level by any means, but still pretty epic and patriotic. The special effects are passable, but the set pieces are very astonishing. The editing, my gosh, the editing though, is friggin' lazy. Who edited this film? Looks like someone didn't bother to have a second look.
The Final Veridct
The concept of Captain America himself is patriotic, heroic, epic and super cheesy. But Captain America: The First Avengers wears them like the titular character's armor and shield that not only made him look silly, but also iconic. Even if it's lacking, this is the Marvel movie that has a pure heart in it, like its titular character.
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