Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Movie Review: Captain America- The First Avenger

And the streak continues! Another great comic book film from Marvel Studios. I guess the old adage "if you want some thing done right..." comes to mind here. Marvel faced a few problems regarding this project. First, Captain America is fucking boring. Yeah I said it. He's the ultimate boy scout and is as one dimensional as vanilla ice cream. Second, he isn't all that "super." Lacking any real super powers, Cap could have easily been upstaged by the Thor/X-Men/Green Lantern type flicks that feature awesome CGI bursts of energy darting across the screen. Luckily, director Joe Johnston and Marvel managed to side step these issues and craft a nifty little summer action romp.

So the entire movie is a flashback/origin story for Steve Rogers, the scrawny young reject who oh so desperately wants to serve his country during World War II and signs up for a top secret government project turning him into not just a super solider, but Captain America, the world's first Avenger (See what I did there? Marvel, call me). Chris Evans does a wonderful job as Steve Rogers. I'll call him Steve Rogers because, even after he gets all yoked out and dons the red, white and blues, Evans always retains the human/underdog qualities that make the otherwise boring boyscout that is Captain America worth watching. In fact there are scenes in the film that show just how uncomfortable Rogers is dressed up as a "hero" and always retains a true sense of himself throughout.

At first I was like...but then I was like...
Yeah, the movie is kind of cheesy. There are way too many montage sequences that defy the golden rule of storytelling 101 (show don't tell the audience what's going on, but hey, it IS a comic book movie after all) and there isn't a whole lot of action. That being said, the action that is covered is pretty rad. Watching Steve Rogers make mince meat of random Hydra bad guys never gets old. Hugo Weaving does an adequate job as the Red Skull, menacing but not over the top....which says a lot for a dude rocking a giant red fucking skull. Tommy Lee Jones plays the typical military hardass but he does it rather well. Major kudos to Hayley Atwell as well. At first I was afraid she was simply going to be eye candy but by the end of the flick I was totally sold on her performance.

must.salute.officer...
Speaking of the ending. It sucks. Not in a bad way but in a sad way. Like I suddenly realized I how emotionally invested I had become in these characters and was surprisingly upset about the inevitable end that as a comic geek, I already KNEW was coming. So yeah, Captain America: The First Avenger is a solid summer flick and a really good example of how to pull off a comic book film (you taking notes DC comics?).

27 comments:

  1. Good review. I've been waiting to see this solely on what I've heard is after the credits.

    Now that I finally got through (as of one hour ago) all the movies my girlfriend wanted to see, it's time to spend time with the good ol' Cap'n and some apes next week.

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  2. This was complete. I read some idiots review thing on the same movie and made me think it'd just plain suck. But nobody else had said otherwise, and this just sounds plain honest. Not perfect, but nice enough.

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  3. Thanks for bringing this review to light. Captain America was my brother's favorite character and I couldn't understand how a movie about him would be any good.

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  4. Saw it and I must say it was MUCH better than Thor. lol.

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  5. I enjoyed your review of the movie, it seemed well balanced and indepth! I haven't seen the movie yet but I really want to!
    But I'm also a fan of the Captain American comic from the 40's so I'm kind of sad to hear he's not gonna be the arogant showboating tough ass he was in the 40's comic!

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  6. I still need to see this movie, pretty excited

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  7. Looks decent, but I still think I'll wait for netflix.

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  8. I didn't even know this was in making until a couple days ago. Its actually good? Might look into it, then.

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  9. I still haven't seen this. Great review though.

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  10. Still haven't seen this but bloody hope to soon. Good review.

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  11. haven't seen this but some day i will.Great post

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  12. Been waiting for some friends to ass over and finally go with me to the cinema... I really want to see this.

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  13. i heard it was almost the same movie as the original from 1990. that kinda killed the hype for me ther.

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  14. I haven't seen any of these films but probably will watch the Avengers movie with Joss Whedon directing it.

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  15. thinking about watching it...thank's for the rev.

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  16. Great review.. now I'm interested in seeing it. :)

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  17. "the action that is covered is pretty rad"
    That's all I need to hear.

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  18. She definitely still has the eye candy thing on lock though.

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  19. Thanks for the review, I was a bit hesitant about this but now I will for sure go to it.

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  20. You think I should watch this movie? Let me try..

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  21. X Men First Class is still the best Superhero film this summer and agree with your opinion about the ending.

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  22. I'll wait for it to come out on DVD

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  23. Captain America was a lot of fun, shame about the montages but on the whole I really enjoyed it.

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