Out of all the popular Marvel Superheros that even greased the comics of old, Captain America, would at least to me be the most uninteresting superhero out of Marvel’s lineup of characters. All Captain America is, was just a regular muscular guy with a patriotic-looking shield for protection and combat. That’s pretty standard unlike Spider-Man’s web-slinging powers or The Hulk’s monstrous strength. However, in 2011 the MCU decided to their own spin on Captain America, and thanks to a great cast and solid storytelling, the film succeeded in bringing new life to one of Marvel’s most ordinary superheroes.
In the 1940s, the world has entered World War II and a scrawny man named Steve Rodgers (Chris Evans) is despite to join the army but is constantly rejected by many officials. Despite his close friend Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) warning him not to keep trying, Steve counties to try and try again to get accepted when suddenly he gets a chance from a man named Dr. Erskine (Stanley Tucci) who says he can change Steve into an experimental super-soldier. That’s exactly what happens as Steve is brought into a lab run by Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper) to turn him into a beefcake until Dr. Erskine is shot by one of Hydra’s agents and tries to steal the super-soldier formula. Steve, now as Captain America much avenge his fallen comrades in order to stop Hydra and take down their leader, Red Skull (Hugo Weaving).
The film was directed by Joe Johnston who’s name may seem familiar as he’s known for providing the visual effects for many Lucasfilm projects and responsible for directing cult classic films such as Honey I Shrunk The Kids and The Rocketeer. They took the limitations of what could be told in a Captain America-like story, and give a fresh new spin by providing a unique environment compared to other superhero outings and characters have great personalities which plenty of character-building moments to spare. They take a regular old hero’s journey story and make it as if it’s being told for the very first time. Even with having its franchise-building moments to set up for other movies, the film is mostly good for telling its own story without having to rely on other films in the MCU for backup. Not only that, The characters are extremely likable, especially Steve Rodgers who can be seen as a role model to many and his actions are so pure that it’s hard not to be on his side even in his worst moments. Another stand-out character is Agent Peggy Carter (Played by Hayley Atwell) who throughout the whole journey maintains her serious go-getter attitude when helping Steve but finds that she still has a soft spot for love in certain moments of the film. Steve and Carter’s relationship is well put together and never seems forced as Steve has to start from the ground up to win Carter over
The Cinematography and Visuals do have your traditional Superhero Action but with the twist that the setting is in the 1940s. The movie really makes you feel like your in a different time period and a lot of the sets and character costumes are made to feel authentic to the specific time period. There are many cool setpieces for action sequences and the final battle between Captain America and Red Skull takes full advantage of the setting and how fast-paced all decisions are when a character makes a move. A lot of the visual style is great at being serious with its filming but also has some of that over-the-top visual splendor that still eludes to the fact that it still is a comic book movie. Alan Silvestri is well known for composing the music for some of Hollywood’s biggest movies such as Forrest Gump and Back To The Future and his music is great at matching the music from the 1940s with traditional superhero tunes. Even frequent Disney collaborator Alan Meken helped to create a full-fledged music number for the movie called “The Star-Spangled Man” for one particular scene for the film.
The only real problems I have with this movie are some minor pacing and character development issues, but that in no way is a downplay to how well crafted a film Captian America The First Avenger is with its classic but good storytelling, Well-timed action and stunning 1940’s visuals, likable characters that are easy to root for, and a well-composed music score that harkens back to the good old days while giving us something new at the same time. I would have never thought I would actually like a Captain America movie as much as I did and It seems a lot of other people feel the same way as well, as this is a unique telling of a superhero movie that should not be missed.
(Final Grade: B+)