Review of Captain America: The First Avenger

Time to sit back and review the fourth and final Super Hero movie of this summer. So far, I have enjoyed the first three (Thor, X-men: First Class and Green Lantern) to varying degrees. Each had their strengths, and their weaknesses.

In Captain America: The First Avenger, a very personal story is told against the epic backdrop of World War II. The acting is excellent, the pacing good, and the use of effects was right on. In fact, the pre-Super Soldier Serum Steve Rogers was probably the best CGI I have ever seen.

I was talking to a colleague on Friday, and we were speculating how much of that CGI they would have vs. how often it would be a close-up of Chris Evans' face, or him behind something, or other tricks to reduce the need for the effect. I have to say, it didn't feel like there was much of that kind of trickery, and if it was there, it was masterfully executed.

This movie has a hero who is more than his heroics. By showing us Steve Rogers back when he was a 98 pound weakling, we see what will make him a great hero. He wants to go fight in the war. He talks about other men putting their lives at risk to support the country and says "I have no right to do any less." After being rated 4-F (not fit for duty) 5 times, he is approached by someone who asks him "do you want to kill Nazis?" Steve's response is telling: "I don't want to kill anyone. I just don't like bullies." To me, that was one of the defining lines of the movie, along with the interaction between he and Peggy Carter, where he names all the places he was beaten up as they drive through Brooklyn on the way to make him into a super soldier. Peggy asks him, "You have some kind of problem with running away?" and Steve answers "Once you start running, they'll never let you stop."

After the application of the Super Soldier Serum, we get a Captain America who is a blend of the classic one, and the Ultimate Universe one. He carries a gun, and is even willing to use it, but it isn't the first thing he goes to. He has the more pragmatic approach of Ultimate Cap, but none of his propensity for violence. In this film, Captain America doesn't shy away from violence, but he also doesn't revel in it. He got beaten up enough before he was Cap to enjoy hitting other people.

Chris Evans is close to perfect in his role. He plays Captain America as a man who believes in and wants to help his country. Whether that means selling war bonds or being a one-man rescue mission. Evans was also surrounded by other strong performances - Haley Atwell was very strong as Peggy Carter, Stanley Tucci turned in a strong performance as Dr. Erskine, Dominic Cooper was great as Howard Stark, the eventual father of Tony "Iron Man" Stark. We see in him the showmanship and love of women that is even more pronounced in his son. Tommy Lee Jones was outstanding as Colonel Phillips. And Hugo Weaving, as always, turned in a top-notch performance as the Red Skull.

Despite my recent entry about heroes being defined by their villains, and that being one of the weaknesses of the Green Lantern movie (the enemy being a CGI "force" as it were), here Captain America and the Red Skull don't interact much. The climactic fight of the movie is, of course, between them, but for me, the important part of the movie was the character development of Steve Rogers, and him taking his role as a true super hero.

That said, the "opposite sides of the coin" was done well, and Weaving made you believe in a character who thought he was walking in the footsteps of gods and that all the earth should be his.

Captain America: The First Avenger opened on 3,715 screens. This compares to 3,955 for Thor. As of my typing this, estimates put Cap at $65.8, just a rounding error higher than Thor's $65.7 on opening weekend. The difference being Thor didn't have to cede as many 3D screens to a certain teen wizard. Thor made about 60% of its opening-weekend revenue from 3D, while the good Captain was below 40%. I saw it in 2D. These days, I pretty much only watch 3D movies that were shot in 3D, not that were converted in post-production.

All-in-all, marvel seems really well set up for next Summer's Avengers movie. A teaser for which comes after the credits of Captain America are done rolling. I found it definitely worth staying for. It's short, but definitely got me excited for the movie, the first of the Marvel movies to be released by Disney without another company involved. Less than 10 months before I get to sit down to this one.