Captain America The First Avenger: Movie Review

While this summer has been filled with sequels or properties based on comic books, it has been an explosive summer. The latest blockbuster is Captain America: The First Avenger. Based on a comic book that began back during the second World War, Captain America is one of Marvel Comics' flagship characters and an icon known worldwide.

I am not all caught up on my Captain America history or even come close to proclaiming to be a fan of the character. Though that did not make me not want to see this movie any less as the trailers alone showed how epic it could be. The trailers did the movie justice for the most part. In fact, the movie was rather astounding for a comic book movie, ranking among the epic scales of the first Superman, Batman, Spider-man, and Iron Man movies.

This movie had quite a bit going for it; fairly amazing special effects, an astonishing cast, well-thought through script, an inspiring soundtrack and beautiful cinematography.

The special effects, while great, are of course not the best of 2011. In some scenes, particularly those involving people, it was clearly CGI. Though, other times, it flowed seamlessly and meshed well with the live action scenes.  My least favorite part, however, involves the vehicles used by H.Y.D.R.A. throughout the movie. Those vehicles seemed a bit too far-fetched for an 1940s setting, even if they are to be more advanced than others. I began feeling that way at the very beginning of the movie. which had me second guessing if this was going to be the great movie everyone had been bragging about lately. Though, thankfully, not long after that, I was able to move past the vehicles and just flat out enjoy the movie.

The first thing I knew about the movie during it's production phase was that Chris Evans had been cast as the lead character. Chris Evans, who formerly played Johnny Storm/Human Torch in the Fantastic Four movies, was to be Steve Rogers/Captain America. They casted an actor to play a different character in the Marvel Universe movies? How could they do that? What will this do to any continuity since that seems to be the theme with the Marvel movies? Turns out the Fantastic Four, Spiderman, and X-Men movies are cast mostly in a different universe from the other movies. While that cooled my questions, I still was not sold on Evans being the Marvel Boy Scout character. I wasn't certain he could pull off a character such as Captain America.

Upon seeing the movie, I became sold. He did a great job. He fell in perfectly to the character of a weakling, but heroic character that becomes a patriotic powerhouse without loosing his who he really is inside.

It also helped that he had an amazing cast to work alongside him. Tommy Lee Jones shines throughout the movie, providing laughs at appropriate times. Stanley Tucci, as always, is amazing as he plays the creator of the serum that turns the puny Steve Rogers into the hulking Captain America. Hugo Weaving can take nearly any villainous role and make it his own. He seemed perfectly at home playing the evil Red Skull. Dominic Cooper isn't a name we hear buzzing around a lot, though he made it believable that he could be the father of Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark.  Sebastian Stan did excellent as Captain America's sidekick James "Bucky" Barnes. Hayley Atwell, playing the love interest Peggy Carter, did well in the role, sadly it isn't as a standout role like some of the others as the movie progressed.

I did not see this movie in 3D, so I cannot comment on how that works for this movie. Though it is completely obvious the shield throwing will be in 3D along with the credits.

Overall, the movie is wonderful. Everything comes together perfectly to make a well-rounded superhero epic. It also provides a great build-up for next year's Avengers movie. Make certain to sit through the credits and stay for the very end!