Captain America Review

Captain America was a risky property. For one, it was Marvel’s biggest character in terms of the Avengers film, he’s the leader after all and it just wouldn’t do to have their top guy in a failing film. The second was that he’s very patriotic (something that has faded significantly since the 40’s) in a colorful red, white and blue outfit. Many had fears that bringing Cap into the modern age of cinema and retaining the outfit would be nearly impossible. Director Joe Johnston had a lot going against him trying to bring a character like this to the big screen. Despite all that, he managed to pull it off with seemingly ease.

The story starts with a 90lb weakling who is determined to join the army and constantly rejected because of his various health issues and size. That’s when he is given the opportunity to test the Super Soldier Serum and become the peak of human perfection. Meanwhile, an organization that has broken away from the Nazi’s calling themselves Hydra, lead by the Red Skull have found the Tesseract. An ancient device once held in Odin’s vault. (Remember him from Thor?) This device gives Hydra highly advanced technology leaps and bounds beyond anything anyone else has in that era.

One thing I particularly enjoyed about the film was the old school action/adventure vibe it comes off as. Very similar in feel to Indiana Jones with "supernatural" powers, Nazi's (and other forces) and over-the-top action that you would find in your typical old school serial. This was a big plus for me.

The pacing of the film may not be what some are used to in todays age of fast paced filmography. The first half of the film is much slower than the second half, containing only a few action sequences. The director instead chose to focus on helping us know the heart of the man behind the mask first. While these scenes tend to lack action, they are no less interesting. There is plenty of humor to be had and a lot of heart. When he finally does become Captain America the action really takes off, but thanks to the character development we really get a stronger feel for who Captain America is beyond the shield smashing, super strength patriotic symbol that he becomes during the course of the film. The action sequences are very well done, giving a great display of his abilities and the use of the shield is ripped right out of the comics. This IS Captain America. They’ve managed to capture not only the physical but the mental state of Cap that we’ve read about and bring him to life on the big screen.

It should also be noted that Hugo Weaving did a fantastic job as the Red Skull. With a fantastic make-up job and the ability to completely melt into his role. I never once saw him as an Elf or any of his other past roles…all I saw was the Red Skull. And he had plenty of screen time to display his acting prowess. Though I had wished for more scenes between him and Cap. 

While I felt the film could have been longer that doesn’t make me like the film any less. I guess I just wanted to see more. Thankfully, we will in The Avengers next year. Btw. Don’t forget to stay after the credits for a sneak peak of The Avengers. Overall. This was a strong character film with enough action and heart to pull you in and a love story that never quite gets started due to the way Cap’s time in the 1940’s ends and I look forward to seeing more in what could have been a disaster of a film ended up becoming a quality product.

9/10