Captain America: The First Avenger - Film Review

Infinitython Day 5

Captain America: The First Avenger is directed by Joe Johnston and stars Chris Evans, Hugo Weaving, Tommy Lee Jones, Hayley Atwell, Dominic Cooper, Sebastian Stan, and Stanley Tucci.

Plot
Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), a rejected military soldier transforms into Captain America after taking a dose of a "Super-Soldier serum". But being Captain America comes at a price as he attempts to take down war monger Red Skull (Hugo Weaving) and terrorist organization HYDRA.

Review
One thing I forgot to mention in my review of The Incredible Hulk is that there is a deleted scene where if you look closely, you can see Captain America's body and shield. I don't even know if Chris Evans was cast as Captain America yet, I probably doubt it, but it's still cool.

So what do I think of the movie? Well I think it's pretty good, it's not as great as The Winter Soldier or Civil War, but it's pretty good, much better than people say it is. When you think about it, every film in the Captain America trilogy improves with each movie. Also, I'm not reviewing Civil War for this marathon, I reviewed it already.

I'd say that this is probably my third favorite after Iron Man and The Avengers, but not my favorite of the MCU.

This is also the first true appearance of the Tesseract, which contains one of the Infinity Stones in it, and used to belong to Odin from Thor. I know it first appeared in Thor, but that was just a post credits scene that teases The Avengers, but this is the first full appearance of it. In this film, it's in the possession of Red Skull, who uses it to power very advanced technology to use for world domination.

This movie also is the first appearance of Vibranium in the MCU, which is what Captain America's shield is made out of and which we learn more about in Black Panther.

In my review of Wonder Woman back in November, I compared it to this movie and Thor, and after rewatching CA:TFA and Thor, I can definitely say that is still accurate.

This movie is both a superhero movie, and a war movie in one and it mixes the two genres really well in my opinion.

Also, it's pretty funny when Captain America punches Adolf Hitler several times in a row.

The special effects are really good in here, such as Steve Rogers before he's transformed with the Super Soldier serum. I thought they took his head and put it on a skinnier body double, but no, according to this they filmed the scenes with him normally and then digitally made him thinner and smaller frame-by-frame with CGI.  And after that, the chase scene with Steve and Heinz Kruger is a great scene. I also like the effect where Red Skull pulls his head off and revealing his red skull.

As for some negatives? Hmm... well, it does have some pacing issues, like it is a bit slow in some parts. I'm kinda having trouble listing negatives for this. The end scene wasn't bad, but it was just there to set up The Avengers.

Let's talk about the cast, Chris Evans is great as Captain America and he's just as great in all the MCU movies he's in. I can't say much about him that hasn't already been said.

Hugo Weaving is really good as Red Skull, the head of HYDRA. He actually ordered Dr. Erskine (Stanley Tucci) in to use the Super Soldier serum on him, but it made him deformed and now he's evil. Well he was evil already. Near the end, Captain America throws the shield at Red Skull, knocking him back and damaging the Tesseract Cradle containing the Tesseract (duh). He grabs it, but it opens a portal where he flies away and hasn't been seen since.

Hugo Weaving was actually in another comic book adaptation I reviewed, V for Vendetta as V and he's great in that. Some of you may remember that V for Vendetta was the second thing I ever reviewed on this blog. He was also the Agent Smith in The Matrix, which I still need to see. I have it on Blu-Ray, just haven't seen it yet, I'm getting off topic, Hugo Weaving is really good in this.

Tommy Lee Jones is good as Chester Phillips, he's the head of this project to create super soldiers. Can't think of much to say about him.

Hayley Atwell is really good as Agent Carter, she's an officer who works with Phillips on the super soldier project and becomes Captain America's love interest. Hayley Atwell said about this character: I likened her character to that famous Ginger Rogers quote. She can do everything Captain America can do, but backwards and in high heels. She's an English soldier through and through, although she always looks fabulous. She might stand there with a machine-gun shooting Nazis, but she's obviously gone to the loo beforehand and applied a bit of lipstick. She doesn't need to be rescued. That's exciting to me – her strength. I think she's quite stubborn, a slightly frustrated woman who struggles with being a woman in that time. But more importantly she's a modern woman and she sees something in Captain America that she relates to, and becomes kindred spirits. He treats her very differently to how she's been treated by lots of men, in this kind of dominated world she lives in. So she's very much a fighter.

That's accurate.

Stanley Tucci is good as Abraham Erskine, he created the Super Soldier serum, yeah.

Sebastian Stan is good as Steve's friend Bucky, they fought alongside each other in the war, but we learn more about him in The Winter Soldier.

Overall, Captain America: The First Avenger is a pretty good superhero movie, it's got action, humor, great special effects. I do think it's better than what people are saying.

Captain America: The First Avenger gets an 8.5/10.

Stay tuned tomorrow for reviews of Isle of Dogs and The Avengers.

Previous review - Thor
Next review - The Avengers