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With Marvel's Avengers slated for 2012, only one hero’s origin story remains untold. Falling in line with Thor, Iron Man, and The Incredible Hulk, Captain America showcases the rise of Steve Rogers as the title character. Unlike the other films, which take place in modern times, this one goes way back to WWII, showing the Captain kicking Nazi butt! With a lot of Wolfenstein-style occult mystique and a slight Indiana Jones sense of pulp adventure, this movie has a number of solid action sequences, and plenty of imaginative special effects and setpieces. With its references to various characters and concepts of other Mavel movies, it fits into the franchise really well. It might take some stretch of the imagination to believe that Nazis could be this futuristic, but for a superhero movie, it’s all good fun.
The story in this case is pretty solid. The main character shows strong development, and for most of the movie, you really root for him. There’s nothing more thrilling than watching the underdog getting the upper hand. As it goes on, much of the character drama and story development gets pushed aside by the action, but it still works. By the end, voila, we have the lead-in for the Avengers film.
If there’s any complaint for this film, it’s that it's rather uneven, and there could have been more to it. The film's first half may be lacking in action, but it carries the full burden of the character-building, and it's where the most compelling scenes are. By the last half, the villain is reduced to a one-dimensional boogeyman, and the story's reduced to a continuous montage of heroics, which would have been more welcome as a number of longer setpieces.
The film is competently made, with decent (but rarely exceptional) photography. Editing is good for the most part, but I am not a fan of the montage in the middle of the film that makes the entire war campaign whiz by. A couple of action scenes seemed a little sloppily-edited, but it’s barely noticeable. Acting is swell; Chris Evans is surprisingly strong as the main character, and I enjoyed Hayley Atwell, Sebastian Stan, Tommy Lee Jones, Stanley Tucci, and Hugo Weaving in their roles. Writing seems pretty good. Production value is high, featuring lots of good (if not overly-slick) sets, props, costumes and special effects. Music is appropriately upbeat and adventurous.
In the end, I’d say the film met my expectations, but never fully exceeded them. But it is a decent WWII adventure film with fine superpowered action. And it, along with an all-too-short sneak preview after the credits, provide the necessary bridge to the Avengers film.
3.5/5 (Entertainment: Good | Story: Okay | Film: Pretty Good)
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