Captain America: The First Avenger Review

It’s been quite the superhero summer. Within the space of a few months, both Marvel and DC have offered up a total of four big-screen adaptations of some of their biggest heroes. Now here we are approaching the end of the blockbuster July month, and Marvel has released their final offering of the season in the form of Captain America: The First Avenger. The studio has taken us to mythical civilizations in the sky, giant modern metropolises, middle eastern deserts and to the height of the Cuban Missile crisis, so where to explore next? The answer comes simply and obviously within minutes of Cap’s big screen debut: World War II. With The Avengers just around the corner, expectations run high for the patriotic hero. Though his big-budget chance comes lacking in some areas, it also provides some very fast, very entertaining comic-style action, and finally gives Cap a worthy cinema treatment.

Picking up in 1942, Captain finds strong-hearted but scrawny Steve Rogers, played by Chris Evans in an effective performance, desperately attempting to enlist in the US army after several failed attempts prior. When an army scientist offers Rogers a chance at enlistment, he jumps at the opportunity. Soon, he’s been chosen, despite his physical inadequacy, to become the first to test a new technology (invented by none other than Howard Stark) that will theoretically transform him into a super-soldier. While this transformation doesn’t take long to occur, we’re given plenty of time to warm up to Rogers’ perseverance despite his obviously rough life, and his pre-hero story didn’t feel shortsighted or shallow like so many do. However what everyone’s paying to watch isn’t Steve’s struggles, it’s his heroic alter-ego: Captain America himself. Unlike in past superhero flicks, we’re immediately introduced to this pseudonym. It’s not introduced vaguely through a newspaper publication, but rather announced to the public in an amusing fashion the likes of which I won’t spoil for you. Not long after his not-so-heroic shenanigans, the film arrives at its main plot points, which revolves around the quest to stop the evil Johann Schmidt, a.k.a the Red Skull (played to perfection by always masterful, rarely credited Hugo Weaving) and his German HYDRA division from harnessing a godly power. 

This is a World War II-era film and we’re certainly treated to many aspects of this setting, including accurate portrayals of era-specific locales, wardrobe and the recruitment of men to fight, but Captain America never actually gets the chance to knock the teeth out of a good ol’ fashioned Nazi. Instead, he’s restricted to fighting the HYDRA “deep science” division, which usually results in Cap dodging laser blasts instead of, well, caps. This serves to advance the plot more efficiently, but it’s disappointing that we never get to see Captain America, a symbol of American patriotism, fighting a realistic era-exclusive threat to America. 

On a similar note, anyone hoping for a gritty war-hero take on Cap should either forget that or sit this one out. The First Avenger never takes itself too seriously, and though this sometimes results in a few overly-silly moments it was an overall good direction for the film to take. Comic relief can be found in even the most desperate scene and the purposefully comic-like special effects serve to defuse the tension and remind us that we’re watching Captain America, not Private Ryan. Comic book films have become such a normal thing over the last decade, so filmmakers are seemingly starting to truly come into their own with the genre nowadays, which allows Cap’s debut to attain a level of polish that would’ve been unheard of when X-Men released over ten years ago.

With The Avengers less than a year away, it’s one of Cap’s duties to tie back to this overarching plot. This can lead to a few disappointing moments that serve to take away from the Captain America experience and add to the Avengers one. This almost feels unavoidable due to the timeline-related issues that had to be solved to give Cap a chance to shine with his fellow heroes, but I do wish that some of the plot elements at hand had been saved for The Avengers instead of being put to use and sometimes thrown together now. In the end, none of these missteps destroyed the experience but they did detract from it. 

While Captain America isn’t the comic book event is aspires to be, it feels fresh enough to be deemed very worthy superhero fare. The cast is spot on, the action is fast-paced without resorting to breathlessness, and through all of this I never forgot that I was watching a comic book adaptation (that’s a very good thing). Cap’s big-budget origin story will never be regarded in the same class as something like Spider-Man or Iron Man, and for good reason, but with The Avengers rolling around next May you’ll definitely want to give this one a watch if you consider yourself a Marvel fan, because when the credits roll you will find yourself satisfied. And once the credits are finished rolling...well, let’s just say that it’s more than worth it to stay. Having said that, don’t see The First Avenger for its (albeit spectacular) post-credits sequence. See it for the sake of Captain America himself, because after almost a century Cap’s finally gotten the solid big-screen outing he deserves.

Final Score:

7.0/10
"Good"