Better than expected

Rating: 7/10 (2 October 2012)

It's kinda hard, when watching Captain America, to forget that it's intended mostly as a prelude to the far superior The Avengers; Captain America exists mostly to introduce the character and do away with his origin story. The sub-header "The First Avenger" certainly doesn't help to relieve the feeling that this film just wasn't meant to stand in its own right.
But surprisingly enough, director Joe Johnston managed to turn a sparse script about an anachronistic and old-fashioned character into a well-paced, even entertaining film. It's not as entertaining or as energetic as The Avengers or the Iron Man movies; Captain America's style is in accordance with its World War II setting. Johnston embraces the anachronistic idealism and patriotism of the character, but never to the point that it feels camp. The film feels like it takes place in the 40's, but it doesn't feel like a pastiche or a period piece, which would have made the transition into The Avengers jarring and painful. It feels like it's part of the Marvel universe, but it also has its own unique feel (something which Thor and The Incredible Hulk, sadly, cannot say).
It's still not quite a stand-alone film - not like Iron Man. It shows more than any other Marvel film so far the flaws in creating this elaborate shared universe of characters. It's especially clear in the under-utilization of the villain character, the Red Skull, who promises to be an interesting and mysterious character but gets far too little screen-time, which is all spent on the good Captain's origin story. That story leaves very little room for the film to have any of its own plot. But it has its own atmosphere, it has heart and a sense of humor and an anachronistic, idealistic but very likable hero.