Decent, but not mind-blowing

Rating: 7/10 (24 November 2014)

It appears that every phase in the MCU has its weaker link. In phase 2, for obvious reasons, it was 'Iron Man 3'. Phase 1's weaker movie was 'Captain America - the first Avenger'.
Why it was called 'the first Avenger' remains unknown. After all; Iron Man was the first one to be drafted as an Avenger, and Thor was the first born Avenger by a couple of hundreds of years. And Cap's team in this movie was called 'The Howling Commando's' and not 'The Avengers'. One's best guess to why this was called 'the First Avenger' is simply for commercial reasons. And it becomes pretty obvious that this one is pretty much filler, to kill time until 'the Avengers' was released.
Even if I wanted to spoil the movie, it's quite impossible not to. Not only is it commonly known that Cap was encased in ice since the end of world war 2; it is also the beginning of the movie. After a team of assumable SHIELD agents retrieves him, the movie flashed back to the forties.
A meek Steve Rogers wants to do his share in the war, but is refused to do so for being to small and sick. Then, a professor thinks he has potential and puts him up for the Super Soldier Experiment, turning Steve into Captain America. Meanwhile, Red Skull gets his hands on the Tesseract (which will be the major MacGuffin in 'the Avengers') and uses it to gain world domination. It is up to Captain America to stop him. By doing so, Cap gets trapped in ice for seventy years or so.
The way Steve turns into a 'capsicle' is through a plot-hole of Rosebud proportions. Obviously for the purpose of selling toys, the plane where the final fight takes place, is filled with means of escaping. The inevitable ice-crash was plot-wise unnecessary. That stings.
Of course, it's not ALL bad. The 'super-running' in this movie matches what Blonsky does in 'the Incredible Hulk'; CA:TFA has lots of fun details and easter eggs like that. And the characters are really promising. It's sequel, 'The Winter Soldier', proves that the character of Captain America lends itself to make really good movies.
Honest Trailers called this movie 'Captain America: The First Avengers Trailer', to which I have to admit it is. Plus, a commercial for Captain America toys. Those elements cloud its potential that is has to being a really great movie. Now, it is still decent, but not mind-blowing