Exceptional in almost every way...

Rating: 9/10 (22 July 2011)

I just returned from the midnight opening of "Captain America: The First Avenger" and I must say that I am a nut to be sitting here writing this review at 3am! But, considering how pumped I felt after seeing the film, I guess this is understandable.
When the film began, the history teacher part of me was quite happy. Many films purport to try to replicate WWII and many fail miserably. However, aside from all the anachronisms (many of which were in the original WWII-era Captain America comics), the film got the look right. I think having Joe Johnston direct has a lot to do with this, as his job with "The Rocketeer" was also excellent in this regard. Getting down the look and style of the time is a big plus. Sure, the special effects were absolutely grand--but the little things such as hairstyles, dress and language all were quite vintage.
The next thing I noticed about this film that sets it apart from some of the lesser films based on comics (such as "Daredevil") was that it had a great sense of fun and, occasionally, a nice sense of humor. While way too old for the role, Tommy Lee Jones had some really great lines--a few of which made me laugh--and shouldn't a superhero film be fun?!
The third thing I noticed was that this film really could not have been made until recently. I am not just talking about the 3-D (which was nice but unnecessary as in most films) but the way they got Red Skull to look, the way they shrunk Chris Evans for the first portion of the film and the great giant plane scenes towards the end were all impossibilities until recently and made the film just look fabulous. The last superhero film that managed to look this good was "Thor"--which, in my opinion, was about the equal to "Captain America" for overall quality and entertainment.
Now despite me enjoying the acting, direction, set designs and practically everything else, there were a few minor things I did not like--and herein come a few spoilers. So, STOP READING unless you don't mind finding out a couple big plot points. Bucky's character seemed underdeveloped in the film and his apparent death came way too quickly. In addition, the big showdown with Red Skull and Captain America was way too brief. After all, Red Skull was also a super-soldier--so why did his demise happen so easily?! And, why didn't they just have him also crash into the ice at the end (allowing his return in subsequent films)? In other words, all this buildup--only to have it all resolved too quickly. But, despite these complaints, the overall film is as good a superhero film as you can find. Well worth seeing. And, like the best recent Marvel films, stay to the very end to see some more cool stuff and look for the cute cameo involving Stan Lee.