The Cap doesn't disappoint

Rating: Null/10 (31 July 2011)

The Marvel Cinematic Universe can do no wrong, it seems--with nearly every film release closer to their Avengers extravaganza, we get a new style of storytelling which seems to show just how diverse the universe really is. With Iron Man, we get a balls-out action flick with glitz, glam, and some great character. With The Incredible Hulk, we got a taste of a genuine love story. In Thor, we got a fantasy epic which took an old story and made it incredibly new. And finally, Captain America takes classic war movies like Patton, adventure movies like Raiders of the Lost Ark, and superhero films, and puts together an amazing amalgam which works well.
The story is one of the oldest in comic book history but they manage to distill it down to its core for the uninitiated: Steve Rogers, a puny kid from Brooklyn, wants so badly to join the army to fight evil and serve his country, but keeps getting turned down because of his laundry list of medical problems and his stature. Eventually he captures the eye of Dr. Abraham Erskine, a German defector who was horrified with Hitler's rise to power, and he becomes the test subject for a super-soldier serum that augments Rogers' strength - not just physically, but emotionally, building upon his inherently good character. This forms the core of the movie, as Erskine repeatedly states that no matter what Rogers becomes, he should "stay a good man". And he does. He eventually comes head to head with the Red Skull, the head of the Nazi science division, Hydra, who has ambitions of his own to take over the world using a device he calls the "Tesseract" (which most comic book fans might recognize as the infamous Cosmic Cube!).
The movie itself is written and directed beautifully. It doesn't rely on the superhero clichés of the guy who falls from grace or has some sort of personal problems, and then has to work to overcome them or become humbled. Thor in this respect, despite its originality, was very much a typical comic book film. The Cap isn't full of personal problems - sure he's a weakling at first, but what matters most is his convictions and his character, and that's what shines throughout the movie. Repeated scenes in the movie showcase this and really allow us to see what makes the Cap unique. Is he perfect? Well, he has trouble talking to women, sure. But he's not tempted by evil, greed, or selfishness.
More than anything, I love how this movie starts to really tie the whole Marvel Cinematic Universe together. We meet Howard Stark, the father of Tony Stark, with his Howard Hughes-esque personality. The Cosmic Cube is a gift to mankind from Odin, and the various references to Yggdrasil, the Nine Realms, etc tie in the cosmic mythos built up in Thor. And at the end... without giving away too much... we finally see SHIELD enter the picture.
This movie is worth your money at the theaters. 9/10.