Best Marvel Studios Film to Date

Rating: 9/10 (23 July 2011)

Full Disclosure: I have yet to see Thor, so when I say Captain America: The First Avenger is, in my opinion, the best Marvel Studios film to date, it is without Thor being taken into consideration. That being said, with all I've heard about Thor, I'm not inclined to believe it tops Captain America.
So yes, Captain America is the best Marvel Studios film to date (and by Marvel Studios I'm specifically referring to everything after Iron Man, although, this film is better than 90% of the Marvel films that came out prior to 2008 as well). It's a wonderfully old-school action film that tonally feels akin to the likes of Raiders of the Lost Ark and Last Crusade, the performances are top notch, and it's just loads of fun from beginning to end.
One of the things that most impressed me about this film was the character of Captain America himself. The character can essentially be summed up in two words: good guy. In many cases having a lead character with such a one-note personality could be a detriment to the film and could come off as corny or boring (much like Superman in Superman Returns), but here, it miraculously works. And it doesn't *just* work, Steve Rogers, despite his lack of dimensionality is really the driving force of the whole film who you root for and empathize with. He never comes across as anything less than believable, and I think a large part of this stems from the way that Joe Johnston and company portray him from the get go. As the film starts, Steve Rogers is the epitome of underdog; he is scrawny, down on his luck, and unable to accomplish the thing he most desires. The film sets the character up in such a way that the audience connects with him as the underdog and that connection lasts even after he becomes Captain America, the biggest, toughest, guy on the battlefield. He still reads as the same character because his core goodness doesn't change. It's the rare case where a character without any kind of traditional arc is actually the right choice for the film, and Chris Evans' performance absolutely makes this character.
The first half of the movie, by itself, is better than just about everything else that has come out this year (excluding Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows). After that point though, the film starts to hit a minor case of the Second Act sag, where I started to feel a bit of action overload with no real pressing plot issues. However, this is resolved fairly quickly and the climax of the film works really well, and leads ultimately to a fantastic ending.
Another element of this film that works very well is the integration of the Avengers continuity. Many people have complained that since the Avengers initiative was announced at the end of the first Iron Man that many of the Marvel films have suffered, to an extent, by trying to force continuity between the different characters into every film, Iron Man 2 was the worst example of this. However, Captain America works wonderfully in that none of the Avengers continuity elements feel intrusive or forced, it all fits very naturally into the narrative, and, in fact, would have actually hurt the movie if it had not been present. This is the way I wish the rest of the films had been handled, because this film, more than any other, has made me excited for seeing The Avengers next May.
There's also some fantastic fan-service in this film, and even though I've never really been a comic book nerd (I'm a nerd, by all accounts, but I've never fit into that variety) it still had me grinning from ear to ear.
My biggest complaint with this film, aside from the aforementioned Second Act sag, would be the character of Red Skull. Like Captain America, Red Skull is very two-dimensional, but it doesn't play as well as it does for our hero. Red Skull just was not a particularly compelling villain, and while it's not necessarily damaging to the film, it's one of the few dull elements that, when compared to everything else, stands out a bit.
We may have had to wait a while, but 2011 has finally started to turn up in terms of excellent movies this month. Captain America is an amazing summer blockbuster with great talent both in front of and behind the camera. The cast from Chris Evans to Tommy Lee Jones to Hayley Atwell give great performances, the writing from Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely is great, and it's all headed with wonderful direction from Joe Johnston. I definitely recommend this film.
A-