Marvel quality all round but sits toward the bottom of the pile!

Rating: 7/10 (5 April 2013)

First off let's make this clear, Marvel doesn't do bad films, it does Excellent films and pretty good films.
Captain America falls into the latter category in that it's no Iron Man or Incredible Hulk but it has it's charms and many of them surprisingly humble.
Captain America is a creation of Wartime propaganda. Dripping with the kind of phony patriotic pride that unfortunately makes the rest of the world hate the USA so much, so how could this character be translated to film without reaching for your Michael Bay endorsed Stars and stripes sick bag?
There are two types of Americans that I have met. One lot is the intelligent, critical thinking, warm, friendly and funny people that make that land great. The other is the small minded 'patriot' that assumes that the USA is superior to every country in the world and any negative remark about her, even in jest is an act of war.
It would be so easy for this film to pander to the second group of people with flags flying everywhere, a shot of the Captain killing Hitler and a note at the end saying this film was based on real events.
But no, Captain America plays down the 'we are the greatest' card and opts for a smooth, well played and open minded experience. A 1940's English female manages to knock down a US soldier with one punch, this is the sort of humble non defensive attitude that makes the film shine.
Evans is great as the Captain. Encompassing that All American boy look with plenty of heart in his performance and enough bravery as to not be OTT but to actually make you believe this man would take a bullet for you in combat!
The film looks sumptuous. The photography and CGI are lush and smooth as you'd come to expect from Marvel and the film has more than enough 'boy' style comic book chases, fights and rescues to keep everyone happy although the film does feature an almost identical rip off of the mountain train scene from the Playstation 3 game Uncharted 2: Among Thieves but it's done well although clearly too close to be a coincidence.
All this praise comes at a price though for there are flaws. For all the fantastic visuals and solid performances it really comes down to this.....Captain America just isn't a very interesting superhero. He's a slightly enhanced human, a bit faster and a bit stronger than most but still, one gunshot and it's curtains. Perhaps if his skin was updated to be knife or bullet proof (but maybe still hurt like hell when shot or stabbed) it would make him more larger than life but as he is he's an obtainable character, in that if you worked your arse off in the gym you could probably come close to that. I don't like that. I like my superhero's to be super and absurdly fantastic and Captain America is just too ordinary to make anyone go "WOW!"
The boyhood comic scenario's of raid and rescue are woefully out of date although they are handled with great style in the film and Hugo Weaving's Red Skull makeup reeks of Skeletor circa 1987 and it's a shame that more couldn't have been done to it. Weaving's performance, as usual, is excellent and he is a really good bad guy.
Overall a genuinely entertaining film with a really likable main character thanks to Evans which intelligently avoids the "'murica" card and was handled with a sense of great style and grace but ultimately loses out on points for just being too everyday a hero.