Entertaining superhero movie but it never reached it's full potential, with a few major flaws.

Rating: 6/10 (27 July 2011)

Captain America: The First Avenger is a superhero movie I was quite looking forward to. But in the end I came out quite disappointed with a movie though entertaining is completely forgettable and didn't reach the real potential it could have with a few major flaws.
First though a brief synopsis with the character Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans) being deemed unfit for military service, Steve volunteers for a top secret research project that turns him into Captain America, a superhero dedicated to defending America's ideals during WWII. He is aided in stopping a Nazi villain Johann Schmidt/Red Skull (Hugo Weaving) who wants to destroy the world. America is helped in stopping Schmidt by Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell),James Buchanan 'Bucky' Barne (Sebastian Stan) Colonel Chester Phillips (Tommy Lee Jones) and Howard Stark (yes father of Tony Stark from Iron Man).
The first hour of the film was the best and most enjoyable with the main characters set up nicely as it was quite interesting. The script though basic did have flashes of wit with some cheesy, but fun comedy. But after an hour and at least eighty minutes into the film just ran out of steam (as another reviewer on here has rightly put it) and I just wanted the film to end. At almost two hours, it was too long. The CGI was impressive, some of the acting was great, mainly Hugo Weaving as Red Scar and I enjoyed Tommy Lee Jones's performance as Colonel Phillips, but I found Hayley Atwell's acting to be mediocre, which is a shame as she showed a bit of spunk in one scene at the start where she punched a male solider in the face for trying to hit on her. Her character just petered out I guess. Chris Evans made a capable enough lead and he had a certain charisma on screen at certain points, which made him watchable. But he was really just boring (though not unlikeable) and quite bland like a lot of the film. He had no spark in him as though he only put in a half-hearted effort.
But it wasn't entirely his fault. His character has little character development. Yes we know he wants to do his duty to his country and that is very admirable and be a solider. But an important question which could have been explored and one of the film's major flaws is why? What motivates him to become a solider and ultimately Captain America? This is where the film pales in the shade next to brilliant superhero movies like Batman Begins and Spiderman 1 and 2, where the audience understands why Peter Parker becomes Spiderman and Bruce Wayne becomes Batman, which gives the character more substance, makes them interesting and you can relate to them in some way making you care about them. Captain America dosen't do that. The action as well though enjoyable to an extent had nothing special with it like any great stunts etc. There also wasn't enough of it and felt incredibly rushed as though it just wanted to get to the next scene past the action to the talking. It felt very condensed.
In the end though I think this was much better than Thor, Captain America has been overrated. And if they do another standalone sequel of this and when it comes to The Avengers joining of all the marvel comic book superheroes in 2012. They should get a different actor for the part of America as Chris Evans couldn't pull it off. This film entertained me, but it just wasn't enough and didn't do anything for me overall.