Admirable effort for a rather dull superhero

Rating: 7/10 (31 July 2014)

When you take a look at the line up for Marvel's Avengers Assemble it's easy to see where a lot of the fun and excitement is going to come from. You have Iron Man, with a suit of armour that can do almost anything including fly – The Incredible Hulk, who turns into an oversized green giant with superhuman strength- Thor, who is an actual God with the ability to control lightening. Then we have Captain America, who has a shield. And so it is perhaps inevitable that, of all Marvel's origin movies, Captain America:The First Avenger feels the least exciting. That is not to say it isn't enjoyable, or even fun, but it often pales in comparison to what came before it. A lot of this is down to the fact that Captain America, as a character, is actually rather dull and his overly patriotic manner can be a little grating when it's being digested in the cynical 21st century. Still, Chris Evans does a wonderful job of portraying Steve Rogers as a wannabe soldier with a heart of gold and the body of Where's Wally. Due to his extreme physical shortcomings, Rogers volunteers himself for an experiment in which he will become a super soldier with all the skills associated with it. It's a solid origin story and makes up for an enjoyable first half with director Joe Johnston's decision to frame the action in a 50's setting also allowing Cap to retain his goofy patriotism without it ever feeling out of place. The problem comes when Marvel realises it also needs a supervillain with a suitably evil masterplan for Captain America to foil, leading to Hugo Weaving's woeful interpretation of Red Skull and some nonsense involving alien technology. It makes little to no sense, it wastes not only Hugo Weaving, but also Toby Jones and it all leads up to the most anti- climactic ending that Marvel have ever produced. This was always going to be a tricky prospect for Marvel when you consider the rest of their line up. Yet, despite a number of flaws, Captain America is by no means terrible and will certainly whet your appetite for some fun superhero action.