Good inoffensive fun that could have been more exciting

Rating: 7/10 (23 July 2011)

Captain America: The First Avenger, directed by Joe Johnston, bears the mark of many of his films -- good, solid direction; clear and understandable characters and plot points that support the material -- but misses the mark, if only just slightly.
Steve Rogers (Chris Rogers), an underdeveloped and over patriotic young man, wants to join the 1942 fight against Hitler. What compounds this problem is his close friend Bucky is the complete opposite of everything he is: strong, confident and athletic. After several, failed attempts to "join up," an exiled foreign professor chooses him for a secret mission and the rest, as they say, is history.
Johnston and Christopher Markus' script spends a good deal of time building up the character of Rogers as a dedicated solider, willing to do anything to defend his country and his fellows. But he spends a little too much time in fact. By the time Steve Rogers becomes the hero of the moment, the audience knows he is dedicated and the action that they have paid to see distills into three adventures and a montage of attacks mounted by the Captain.
Where such films like this always tend to shine is the villain, aptly performed by Hugo Weaving. The scenes in which he is featured are truly the lynchpin of the film, with special emphasis on the climax between his character and Captain America.
Johnston's straight forward direction is technically correct but the timing and the script hamstring him. Much credit goes to the special effects team that takes Steve from wimp to pimp.