Boringly Correct

Rating: 5/10 (1 August 2011)

Remember when movies were fun. What happened to the epic final battle? The big show, the awesome history?
Wanted to make a funny movie or a politically correct?
I still remember the mood of Tony Stark in 1,2 Iromman. I remember the big final fight in Hulk 2, but each film is worse than the last. This time we have to swallow another "stupid American movie with big budget." RedSkull does not know fight, The Capi only do it with little soldiers, the politically correct Capi's squad not of great importance in the film, his only reason for existing is to be correct.
Jose Cruz Captain America: The First Avenger- 3 Shields
The question has never been- "will they make a new Captain America movie?"
But rather, "when?"
The Captain is after all one of the greatest Icons of the Marvel comic book Universe and if Hollywood can make a Green Lantern movie, getting the "Cap" on the silver screen is a financial no-brainer. If you haven't heard, this has all been part of a master plan leading up to the 2012 release of The Avengers, that will include Iron Man, Thor, Hulk and good old Cap. Since Iron Man there have been subtle and blunt teaser moments giving winks and nods to fans all setting the stage for something bigger to come. Why is any of this important? Because this "back drop" to Captain America: The First Avenger is what makes it a great movie and not an awesome movie.
The film begins present day with a group of explorers in the Arctic Circle coming across what appears to be a ship of some sort where they discover frozen in ice the famous star studded shield. "We've found him" they say and then the film quickly cuts to 1940's World War 2. Here begins the story of Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) a young scrawny man who after being seen as unfit for military service, volunteers for a top secret science experiment that turns him into the super-soldier Captain America. As a self-professed comic geek, the film does an excellent job of telling the story. When Evans emerges from the transformation process you get that wow moment as the CGI effect of making him a skinny wimp for the first half hour of the film is excellent, and now we have our hero reborn. The story wastes no time in throwing him into action against "Hydra," a group of bad guys who are the Nazi super-soldiers, and now the Cap is ready to pound some swastika wearing thugs.
While I can't say the movie slows down from here because it doesn't, the story doesn't seem to build the way it should for what you expect from this type of film. As a fan and sucker for all the hype I came in expecting greatness. The action scenes are good and by the time Cap gets his famous shield from Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper), you're ready for some good old American Nazi stomping and the film delivers. Coincidently Howard Stark is Tony Stark (Iron Man) dad.
All the casting is dead-on. The Red Skull, Cap's nemeses is perfectly embodied by Hugo Weaving (The Matrix) but I wanted them to allow his intensity to match his costume and it's as if they didn't let him off the leash. Tommy Lee Jones does an excellent job as the tough talking Colonel Phillips and provides some great funny one-liners adding laughs throughout the film as Cap's superior officer.
Critics can be too critical, especially when they have a personal connection to the subject matter (IE: Star Wars 2nd Trilogy, get over it guys), so let's be clear. I would recommend Captain America: The First Avenger to any comic book or action movie fan as you will enjoy this film. It does what it needs to do by pulling in a broader and new audience and you will feel your money was well spent. But for those of us who grew up in the Marvel world we want that final show-down to deliver. Unfortunately it is there where the Captain doesn't completely, but slightly miss the mark. For those "die-hard" fans, don't wait for a special scene after the credits. About half the theater did only to realize the film ended with that "set-up" moment and to be fair, in reflection, it was great. The Captain is the First Avenger, a worthy watch and great visualization of the hero we know and love. But "Good Old Cap" will leave you wanting more and we'll all have to wait till next summer when The Avengers assemble.
Directed by Joe Johnston, 125 minutes, Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action.