A solid superhero film

Rating: 8/10 (2 August 2011)

Captain America is not the best known superhero but from the look of the previews this looked promising. A superhero in the Second World War can work brilliantly if done properly but can fail if many aspects aren't done properly. The film delivered an interesting look, there was a obviously a great amount of effort gone into making the film look authentic. Altogether it did a good job of conveying the look. Chris Evans was fairly well cast in the role. The scenes prior to transformation were not too overdone event though it took a little while to see Captain America in his full pomp.
I do think the writing could have done a better job giving the eventual Captain America Steve more of a personality. Even though characters can easily be mild mannered he didn't feel like enough of a man to be conveyed as much of a tortured character longing to serve his country. He much improved once he transformed and it didn't feel too abrupt like it easily could have done. Tommy Lee Jones despite in a not being in a lead role did well and had plenty of moments that stopped it becoming a melodrama. Hayley Atwell was fairly mediocre and seemed to play the token woman gearing up for the inevitable romance. Hugo Weaving did a decent job with what he was given but maybe it was more to do with the character and the fact that it was difficult for him to come across as genuinely menacing. Action wise it was very good but towards the end they tended to be shot in fairly dim conditions which wasn't great, this was perhaps an attempt to add grit to the film so I can't really condemn it as many big budget films look too clean. Apart from this it was very exciting throughout and even though it was intended for wide audiences the action is good enough and doesn't look like its been trimmed in any way to get a more family friendly rating. The pacing was good and we saw just enough of Captain America to get a sense of the character as well as the back story. I would have been worried if the film was only about an hour and a half because then we would have seen a rushed effort which dished out the action at every opportunity. We really got a plot line which felt compelling and was kept at a premium. All in all it was quite a solid entry into the genre and one of the better Marvel adaptations, better than some but not spectacular.