A fun hero movie, albeit sorely missing an accent.

Rating: 9/10 (22 July 2011)

Up front you should know that I went into this movie knowing nothing of the characters and their backgrounds, so my review is from an entirely comic-book clueless perspective. That being said IMO, As far as comic book hero movies go, captain America fills the bill. It's got everyone and everything it need that makes it an entertaining and memorable. Leading man Chris Evans does well, pre and post captain America transformation. His believable vulnerability and noble ideas make him (of course) a hero worth looking up to. The only bone I have to pick with the studly Evans is in his voice. Various times in the movie he mentions his brooklyn background, and each time it (to me) awkwardly pointed out his obvious lack of the subsequent accent he should have had. Otherwise, he wore the outfit well, was impressively sized, and did a great job staying true to the small guy persona in a tough guy body. Hayley Atwell portrays Peggy, the female of the film. I don't have any criticism for her acting, but I wasn't thrilled with her character as a whole...it almost came across as one dimensional. I suppose it's not a big deal, as this is a comic book film and the women there are primarily there to be the love interest for the hero, but I was left thinking the character deserved more then the role of the sharp shooting beauty. Hugo Weaving's red skull has a (fitting) scary sort of German Voldemort-y feel to him, so no complaints there. The same goes for the rest of the well- wordrobed supporting cast; a very well chosen out group of actors. I did not see this film in 3D, but the special effects were cool without having them thrown in my face. Also the effect that put Evans's head on a scrawny body for the beginning of the film was *seamless* and impressive. In summation, the film did what it set out to do and did it well. It is what it is, and what it is is a lot of fun. It's the journey of a lovable hero, set in a world war two backdrop. In the world of comic book hero movies, Captain America is definitely high on the list.