The little engine that could

Rating: 7/10 (22 July 2011)

Just got back from seeing Captain America.
First, the good news.
They FINALLY got the origin story right for a change and kept to Kirby and Simon's plot! VERY accurate and Chris Evans was PERFECT to play the scrawny Steve Rogers. (with 2 exceptions I will note later).
The humor was on point. I would say >95% of the humor worked, which is VERY impressive.
The references to other Marvel characters were truly wonderful, and were seamlessly in the film. That is not a small feat! The action scenes were decent.
Now, what I didn't like (SPOILERS!!!!)
1) Chris Evans was all wrong to play Captain America. I can't be 100% sure if it was his inability to play the part accurately, or if it was written like that in the script, or if it was the direction, but he played essentially the SAME character after the change!! He was STILL a scared, clueless kid from Brooklyn when he became Captain America - he was just stronger and had a cool shield. At no point, did he exude confidence or leadership qualities - which were the hallmark of CA in the comics.
The only quality he had was 'the little engine who could.' he never gave up! Well, that is a very admirable quality but Captain America was far more than that. He had the kind of personality that would make anyone want to follow him. Evans never exuded that. And you always felt that Captain America could take on anybody and anything single handed. In the film, I felt that he was helpless without his elite team watching his back.
2) Hugo Weaving as the Red Skull also suffered the same fate. He was an extremely weak villain. Any Nazi from any 1940's based war film was more terrifying that this guy. In fact, his Agent Smith from the Matrix was more intimidating than his portrayal of the Red Skull. Having a weak villain is never good in a super hero based film.
3) I can accept some of the changes to the story, (such as the costume change actually made sense in the context of the film), but changing Bucky Barnes to be a grown up didn't make sense, and greatly lessened the impact of his demise.
4) I think having CA as a secret identity worked better as defined in the comics. Having everyone know that Rogers was CA took away a major plot device in the comics that always added a nice touch of humor and mystery..
5) The whole major plot twist of having him frozen in ice was not clearly made. Some people in the theater thought that the whole movie was a dream, and that Rogers was simply asleep for 70 years after the transformation. Showing Rogers in ICE would have been a much clearer choice, and drop the whole movie as a flashback device, which just had the film start off on the wrong foot (I actually had to double check my ticket stub to ensure I was in the right movie!! the tone was that 'off' to me).
6) the "Chorus Girl" segment just went on WAAAY too long. The point was made in a few minutes, but it seemed to drag on to about 15 minutes or more and really slowed the film down for me.
7) Too much of the film struck me as a sequel to "The Rocketeer" that the director did years ago. I appreciate the reference, but that was a very different movie that I didn't think need to have it look-n-feel ported over to this movie.
In the end, I found myself nitpicking the film to death more than liking it, yet I also really enjoyed myself and would recommend it as a fun summer film. So at that level, it succeeds.
But it could have been SO much better.
Oh, and yes, you really should stick around after the end credits. Those few scenes were worth the price of admission.
Unfortunately, those post-credit scenes show that Evans will once again be playing Captain America. I, for one, was hoping someone else would take his place in future movies.
7/10