Has potential before descending into an overblown CGI mess

Rating: 4/10 (23 March 2017)

Captain America: The First Avenger is the flagship re-launch of the popular American superhero, made as an introductory story for the character prior to him being included in THE AVENGERS team-up blockbuster. Having previously watched Albert Pyun's 1990s-era B-movie working of the same character, I'm afraid to say that that film was by far the superior of the two; this po-faced effort starts out well but soon descends into an unremarkable CGI action mess.
The first hour of this film is the set-up of the tale and despite some weird effects (the skinny Chris Evans never quite convinces and is oddly creepy) it generally works well. It helps that the cast is ram-packed with familiar faces giving reliable performances, including the likes of Hugo Weaving and Tommy Lee Jones. Evans has a kind of likable charm here although he was better in other fare such as SNOWPIERCER. I adore Hayley Atwell and she's not bad, although a bit constrained by a prim and proper character; blame it on the poor writing and attempts at Britishness by the American scriptwriters.
Unfortunately, once Evans becomes his proper superhero self, the pacing begins to flag and the action becomes slick, glossy, and unconvincing. The Brooklyn car chase is a good example of where this is going: the stunts are all CGI and poor looking, and the big set-pieces have actors acting against CGI backdrops and CGI opponents. It's all rather lame and the CGI has dated quite considerably in the six years since this film was released. A pity, as a slightly less overblown staging of the events may have made it more convincing and a better movie. Let's hope the sequel, THE WINTER WARRIOR, is better.