13/05/12: Captain America: The First Avenger [2011]

Coming up with a small paragraph to describe Captain America: The First Avenger is nearly impossible, specially when the title is so long. What I can say is that this movie is exactly what you are looking for in a superhero flick: action, explosions, girls, and just enough CGI to satisfy: but all within moderation. 

Movies like Transformers take the fun out of film making, by spending millions upon millions of dollars on saturating their film with as much animation as they can render in two years. It is hard to say that a film is any good when the majority of it is created by a team of wizards within some lab in California, primarily because you know their only job is to engulf the viewer in so much action their senses are assaulted and tricked into believing what they are seeing is a thing of beauty. Animations do have their place among the greats; it is understandable when an entire film is created via computer for artistic reasons. And CGI special effects do have a spot in the movie world; some shots are physically impossible to film, or impossible without compromising the camera.


Captain America does not abuse its computer privileges. There are awesome explosions, and some pretty cool fight scenes; just enough to keep someone expecting a action movie happy. The most impressive use of computer technology came when Steve Rogers was seen as his ninety pound self (though I doubt ninety pounds was his weight, I am one-ten and not much bigger). I thought Evans may have lost weight for the role, but it turned out that computer magic, as well as some semi-obvious green-screening (see the scenes in the taxi) made Captain America as small as he needed to be.

"Someone needs to make that kid a sandwich."

As for the content of the film, it's comparable to the Indiana Jones film where he fights the Nazis; lots of motorcycles and people falling off of motorcycles.

Captain America's stunt double ready to race some Nazis. Replace him with Harrison Ford: instant Indiana Jones.

But apart from the motorcycles, what I enjoyed most about this film was how well developed the characters were. Superheroes are often characteristically similar: they have awesome powers, and they fight obvious crime with it. Steve Rogers was an exception to this stereotype. Never have I seen a hero that I have enjoyed watching more than Rogers; I think that it is the combination of his modesty, his loyalty to his country, coupled and a hint of bad-assery that makes him my first choice in the battle against Nazis. Evans even said that the character of Steve Rogers was attracted him to the film, 


"Even if it wasn't a comic book. I think the story of Steve Rogers is great. He's a great guy. Even if it was just a script about anybody, I would probably want to do it."

Matrix's Agent Smith, Capt. America's Johann Schmidt...anyone else see a pattern here?

Hugo Weaving also did a superb job with his character, Johann Schmidt, aka The Red Skull. His sinister ideals were contrasted by his sidekick Dr. Zola, who was the one character I hoped would be reformed in the end. Of course, like Weaving, Toby Jones was cast to show no mercy, and that he did.

Since watching this film, the Captain has been added to my list of top three favorite super heroes. He proves himself a worthy Avenger, and at the end of the movie director Joe Johnston makes a clean transition into The Avengers and introduces Nick Fury. Though it was ironically the last Avengers prequel film to be released, I do believe it was the best of the series, and would recommend it to anyone looking for a solid action flick. Just don't forget to stick around until the end of the credits!

Link:
Captain America: The First Avenger IMDb