Captain America: The First Avenger.

Sidenote: getting to see this film was a chore and a half. the damn projector burned the film up 20 minutes in and we had to go see the 3D showing (ugh). In short, it took almost 4 hours to see a 2 hour film. Still, I received 3 movie passes for later use. yay! But I digress...

Captain America: The First Avenger - At long last, Cap gets an honest to goodness origin film, with a budget and everything (The less said about the three awful movies made in the 70s and 90s, the better). Of course, we all know it's a tie-in for The Avengers movie next year, same as every Marvel film for the last three years. But that doesn't matter. At the end of the day, is it a good movie? Well yes and no.

First off, Chris Evans is great as Steve Rogers aka Captain America. He elevates the material and is the film's beating heart. He's so genuine in his desire to support his country that it almost makes you wipe away 70 years of cynicism and buy war bonds. I also liked his friendship with Buckey (Sebastian Stan). Hayley Atwell gives an enjoyable performance as a not dead weight female soldier by the name of Peggy Carter. It's a shame there aren't more scenes between her and Steve Rogers. Stanley Tucci lends gravitas to the film, and every other thing out of Tommy Lee Jones's mouth makes me chuckle. Hugo Weaving and Toby Jones are both decently played as villains, although I wish they had better material to work with.

When the movie starts in 1940s America it's wonderful. It sucks you in and holds you. A time where America was, indisputably the good guy. There's a warm bronze glow about things, and Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper) bears a vague resemblance to Clark Gable. It feels period and well put together. We sympathize with Steve and his big hearted desire to join the Army. And is he small! It's a credit to CGI that this effect came off so well.

Then later on in the movie, the villains create laser guns. It's kind of baffling to me that the filmmakers would bail on that 1940s nostalgia so early on in the film. Nazi's with vaporization lasers! oh no! And it doesn't quite work for me. Couldn't the Cosmic Cube's benefits to the Nazis have been a little more subtle? Like creating a hydrogen bomb subtle? Or rocket fuel (these are just off of the top of my head)? Because we soon have a case of bloodless bodiless combat ladies and gentlemen. And that's neat and easy from a gravedigger's perspective, but from a dramatic prospective it rings rather hollow. It's a movie about WWII, and we have one bloody and shocking moment in the entire movie. I feel like they saved all the blood for that moment. Bottomline: WWII + over the top Flash Gordon tech = no no. Still, everyone stays fairly serious about it, and that helps the audience swallow the conceit.

Random unorganized thoughts

America turning down willing volunteers for the army? My, 1940s were a different time.

My opinions on the Red Skull makeup (meh) haven't changed since I first saw it. And no one in the film seems concerned in the slightest when they see it! "Eh, must be Wednesday."

Whilst I do care for Steve and his journey, his journey is fairly simple. A few twists and turns would have been nice.

The fights scenes were riveting and quite enjoyable. A lot of nice metal clanging noises and good demonstrations of "peak athletic abilities".

I kinda wish Cap had taken the time and broken up the whole Holocaust thing. I guess SuperNazis with lasers, jets and superbombs is a higher calling. but only just.

As expected, 3D adds absolutely nothing. See it only if your 2D projector burns up all the film.

All in all, a mixed bag, but an enjoyable, if forgettable film. Captain America gets a
B- Now hurry up with the goddamn Avengers movie!