The final Marvel movie before next years super-hero team up, The Avengers, Captain America stands out through being set in World War II, with Nazi bad guys, and a super patriotic hero in the form of... weedy Steve Rogers. Transformed into a buff (hello Chris Evans' pecs), fast healing 'super-soldier', he must defeat the dasterdly Red Skull (Hugo Weaving) before he takes over the world.
brilliant...
Captain America's biggest asset is its cast, which includes the charmingly hunky Chris Evans, gruff and funny Tommy Lee Jones, villainous Hugo Weaving, slimy Toby Jones, winsome Hayley Atwell, cute young Dominic Cooper, and best of all, Stanley Tucci with a German accent! What's not to love? It also helps that the characters exist in a different era as well as a different place, and there are other variations on the superhero theme that contribute to an enjoyable movie, aside from the action setpieces. For a start, Steve Rogers is well known to the world as Captain America, there's no secret identity here, although in a hilarious and knowing sequence, the Captain is initially just a propaganda tool, someone used alongside scantily glad chorus girls touring the country to sell War Bonds. In a neat touch, he also has his own comic book! There's enough originality and window-dressing to make this standard hero origin tale an enjoyable addition to the genre.
In a year that's already seen Thor, X-Men: First Class, the Green Lantern and probably a couple others I can't remember in cinemas, Captain America's story suffers a little from 'been there, seen that' syndrome. We all know the basic super-hero origin story tropes, and here the Captain sometimes feels like he's going through the motions. And on top of that, I never once thought that our hero was in any way threatened by Red Skull and his Nazi henchmen, defeating him was all a little too easy. Steve Rogers is a bit too perfect too, where are his flaws? Thor has anger issues, Tony Stark is a hedonistic mess... maybe Rogers' issues will come to the surface now that he's thawed out in the present day, and all those he saved back in the 1940s are long gone.
briefly...
In spite of the feeling of superhero deja vu, Captain America's cast and enthusiasm, along with some genre twists, make it one of the better comic book movies. Although, not as good as Thor.
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