Movie Review of Captain America: The First Avenger
Against a blazing backdrop of fiery explosions and standing midway on a weapons factory catwalk, Nazi villain Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving) meets his American enemy Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) for the first time in the most colorful way. When Schmidt steps back to peel away his human mask to reveal the horrific reason he’s called “Red Skull,” director Joe Johnston’s Captain America: The First Avenger rises near the top in this summer's glut of superhero movies including Thor, X-Men: First Class and Green Lantern.
The truth is that most superhero movies claim heroes as likable as Chris Evans’ performance as the super strong Captain America but that’s only half of the battle. It takes a quality baddie to make a superhero movie hum and Captain America claims this summer’s best villain thanks to Hugo Weaving’s balance of madness and icy resolve.
Transformed from a toothpick of a man into a super-strong soldier thanks to the inventions of Dr. Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci) and Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper) and the support of military leaders Colonel Chester Phillips (Tommy Lee Jones) and Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), Steve Rogers (Evans) becomes the star-spangled-clad Captain America and heads to Europe to stop Schmidt and his military division known as Hydra from not only winning the war but single-handedly taking over the world.
After Rogers dodges Nazi saboteurs in Brooklyn and gets close to finding the Red Skull’s final weapons factory, the action turns redundant with constant gunfire and tank explosions. Still, Evans manages to keep the film afloat with his gung-ho charms until the climax shifts to a worthy backdrop, a spy plane that resembles a modern stealth bomber.
Granted, much of Captain America is a set up for The Avengers next summer but Johnston offers enough World War II excitement to qualify the film as its own standalone adventure and not just some extended set-up.
Chris Evans, who’s donned a superhero costume before as Johnny Storm in the Fantastic Four movies, captures how Captain America is an Earth-bound hero and while he's plenty strong he's not exactly out-of-this-world.
Evans also puts his aw-shucks personality to good use and thanks to his charms and charisma, even more so than his muscles, he holds his own against the other superheroes from the Marvel Universe including Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.) and Thor (Chris Hemsworth).
Tommy Lee Jones takes full advantage of his gruff personality and delivers some of the film's best laughs.
Hayley Atwell is pretty and strong-willed as Peggy Carter, the classic, talented woman behind the heroic man.
Dominic Cooper is great fun as Howard Stark, the enthusiastic inventor, U.S. military advisor and future father of Tony Stark or Iron Man.
The brightest moments belong to Hugo Weaving who makes a colorful entrance as the Red Skull and gives a full tilt performance up until his climactic battle with Captain America on the plummeting bomber.
Johnston has a lifetime's worth of experience making audience-friendly blockbusters like Jurassic Park III, The Rocketeer and Jumanji and he puts all his experience to good use in Captain America.
Johnston and co-writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, who collaborated on The Chronicles of Narnia films, have their hands somewhat tied since Captain America is both an origin story as well as a period adventure set in World War II.
But Markus and McFeely maintain a roller-coaster pace from start to finish and Johnston, who worked as the art director on the first two Indiana Jones movies, makes great use of the film’s World War II settings and retro science fiction.
In fact, the film’s retro set design and CG effects come together brilliantly at the beginning of the movie when the scrawny Rogers steps into the casket-like metal cylinder that transforms him into the super soldier known as Captain America.
Thanks to its unique World War II setting, or perhaps owing more to Hugo Weaving’s great turn as the Red Skull, while the number of superhero movies continues to grow with Thor, X-Men and Green Lantern; Captain America still manages to stand out.
That’s quite an accomplishment for Johnston and his team: making a superhero movie that doesn’t feel like all of the others.
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Cast: Chris Evans, Hayley Atwell, Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving, Dominic Cooper, Stanley Tucci
Screenwriter: Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely based on the comic by Jack Kirby and Joe Simon
Director: Joe Johnston
Producers: Marvel Studios
Running Time: 125 minutes
Rating: Rated PG-13
Release Date: July 22, 2011