The last Marvel superhero film to come out before next years The Avengers has finally arrived with it quite ironically being The First Avenger: Captain America. Super hero films have become a genre of their own over the last few years. With the exception of Nolan's Dark Knight films, none of them have been more anticipated or exciting to watch then the heroes from Marvel. Finally Captain America gets a go on the big screen before joining up with the rest of the gang. The film follows American Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) who is a small, puny fella who wants to fight the Nazis in the war. Unfortunately Steve continues to fail the test to join up with his fellow Americans until a military scientist Erskine (Stanley Tucci) sees the good and inner strength in Rogers and decides to include him in a secret program that will give him super strength and speed. With the program proving to be a success Rogers becomes Americas first super solider, also know as Captain America.
Director Joe Johnston has managed to create a film that captures the innocence and hope in a different time to what we live in now. Joe has experience of making films in this time after making The Rocketeer and also working alongside Steven Spielberg for Raiders Of The Lost Ark and seems to be another good choice from the Marvel team. The movie starts off brilliantly, showing the trials Rogers has to go through and the evil triumphs of Schimdt AKA Red Skull (Hugo Weaving). The film also makes quite of few references to other Marvel films which include Thor and more so with Iron Man with Howard Stark AKA Iron Man's Dad (Dominic Cooper) helping to create Captain America. The narrative is good with the pace being just right without the audience getting bored and the characters are all well made and have the feel of a typical 40's movie. The film also looks fantastic even with the 3D still not being the best.
The problems start once the action scenes kick in. There isn't really a big action scene to speak of, with the scenes being choppy and only showing glimpses of Captain America and his soldiers fighting the Nazi's. I thought the train scene would be the big set piece would be the one where we get to see the Captain in all his glory. Unfortunately when it arrives it feels a bit slow and actually quite boring. Joe seems to be right at home when making a drama, but the film loses some of its glory when it comes to the action scenes. This can be disappointing as you expect good quality action in a superhero movie but they just don't happen here. It also doesn't help that Captain America is a pretty straightforward character. Again, you can understand this because that's how he was in the comic books and is no fault of the director or Chris Evans (who is the perfect choice for the role). Also the ending has a lot to be desired. Captain America is a stand alone film and so deserves a proper
ending but the one we have here is just a climax that leads up to The Avengers. This is a really bad error as it robs Captain America of his glory and in some ways makes the mission he was tasked with seem pointless. But the film is still charming and enjoyable. All it's missing is some good action and a ending that the Captain deserves. Also make sure you stay till after the end credits to get a glimpse of next years The Avengers.
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