June 21, 2012

Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)


Captain America was a film that I felt I needed to watch but wasn’t really looking forward to it as it looked like a weaker action hero film. I had seen Chris Evans in Avengers Assemble and I kind of knew what the character’s story was but I have to admit that I really really enjoyed Captain America. The story takes place during World War 2 and Steve Rogers is trying to enlist in the Army but due to ailemnts he is rejected and before we know it this thin asthmatic turns into a muscley individual. I was quite impressed with how they did the CGI thin Rogers. The story follows the basic action/super hero film where there is some evil person trying to cause a war or capitalise on their power. In this story its Johann Schmidt (played by Hugo Weaving). Schmidt enters the story like he’s just rolled out of a Indiana Jones film but quite quickly Weaving shows he is better. I liked the Red Skull character and thought that it was another well achieved piece of CGI. Weaving did at times seem similar to his character in The Matrix films. Chris Evans is a believeable actor and makes the character seem likeable. He might not have the gizmo’s that Iron Man has but he manages to carry his own. I also liked Tommy Lee Jones and thought that he was also another good piece of casting. The only casting I wasn’t sure about was Hayley Atwell who served a fringe purpose as the love interest.

The tie-in to the Assemble movie was evident here as Domonic Cooper plays Howard Stark (Tony Stark’s father) and he is frozen at the beginning (and end of the film) which brings us to the modern day. I am still impressed with just how they manage to make these stories tie in together when there was no guarantee that they films would be the critical or commercial success it would turn out to be. The casting was good, the story was also good and I am impressed with how impressed I was with it considering how much I wasn’t looking forward to this film. There is word of a second movie and I cant wait for it.

No comments: