Director: Joe Johnston.
Cast: Chris Evans, Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving, Hayley Atwell, Sebastian Stan, Dominic Cooper, Stanley Tucci.
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| Military uniforms haven't been this lax since M*A*S*H*. |
In order to do this, they needed to introduce Captain America - a prospect nearly as risky as hammer-weilding Norse god Thor. The reason for this is Cap has been seen as a jingoistic flag-waver at times in his lengthy comic book history, a problem compounded by the fact the US isn't everyone's favourite world superpower at the moment.
But at it's heart, Captain America has always been about truth and justice (to paraphrase half a line from rival comic company DC), as well as standing up to the bully and protecting freedom.
Thankfully, that's what this iteration of the shield-throwing superhero focuses on. The man who would be Cap, Steve Rogers (Evans) is a frail young man whose lack of physical prowess has seen him rejected five times by the American Army, which is fighting the Nazis in World War II.
Rogers is given a sixth-time-lucky opportunity by German-born scientist Abraham Erskine (Tucci), who fled Hitler and his henchman Johann Schmidt (Weaving) and came to America with a prototype of the Super Soldier Serum - a substance that will turn the ordinary troop into a superhuman fighting machine.
Erskine sees something unique in the spirited but scrawny Rogers and offers him the chance to take the serum and fulfill his dream of fighting for freedom... as Captain America.
In terms of big-budget spectacle, The First Avenger delivers, taking an old-school approach to create a rollicking adventure with a similar vibe to Raiders Of The Lost Ark, or one of Johnston's previous films, The Rocketeer.
Most of the effects work well, especially the much criticised "shrinking" of Evans to play the pre-serum Rogers, but don't watch this film in the poor-quality 3D that some cinemas have as it detracts from the polish of some of the action sequences.
Evans is great in what is effectively a dual-role and gets good support from Atwell, a well-accented Weaving (who is suitably menacing as Schmidt's alter-ego Red Skull), Tucci and Jones, with the latter two providing some handy comic relief.
The humourous touches are very welcome, helping to take some of the silliness out of the concept. His slightly ridiculous costume is introduced cleverly as Cap fulfills his duty selling war bonds, and the film trades well on the character's rich comic book past, including his original shield, his famous Hitler punch from issue #1, and a rag-tag team of sidekicks that is a composite of comic book units the Howling Commandos and the Invaders. (Sidenote: these sidekicks, which include a Brit, a Frenchmen, an Asian-American and an African-American, may seem like a stretch for political correctness or a way to temper the All-American nature of the hero but rest assured, they're all drawn from the original comics.)
The bonus with many of Marvel's key characters and backstories is the intriguing personality flaws and themes that come with them, and Captain America is no different. While his greater internal conflicts won't appear until The Avengers, he represents the importance of determination and integrity, as well as the ideal that power doesn't have to change a person - or a nation - for the worse.
It's not perfect - there are some unavoidably silly lines and moments - and how much you like the film will depend on how accepting you are of the character and his world, but Captain America's existing fanbase won't be disappointed.
Five movies into their new "cinematic universe" and Marvel have got a Pixar-like strike rate of four out of five (with Iron Man 2 the only disappointment). If this is only The First Avenger, then bring on the rest of them.
And don't forget to stick around after the end - the post-credits sequence will whet the appetite and make anyone looking forward to The Avengers hate even more the fact they'll have to wait 10 months to see it.
