Film review - Captain America (2011)

So the final individual Avengers film is here at long last, paving the way for The Avengers in 2012. How does it match up to the rest in the series? I'd say it's at least as good as Iron Man 2, better than Thor and The Incredible Hulk and not quite on par with Iron Man.

Here, skinny man Steve Rogers is desperate to join the army and fight the Nazis in 1943, but he's just too damn skinny and hasn't got great health. However he has an iron will, a refusal to give up or run away and is an all round good guy. He is taken in by a professor with the means of making him a Super Soldier, which inevitably he does of course. Meanwhile, Johnann Schmidt aka The Red Skull, the leader of Hydra, has evil machinations of his own.

There is a lot to like in this film - the performances were all good and the interactions between the characters were enjoyable, especially the lighter moments of bonding, for example between the professor and Rogers, and between Rogers and his team of fighters. Evans is perhaps a little wooden as the proverbial Good Guy, but we understand his reasons and motivations very well and come to understand why people follow him without it feeling sudden or forced. Weaving plays the role of the Bad Guy with gusto, and he makes a very good Nazi - he doesn't quite chew the scenery as much as he might have done, but instead goes for a quiet, intelligent and considered menace, albeit with almost no character development. The supporting actors play their parts well, mainly in the form of character actors - the stiff-upper-lipped Brit officer, the American Colonel, the Igor-esque assistant to Schmidt and so on. Overall, everyone was very respectable.

The story itself is entirely disposable - it is clearly a means to an end, a vehicle for the creation of the last (or first) Avenger - but it's enjoyably predictable, a very straight, unpretentious and honest sort of film that you can just sit down and enjoy without feeling dirty about it. The standout moment comes at the end with a nice surprise (provided you didn't watch all the promotional material like I did, stupid) and a very poignant note right at the very last frame.

Everything else about the film is well done - the effects were great whilst not overbearing, the music was suitably rousing, the action was exciting (especially with the shield) and it was overall just an enjoyable experience.

7.5/10