rowing up, most parents tell their children that they can be whatever they want when they grow up. We are told to eat our vegetables so that we will grow up strong, pay attention in class and do our homework if we want to be smart, and try and try again if we want to succeed in life. And, like most adolescent youth, we roll our eyes, say ok, and eventually find ourselves thumbing our way through the colorful pages of our favorite comics where growing up strong may be as easy as being bit by a radioactive spider, building a suit of armor, or being born the son of an Asgardian King.
Some of us found our way into Marvel's Avengers' comics and were introduced to Steve Rogers, a patriotic America who grew up a frail youth during the Great Depression and is only able to do his part in the second world war after a medical experiment turned him into a super solider by enhancing his strength and endurance to top-level human condition. Steve Rogers did not have real "super" powers but goes on to fight alongside superheroes with amazing abilities. He could not lift a city bus over his head, couldn't fly, nor did he shoot beams of deadly light from his eyes. Steve Rogers's power was his rare bravery, his sense of duty, and, simply, the goodness in his heart. Because of this, among Earth's Mightiest Heroes, he may be considered the mightiest of them all.
Captain America: First Avenger introduces this man to us, the frail asthmatic attempting again and again to enlist into service to simply do his part during WWII. Chris Evans delivers this role on spot, pouring the heart of every Marvel fan boy into the character of Steve Rogers, and giving the audience the man that never gave up, which many of us grew up admiring. The movie itself contains some nice character building moments, some enjoyable action, and amusing dialogue. Hayley Atwell does well in her role as the female lead despite the fact that her character was terribly written, always everywhere in the movie when she was needed but also the beautiful woman running through battles unscathed. Hugo Weaving (Johann Schmidt / Red Skull) delivers a convincing and formable antagonist, the rest of the supporting cast performs admirably.
That being said and notwithstanding the resources spent on visuals, actors, settings, and production, someone should have made sure there was something left in the budget to develop a script actually worked. Again, the first half plays out well above most other comic adaptions sent to the big screen, but the second half basically builds out to the “Big Boss” showdown between Captain America and Red Skull. Once Steve Rogers finally takes up the mantle of Captain America, the missions become a poorly pieced montage of Captain America and his team showing off their heroics, sacrificing the true character of Rogers we are introduced to during the first half of the film.
Some of the transitions between scenes are a bit jerky, but the worst is unrealistic backdrop of the entire war. Granted, the audience is constantly reminded that WWII is going on, mainly the entire backdrop for the first half of the movie and a couple scenes placed in to showcase the stateside perception of the war, but nothing is shown to really pull the audience into the severity of the war. Furthermore, Red Skull’s motivation to destroy all the major cities on Earth seems to be spotty at best and the staggering amount of advanced technology displayed by his Hydra troops would reasonably lead anyone to the conclusion that his forces alone could have won the war before the interference of Captain America.
Overall, Captain America: First Avenger had a lot of potential to be a success and technically is successful given opening weekend box office receipts of $65.8 million and knocking Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 into second place. But, together as a whole, Captain America: First Avenger is not the best film Marvel has given us to date. It’s not Daredevil bad, but it does not hammer in like Thor.
Bottom line, if you are a fan of Captain America, you will probably like, or even love this movie. If you never read a Marvel comic with Captain America, you will not find yourself lost getting into the character and should enjoy the story for what it is, another Marvel Comic superhero on a thirty foot screen. If you are a WWII buff, you may find the movie a bit disappointing. And, taken for what it is, a summer blockbuster with a formulaic story about a hero, namely the Captain America story, the movie does deliver what the majority of the audience attending are looking for, the lead in to The Avengers. And, maybe, if we are lucky, that asthmatic that became the Sentinel of Freedom many of us were expecting will prevail next summer.