Captain America is essentially the last of the comic book hero blockbuster films of the summer, so I decided to review it. Not sure why I didn't do this before, seeing as I saw pretty much every other comic book movie this year. But that's beside the point! Here is the first of hopefully many (a Snickers bar to whoever can figure out how many times I've said this very phrase) theatrical movie reviews. As with pretty much every review we do here, it will contain spoilers (ESPECIALLY THE END!!!). Just a friendly reminder.
The movie starts off following an expedition in the Arctic. Scientists discover a ship frozen in the ice. Upon further investigation they find, wait for it, Captain America's shield. Flashback to 1942, and we see a castle being raided by forces known as HYDRA, led by Johann Schmidt. He finds the hidden case that contains the Cosmic Cube and leaves with it in his possession. Schmidt takes it back to HYDRA headquarters to have it examined since HYDRA is the secret science division of Hitler's army. He hopes to harness the power of the Cosmic Cube to wipe out all enemy forces in the fraction of the time. Most evil genius' do.
Cut to Steve Rogers, a scrawny American who's only wish is to join the army and fight against the Nazis. But, due to his small, lanky stature and various ailments, he fails the physical every time. Bummed by the expected result, he is forced to go out to the World's Fair by his friend, Sgt. James Barnes accompanied by two ladies, to watch the spectacles. There, they see Howard Stark present his latest creation. Steve sees a flier for another recruitment center, and after arguing with James, decides to try yet again. It looks to be another failed attempt, but his case is taken over by a German scientist named Dr. Erskine, who coincidentally heard Steve argue with his friend and was impressed at his courage and stubbornness. He enlists Steve into a special program that he is heading, working to develop what they call a "super soldier".
Steve is put through basic training and is later administered the syrum that increases his body and muscle mass. But immediately after the experiment is complete, a HYDRA spy that infiltrated the lab blows it up, kills Dr. Erskine, and steals a vile of the syrum. Steve chases him down on foot and captures him. For his heroic actions, he is asked to do promotion for the military, which he is not entirely fond of.
While on tour in Italy, he hears that a platoon has been captured by HYDRA, the same platoon his friend James was assigned to. He decides to go in solo to rescue them, after being refused by Colonel Phillips to send a rescue team. Steve sneaks in, frees the hostages and goes after Schmidt, who reveals that he was the first test of the syrum and became Red Skull. They part ways, for the moment, and Steve escapes with James and the whole platoon. Steve is promoted to Captain and put in charge of taking down Schmidt's forces, which he saw a map for in the facility. He picks his team and systematically takes down each stronghold.
In a raid of a train transport, things go sideways and James is killed during the mission. Steve vows to take down Schmidt himself and charges HYDRA's last stronghold solo. He is captured and taken to Schmidt, all according to plan because his team charges through the windows to back up Steve. In the last showdown between Captain America and Schmidt, Schmidt attempts to use the Cosmic Cube in a last ditch effort. But he is seemingly disintigrated in front of him. Steve is now tasked with steering the armed plane away from NYC, but the controls are busted. So he does his best to steer it into the Arctic ice.
Steve wakes up in a hospital room and immediately asks where he is. He runs out in a panic and finds himself in 2011 NY. He is approached by Nick Fury who informs him that he has been asleep for 70 years.
This leads into what I deem as the most epic after-credits teaser yet. It has been deemed a common rule during the last few years that you never leave a Marvel movie until you see Samuel L. Jackson. Well, this time he appears before the credits, that should be the first clue that something crazy is about to happen, and it does. We see Steve training in a boxing ring, when Nick Fury shows up again. He tells Steve that he needs his help to save the world. Then we cut to the first-ever teaser trailer for The Avengers! The movie hinted upon for years, ever since the first Iron Man movie, is finally proven to exist. We see all the actors involved, Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, Chris Evans as Captain America, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, and Mark Ruffalo who now plays The Hulk.
Now, this was just the icing on top of the amazing cake that is Captain America: The First Avenger. I already thought this was a great movie by the end of the movie proper. The acting was well done. As many other people were, I was worried if Chris Evans could pull off Cap. A, even though he was the best thing in the F4 movies (though that doesn't really take much to do.). But honestly, I think he fit the part. He portrayed the straight-arrow, patriotic soldier that Steve Rogers seems to be in the comics in a confident fashion. I say "seems to be" because my only exposure to Cap. A is through the recent Avengers comics. But from what I hear, he did a good job according to fans of Cap. as well. The action in the movie was well-done, not too flashy but still packed the necessary punch needed. And I thought the story itself was simple and to-the-point. It was a clear story of his origins and his first encounter with Red Skull. Oh, and by the way, Hugo Weaving once again proves that being a bad guy in a movie is his forte as Johann Schmidt/Red Skull. And the suit took some getting used to, but I liked it as a sort of first-draft of the iconic Captain America suit. It seems that it will be revised and made to resemble the comics a bit more in The Avengers movie, so that's also something to look forward too.
If you got this far in the review, I'm guessing and hoping that you have seen it in theaters already. If so, please comment on the post and let me know what you think. I can't stress enough how good this movie is. A good way to cap (see what I did there? ehh? ehhh?) the comic book movie season. And what a season it has been. But, next year seems to be aiming to top this year in total badassery, which I seriously hope it does.
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