Captain America Throws His Mighty Shield!

Review of the movie “Captain America: The First Avenger”

Salute to the Captain!

I'm not really a fan of Capt. America, i think he is too virtuous and patriotic (plus the story about a super-soldier experiment is a bit cliché by now).
However, this movie was so much fun to watch!

Read on for my reasons along with a healthy dose of spoilers
<don't worry, they are minor and wouldn't ruin your movie experience. hehe>

The movie starts off with the discovery of a World War II aircraft, where a particular shield (one that is familiar to all) was found. And, where this red-blue and white shield is, a certain Captain is probably nearby.
Flashback some years back, in the 1940's during the rise of Germany under Hitler's leadership, the movie tells the story of a decrepit lad from Brooklyn and how he came to be, the star-spangled Capt. America.

Steve Rogers was a frail young man who've always had a good heart and strong will to serve and protect his country. He's got the heart, but just not the brawns to do so. A program sponsored by the US government with the collaboration of Stark Industries' main man (Read: Ironman's dad) is about to change his fate. He was treated to an experimental serum (think radioactive anabolic steroids. kidding) that enhances human attributes. And so, Capt. America was born.
Well, not exactly right then and there. He had to go through some trials and antics first, in comics-style action.

And true to the comics of the Captain's era - we have the villainous leader of the Russian war-evangelist/ terrorist group known as the Hydra.  And so, the battle between good and evil is forged and portrayed oh so clearly, in all its technicolor glory (although, i quite liked the look of the plain-metallic look of his mighty shield before it had been adorned with the US flag design).

The film sticks to the formula and imagery of the Marvel comic counterpart - down to the styling of the cinematography (sometimes they characters and scenes seemed to jumped right off a comicbook page). It follows the look and feel of the original printed media that it is hard not to appreciate how authentically 'Marvel Comics' it is. This would probably be quite a negative for some people, though.

The Captain America comicbooks were created/penned and his main storyline runs within the same era, hence a disposition towards patriotism (US) - which is quite different from the newer settings as that of Tony Stark's (Ironman).

As I am not really an avid reader of the comicbooks about the Avengers and the Captain. (i tend to gravitate towards those with letter ‘x’ on the title) – I can’t really comment on how close the movie is to the original story in the Marvel Universe (whichever universe it is).

I enjoyed the whole movie as there was not a dull moment, the pacing was fast and doesn't lag on the little details. Not being a great fan of the character, i might have a slight change of heart after seeing this. Of course, i was complaining a bit before, why they had to 'reuse' Torch (from Fantastic Four), but even that got reduced to a mere smirk. Okay, maybe not having too much expectation for this movie added some level of appreciation for me but i genuinely recommend watching this.

I still think Ironman 1 is the best Avengers movie so far, though.

And if you haven't figured it yet from the subtitle (Captain America: The First Avenger), this is the cue for the Avengers movie coming in May 2012. Watch for the very brief teaser at the end of the credits.

As a side note, the movie will be titled as “The First Avenger” on some countries to avoid being too much pro-America. See New York Times post here.

Also, Stan Lee is once again back (from his absence in 'First Class') for another cameo.

To conclude: Capt. America is a very good movie to watch and a nice teaser-prequel to the much awaited Avengers Movie, where Chuck Norris ultimately beats them all up! Lol.