Saturday, July 23, 2011

Review of Captain America: The First Avenger


I was not sure what to expect from this movie. The super hero movies this summer have been kind of hit or miss for me this summer. Also I after seeing Chris Evans play the Human Torch in the two Fantastic Four movies I was not sure he would be able to pull off a believable Captain America. Boy was I pleasantly surprised. There is a reason that the death of Captain America in 2007 made such big news when the comic came out. Captain America is much of an icon and symbol of America as Superman is. Perhaps even more. This movie hit all the right spots and explained why he is such a symbol and why people look up to him and want to be like him.
The movie starts out telling the story of 98 pound weakling Steve Rogers. I think one of the reason that the other super hero movies this summer were hit and miss for me were that they were origin stories. I knew these characters such as Thor and Green Lantern and did not want to sit through their origin story to wait for them to do something cool. With Captain America his origin is important as the character himself. It is the story of the 98 pound weakling who tries to enlist in the army to fight World War II and keeps getting turned away due to his size and a laundry list of ailments.
Still this does not stop him from standing up for what is right and paying the price with multiple beatings. One of my favorite lines from the movie is when he is asked why he wants to go fight the Nazis. His response "I hate bullies." Who has not felt that way themselves. In a world where a lot of people want to sit around and let other people do the fighting for them and get to enjoy the freedoms that the people fighting die for, this is a great message. Hopefully it will move people to do something.
As someone who has been through the beatings themselves because they were different it was very relatable. This movie was really good before the "hero" even showed up in his costume.
The many tries to enlist draws the attention of a scientist who has created a super soldier serum for the army. Steve is chosen to be the test subject due to what is inside of him. Again with the looking at the heart of people rather than the outside. This is how he becomes Captain America. He eventually gets to go over seas and fight the Nazis and the organization known as Hydra and its leader The Red Skull played really well by Hugo Weaving. Even after Captain America becomes buff he is still the same person inside. Earnest and honest.Chris Evans conveys this very well.
The effects and visuals of the movie were amazing. The shield work itself was awesome. Do yourself a favor and go see this movie.

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