5/5 Stars
After being deemed unfit for military service, Steve Rogers volunteers for a top-secret research project that turns him into Captain America, a superhero dedicated to defending America’s ideals.
So I had the opportunity to meet the ineffably awesome Scott Kurtz from the most excellent webcomic PvP Online last weekend at San Diego Comic-con International 2011 (more on that later).
In a recent strip & a separate blog, he talks about his father not believing in Captain America because of the physics involved. I understand his dad’s argument. It makes sense. I get it.
But I don’t care. Because the movie is freakin’ awesome.
Chris Evans – who is ridiculously buff in this movie – does a great job providing the scrawny-yet-scrappy Steve Rogers that us fans were looking for. And the special effects that turned him into that kid were excellent, too. If you didn’t know he was 6 feet in real life, you’d believe it… and you would’ve been under a rock and haven’t seen any of his other movies in recent memory (Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, The Losers, Push, the oft-lamented Fantastic Four duo, and one of my personal favorites, Sunshine).
His nemesis, the Red Skull, is portrayed by a favorite actor of mine (seriously, top 5), Hugo Weaving. I defy you to argue with me after you watch his performance in V for Vendetta , a movie where Weaving never shows his face and yet you feel every emotion from the character as though he was. In any case, in Captain America: The First Avenger Weaving gives the Skull the casually menacing attitude and aspect that he should have (and does a great accent, too).
The film gives us rabid Cap fans lots of good in-jokes and what’s normally called ‘fan service’, too. Everything from the amazing Stanley Tucci (another favorite) as Dr. Abraham Erskine, who utters the all-too-truthful line (paraphrased): “Most people forget that the first country the Nazis invaded was their own” to Cap’s original shield (which wasn’t round) and Timothy ‘Dum-dum’ Dugan.
And that’s not even mentioning the very-funny-yet-oh-so-typically-droll performance of Tommy Lee Jones as Colonel Chester Phillips or Hayley “Bazooka Boobs” Atwell as Peggy Carter.
All in all, I thought this was a great film, and I’m usually tough on comic book movies, especially for characters that I know well, such as Iron Man or Supes (don’t get me started on Superman Returns, please). Great action & special effects, good dialogue (great in some places), and awesome acting all around make this well worth the price of admission. Go see it.
For those who don’t know what I’m talking about and don’t mind spoilers here’s the plot summary from the IMDB listing (highlight to see it):
It is 1942, America has entered World War II, and sickly but determined Steve Rogers is frustrated at being rejected yet again for military service. Everything changes when Dr. Erksine recruits him for the secret Project Rebirth. Proving his extraordinary courage, wits and conscience, Rogers undergoes the experiment and his weak body is suddenly enhanced into the maximum human potential. When Dr. Erksine is then immediately assassinated by an agent of Nazi Germany’s head of its secret HYDRA research department, Johann Schmidt aka the Red Skull, Rogers is left as a unique man who is initially misused as a propaganda mascot. However, when his comrades need him, Rogers goes on a successful adventure that truly makes him Captain America and his war against Schmidt begins.
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