Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) Review

The next step on my MCU film watching list is the first Captain America: The First Avenger and I watched it today and here is my review for it. The premise of the film sees an unremarkable man with a big heart given powers in order to take part in WW2 and go against an evil organisation. 

Main Character

This was the first time that Chris Evans played the role of Steve Rogers AKA Captain America and he is really good in this film. His origins are really well handled and you really grow to care and sympathise with Steve and want to see him succeed in his journey. He has funny lines and a real heart to him to make him a really memorable character and one of the best of the first MCU characters. 

Supporting Characters

Haley Atwell plays Peggy Carter and she is great in this film, she is a really strong supporting character and adds a really nice dynamic towards the other characters and especially her relationship with Steve Rogers. Out of all of the romances in the MCU I think this is one of the best and truly sees two equals who feel like they fit together. Hugo Weaving plays the Villain Johann Schmidt who is more well known as The Red Skull and he is just a fun villain for this film. Yes he is really over the top and not the most interesting character but you can tell Weaving is having fun with the role and he fits as as a great antagonist for this Captain America film. Tommy Lee Jones plays the army commander and he also just looks like he is having fun and enjoys the role, he has some good one liners and fits in well here. Dominic Cooper plays a younger Howard Stark and this is pretty perfect casting, you see the real similarities between him and Tony Stark and Cooper does a great job of bringing that to screen. Stanley Tucci, Sebastian Stan and Toby Jones also all give good performances in their roles. 

Story 

The story is a straight up origin film, you see small Steve Rogers transition into the hero known as Captain America and I think it does it quite well. I think the first act and the last act are really strong and up there with MCU films, it has great characters and a real hero to root for in a time period that is always pretty effective. But the 2nd act is much weaker, when he first becomes Captain America, the action sequences are montaged and basically brushed over so it feels like we don't spend enough time with him at this point. It also doesn't help get you invested in certain elements of the story and that is a shame. 

Script

The script is good, these are good characters and ones that are easy to root for or root against. The film has some real heart and drama towards it but also some great one lines and humour that doesn't feel forced and fits in with the message of the film. 

Style 

The style of the film has some good action scenes, when Cap is throwing that Shield it is pretty cool and shows how creative they could be with this different weapon. But this film has a bit of an issue, the pacing isn't the best and as I said above glosses over some pretty cool action sequences. Also I sometimes find that when TV shows and films try to recreate World War 2 they have some poor use of CGI to create the atmosphere and this film is no different and it does become noticeable at times and pretty jarring. 

Overall

Overall, this is another great origin story for a Marvel Comic Book character. Again if you like superhero films then watch this one as it is a pretty entertaining film. 

Rating - 8/10