The other day I went to the cinema to see the highly-anticipated superhero flick Captain America! I thoruoughly enjoyed it, but overall it was just another superhero movie. It didn't stand out like The Dark Knight, but didn't bomb and fail like Green Lantern. So a mixed reaction coming from me. The film was about telling the story of Steve Rogers, a 90 pound weakling who's dream is to enlist in the army and fight for his country in WW2. The film is also about the story of the Red Skull, head of Hitler's deep scientific research division called HYDRA. He is bent on finding an object that people believe is just a legend. The Tesseract otherwise known as the Cosmic Cube. It is the jewel of Odin's treasure room and once tapped into will give you unlimited power. So let's start the review!
The first act was my favourite part, with an opening scene in the arctic, then a scene in Norway featuring Johann Schmidt (the Red Skull) then going onto tell the story of Steve Rogers. He lied on his enlistment form 5 times about himself which is illegal. The Stark Expo, featured in Iron Man 2 is also in it for only a matter of minutes at the beginning. Which means yes, Tony Stark's father Howard Stark is also in the film. And he was in IM2 aswell! Dominic Cooper gave an enjoyable performance as Howard Stark, the U.S army's main weapons supplier and friend of Steve Rogers. Joe Johnston (director) did a very good job at showcasing Rogers goal to join the army and introducing the audience to the Red Skull. Rogers was then spotted by Doctor Abraham Erskine, who had developed a serum that he called 'the super-soldier serum' as it enhanced the strength and agility of a person. He used to work for Schmidt and tested the serum on him, but he did not use something called vita-rays which keep the body from becoming deformed or mutated after the serum. Therefore his skin turned blood red and his head was forever shaped as a skull. Because of this, he wore a latex mask of his former face and gloves/think leather uniform to conceal his red skin. Rogers is then accepted for the serum and begins training under the command of Col. Chester Phillips (played by Tommy Lee Jones) and agent Peggy Carter, Steve's love interest for the film. I was really annoyed at this part, as they filmed these scenes in Aldershot near Winchester. Unfortunately, I was too ill to be there and take pics, but oh well!
The middle act was a bit, strange. It was cap running around in the war, Red Skull and his scientist Arnim Zola played amazingly by Toby Jones and the only awesome scene there. Cap wasn't aloud on the front line as he was too valuable, so they put him in U.S.O shows singing songs with chorus girls. And the song 'Star Spangled Man' is so unbelievably catchy that you will want to download it as soon as possible! But when cap finds out that Bucky was M.I.A with a bunch of other soldiers so he goes to rescue them from a HYDRA base in Austria. This is where Rogers first meets the Red Skull. And might I add, he was portrayed really well by Hugo Weaving for what he had to work with. The place goes up in flames, and then the audience finally sees his red skull as the mask is ripped off and thrown into the fire. Cap then proceeds to go off on other missions to HYDRA bases, destroying them one by one.
I can't remember the final act very well, from what I can recall it was the entire army devision fighting HYDRA, and cap's final confrontation with the Red Skull on a plane. It was alot of explosions on the ground and cap trying to get to the control room where Red Skull was whilst fighting off HYDRA soldiers. When he gets to the control room, it is revealed that the cosmic cube has been powering everything! The plane, the soldiers guns (which sound remarkably like Iron Man's repulsors....) and probably everything else to do with HYDRA! Cap and Skull fight it out, and then (SPOILERS! BEWARE!) cap throws his trusty shield at the cube holder and it smashes and the cube breaks free. He obviously doesn't know what it is, but as the Red Skull holds it up it opens a gateway, and the nine realms from Thor are visible! And the Skull is transported into another dimension! (SPOILERS ENDED!) The cube then burns it's way through the floor and falls out of the plane. The last interaction between Peggy and Steve via the plane is really touching, with the man she loves flying the plane into the arctic to save New York as that's where the plane had been programmed to fly to. It then freezes over and Steve Rogers is declared K.I.A.
Well it's the end of the review! Some last thought on it first though. Peggy and Steve's interaction was brilliantly well done, and you could really see the chemistry between the two actors (Hayley Atwell and Chris Evans). Tommy Lee Jones was great, as was Hugo Weaving but I felt that a little more time was needed between cap and Skull since they only had 2 real scenes together in the whole film. The Howling Commando's (a small team of soldiers led by Captain America including his friend Bucky Barnes) could have been left out really since they did nothing to help towards the plot and were barely featured at all. Chris Evans who previously played the Human Torch in the Fantastic Four films is briliant as Steve Rogers/Captain America, as was Dominic Cooper even though he only had a small role. I saw the film in 2D, as I think 3D is a waste of money and completely rubbish. But from what I heard the 3D was boring and didn't add to the experiance at all. Now, onto my favourite part of the whole review! This film is the last film in the leadup to Marvel's big superhero team-up movie The Avengers, featuring Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America and Nick Fury! (The guy with an eyepatch in Iron Man 2 and at the end of CA: TFA.) The last scene of the film is Steve Rogers, re-awakened from being frozen in ice for almost 70 years in New York City, wondering where on earth he is. Nick Fury then appears and tells him where he's been. But it doesn't end there. At the end of the film, there is a trailer for the Avengers! Although most of you have probably already seen it, just putting it out there. Lol.
My overall star rating is...... 4/5! See you soon!