I know this is two days late for a Captain America:The First Avenger review but I recently saw the film and felt like reflecting what I thought of the comicbook adaption of the amecican icon known as "Captain America"
My first thought of the film when I saw the trailer was please don't end up like The Green Lantern and be a movie that looks appealing with trailers and advertisement but ends up to be a big cgi waist of money, and I have to say Cap did not disappoint. I know this is going to sound pretty cliche but I thought everything about the movie was really good even the bad things seem to flow perfectly with the film, not that there were alot of bad parts of the film but there were a few plot holes. The film had its own feel, it's own environment for it's herioc character to inspire the "american spirit" and surprisingly it worked.
First off the opening scene: The movie begins with a research team in a certain artic area, who have found a slightly strange but familiar craft that holds something inside, and to a person who has never read or cared about the Captain America comic books it would be a mystery to what is inside, but to a Marvel reader like me they would be damn sure that the research team would find something for that (super secretive boy band).
The next scene: Takes place somewhere in Norway where Johann Schmidt has ordered his team of science division german soldiers (HYDRA) to collect the Tesseract known as the "Cosmic Cube", and with a surprisingly easy steal of the "Jewel of Odins treasure room" the story moves towards New York.
Steve Rogers is having a physical, to inlist and the U.S. Army but is classified 4-f and is rejected again, Steve is next at a movie theater watching a USA propaganda trailer and is disturbed by a fellow viewer who he has a bad confrontation with in the back of the theater seen in the trailer. after being rescued from Bucky Barnes and later going on a so-called double date to the Modern Marvels of Tomorrow exhibition Steve is over heared by Abraham Erskine is finally drafted into the US Army.
After seeing Chris Evans performance as a fragile little man you really feel sad for the guy and hope that he fights for the little guys at the end. Now the scenes with Chris and Stanley are really good and are quite emotional in the since that every good man deserves there chance to shine. After completeing some serious bootcamp and many funny moments with Chester Philips (Tommy Lee) you learn how good hearted Steve really is and you cant wait to see him use that heart with that american shield to beat some HYDRA butt.
After many test its finally time for steve to be "Reborn" and after a great scene with Dr.Erskine and Steve, Rogers is back in NY and is brought to an antique store where the program secretly is hidden. After the procedure Steve now has a muscular physique and is "taller". Erskine is killed by Heinz Kruger and after a short but touching moment before Erskine dies Steve chases Heinz for revenge and after and impressive chase around so-called 40's New York city, Heinz is caught and describes his actions as the "First of Many" and kills himself with a cyanide capsule.
Now grief strictend and out for revenge, Steve now wants to search for Schmidt but is instead restricted by Philips due to his disappointment of the lost of the serum. (Now this is where the movie gets into its corny but quite funny mode by how Captain is put into promotional shows and is commercialized as the great Marvel comic book heroin we know today.) The iconic Cap suit is also presented in these scenes as well but what really interest me in these scenes are the 40's feel that are represented in these specific scenes.
Okay so I know that I've revealed to much from the movie so far so this half his going to be rushed...So after going on a mission to rescue soldiers from a HYDRA base this is where the action kicks in and were Steve is confronted by his good old buddy Bucky but is also confronted by Schmidt who reveals his true "Red Skull" form. (The design team did a great job on the Red Skull mask so I feel they deserve a Oscar or a Academy Award for design because its just like the comic book version and even more amazing)
After the Red Skull escapes as well as Schmidts right-hand inventor Arnim Zola, Cap comes back to camp making a crestfallen(sad) Peggy Carter happy and Cap starts planning how to defeat Schmidt or the "Red Skull" knowing where his bases are. Captain gathers his Howling Commandos and starts to take down HYDRA one by one (this is basically montages) so after completeing varies missions Cap now has to capture Arnim but the mission goes wrong with the accidental death of Bucky.
Arnim is caught and taken in, after a discussion with Philips Arnim agrees to give information on Red Skulls plans and now a sad Cap decides to go all out and "knock on HYDRA's front door". After a fun motorcycle chase with HYDRA's equiped soldiers the Howling Commandos are after the rescue to save a captured Cap and now the Red Skull is on the run, Schmidts huge HYDRA aircraft is in motion and now Cap is on the run to stop him. Chester steals Red Skulls hot rod with Peggy, and before Cap can jump on the skulls aircraft Cap shares a kiss with Peggy and is ready to save the day knowing that he's finally shared a kiss with the one he loves.
Basically The plane is a sort of bomber and it's heading straight for New York but not if Cap can stop Schmidt, and after a aerial battle with two HYDRA soldiers and Schmidt Cap now has a one on one fight with The Skull himself and after a short but (well choreographed fight) the skull finally touches the "Cosmic Cube" and is evaporated into space, while Cap is left to either land or crash the bomber heading for New York (now this is a emotional scene between Steve and Peggy through a head phone because it really shows how much Steve cares about Peggy)Cap sacrafices himself by crashing into the (artic location scene at the beginning of the film) and later awakens after almost seventy years to be confronted by Mr. Nick Fury himself.
Okay so I revealed alot, but I feel that this movie was made with alot of respect towards the soarce material and I loved how this was filmed more like a period/adventure movie then a superhero movie and I also loved the writing and the actors which I think Stanely Tucci,Chris Evens and Haley Atwell did a great job bringing these characters to life. I really enjoyed this movie and think it is way better than "Thor" because it actually knows what film it wants to be and does it well.