DVD Reviews

Captain America: The First Avenger

• Rating:
• Director: Joe Johnston
• Starring: Chris Evans
• Details: US/122mins PG

Executed with proficient if unspectacular style, Captain America is the typical introductory tale audiences have come to expect from comic book movies nowadays. Marvel in particular have been building towards their Avengers movie, where 'Cap' will cross shields with the likes of Iron Man and Thor . While it does have its moments, it's essentially a precursor to that film, rather than one that can hold its own amongst the comic book adaptation classics.
It's 1942 and Chris Evans is Steve Rodgers, a scrawny youngster who feels it his duty to enlist and head off to faraway lands to fight Hitler and his Nazi brethren; alas, he's constantly rejected due to a barrage of ailments and his diminutive stature. Luckily, Stanley Tucci's kind German scientist recognises his inner courage and picks him for a special "super solider" experiment that could see him war-bound whippity-snicket. A foe appears in the form of Hugo Weaving's Skeletor-like egomaniac, who makes Hitler look like the fat one that no one likes from 'Geordie Shore'.
The issue of introducing a character into another ensemble is a tricky one, and those who had issues with the 'origin' subplot of Thor will probabaly have the same concerns here. Captain America is a lot more "gee shucks" because of its retro setting, and director Johnson does a solid job of replicating the era whilst still injecting some cool gadgetry. But compared to other Marvel flicks like X-Men: First Class - which also had a bunch of characters to introduce us to - it falls well short of the mark.
On the plus side, Evans is very well cast as the square-jawed quintessential American hero Rodgers, and the early special effects which show him as a skinny runt are very impressive. Yet again, as with Thor, the main issue is lengthy character establishment which could easily have minimised; it's a serious stretch to buy the melding of all of these worlds into one for the eventual Avengers flick.
Nevertheless, it's solid enough fare and Evans and Tucci are eminently watchable. The Avengers had just better be worth it, after all of this foreplay.

Review by Mike Sheridan