Wow, I seriously hate all the posters I could find for this movie. They're either too Saving Private Ryan-ish or too look-at-me-I-have-Photoshop. Ugh. This one still has the original release date of May 6th on it. Whatever.Anyway, Captain America. Another solid hit from Marvel. Even though I knew better, I still watched the movie looking for similarities between it and Thor or Iron Man. Marvel is doing a great job of getting different directors for each film, though, and keeping the styles separate. It makes them all watchable on their own even though they remain in canon.
So, this one starts with finding a plane frozen in a glacier and the signature shield on board. Then it cuts to old-timey WWII days. Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) has a laundry list of medical ailments but keeps attempting to enlist so he can serve his country. Dr. Erskine (Stanley Tucci) recognizes the value of such stupi- I mean loyalty and accepts him into the Army's science division. He has a serum that will turn 90 lb weakling Rogers into the perfect specimen of Captain America.
The first experiment of the serum worked, mostly, on Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving), the head of the Nazi's deep science department, codenamed HYDRA. The side effects were a bit more than anyone bargained for, however, transforming Schmidt into Red Skull. Which is awesome. Schmidt believes the key to world domination lies in old Norse mythology of a weapon from the gods.
No, not Mjolnir.
There is also a throwaway line about Hitler searching fruitlessly for treasures in the desert, which I thought tied in nicely with Raiders of the Lost Ark but I have no idea if that was the intended effect. I hope it was.
Anyway, he has the Cosmic Cube and starts seriously laying waste to Europe. Cap, meanwhile, is being pimped out to the war effort as a bond salesman, until he learns that his buddy Bucky's (Sebastian Stan) unit has been captured by Red Skull. Then it is on for some ass kicking.
Fans of the comics know how this is going to end but for those of you who aren't, I won't spoil it.
Because of the nature of the timeline and how Cap has to join the Avengers and whatnot, I felt that the movie ended on kind of a sad note. That being said, you almost don't notice because Tommy Lee Jones is so freaking awesome. He steals every scene he is in. Honestly, Chris Evans gets out-acted by pretty much everyone which is a little disappointing but Captain America is supposed to be a relatively straight role. There's not a lot of room for interesting character flaws.
Also, stay tuned through the interminable credits for a one minute teaser for The Avengers, coming out next summer. It doesn't tell you anything you didn't already know but it does show them all together for the first time.
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