MyRating: YY1/2Director: Joe Johnston
Cast: Chris Evans, Hayley Atwell, Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving, Sebastian Stan, Dominic Cooper, Toby Jones, Neal McDonough, Derek Luke, Stanley Tucci
MPAA: Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action
The last and separate an 'Avenger' character movie before Marvel fulfills their most ambitious project next year with The Avengers (2012). A sickly young man from Brooklyn, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), who because of his good-hearted nature and strong determination, is being chosen into a top secret experiment that transforms him into a super soldier called Captain America, in order to help America to win the war. By leading a group of other fellow soldiers and with his new power that makes him to have a muscular body, who can jump higher, run faster and lift stronger, he has to stop Red Skull (Hugo Weaving), the evil Nazi's head of advanced weaponry, who intends to use a stolen tesseract energy-source to dominate the world.
I fancied Captain America when I was a child, mostly due to his patriotic superhero figure, his cool costumes and the shield. And I really liked how the story of this movie began, by telling the underdog tale of a young man who dreams to become a soldier and fight for the honor of his country, but his weak body doesn't allow him to past the enlistment test. The setting of the story in the World World II era of the 1940's was a perfect set up, which gave the movie a different tone and color with other superhero movies that tend to take the settings of the current time. The cast of Chris Evans as the Captain was also a good choice. He just seemed to fit once his name was being announced to take the role. It was interesting to see how the CGI made him to have such a small and skinny body in the beginning of the movie, that made me questioning whether he was Chris Evans or another actor playing the 'small' version of him.
I think Evans played his character well (he hit the required mark, not more and not less) and this time he didn't appear with his seems to be naturally 'comically cocky' characters, like his appearances in The Losers, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and as Human Torch in Fantastic Four, which made him looked more subtle here. One thing I must say, he was very lucky to play Captain America, as this is the biggest role of his career. The fact is, he rejected the role three times before he finally accepted it, because he was afraid his life would become less private if the movie became a hit. And he said in one interview that he can't believe he was almost too chicken to play Captain America. Now, the history has marked his name as 'Captain America', a right decision he must have glad that he has taken. The other supporting actors were of the big names, such as Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving and Stanley Tucci. As the love interest, Hayley Atwell also played fine as the tough woman officer.
Now, the problem I have with Captain America was the script. The movie has a good and very promising start, but it lose its grips and steam as the story goes, that somehow made me felt disconnected with the story and the characters. And I thought the propaganda thing that dragged Captain America into in the middle of the film made the story lose its focus and strayed the 'already right' mood away, and never could really bring it back. When the movie got into more actions at the end, I have lost some of my interests towards the movie. I think this movie has so much potentials but never reached its full potential. It could have been better. The story could have been better. And I hate to say that this is just a mediocre superhero movie, mainly due of the mediocre and bland storytelling with less soul. Looked great, but didn't feel great for me. (MJ)
