Dir: Joe Johnston, USA, 2011, 124 mins
Cast: Chris Evans, Hayley Atwell, Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving, Stanley Tucci
Review by Mark Byrnes
Ahead of the much anticipated 2012 release of Marvel Comic’s The Avengers, Captain America: The First Avenger joins his Marvel stable mates with his own origins feature.
Desperate to join his soldier friend Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) in the battlefields during the Second World War, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) finds his attempts frustrated because of his poor health. German scientist Dr. Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci) offers the scrawny young man a chance to fulfil his wish to serve his country by volunteering for a secret project. He is devising a way to create a new breed of genetically enhanced soldier for the Allied forces.
Despite the reservations of Colonel Chester Phillips (Tommy Lee Jones), Erskine successfully administers his super serum to Rogers, but is then assassinated by a Nazi agent of Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving). Schmidt, aka Red Skull, has also been exposed to Erskine’s serum and seeks to harness the power of a mythic artefact that will ensure HYDRA, his terror organisation, achieves world domination. Frustrated at being paraded as a costumed propaganda tool in the war effort, Rogers learns of the capture of his friend’s platoon and resolves to single handedly rescue his friend and convince Phillips of his worth. After confronting Red Skull, Rogers realises that only he and his team can defeat HYDRA and save the world from impending doom.
Sharing a historical backdrop but not the intellectual aspirations of the recent X-Men: First Class, Captain America distinguishes itself from its peers in its unashamed nostalgic dressing. In that regard the film has an old fashioned comic book feel both in look and in tone, something which audiences may find a tad benign in an age of flawed and morally complex super heroes. This simplicity extends to many of the supporting players who are more caricature than character. Excellent period detail recreates a believable wartime setting, though this is no Saving Private Ryan in the action scenes as the typically bloodless battles tend to feature weaponry more suited to a science fiction film.
Evans, who has form as a superhero in the Fantastic Four films, is reasonably solid but his usual mischievous charm is notably absent in his portrayal of the noble hearted Captain. Of the supporting cast, Stanley Tucci shines yet again as a character actor par excellence, his Erskine being a suitable foil to the gruff Colonel Phillips (the dependably gruff Tommy Lee Jones). Hayley Atwell convinces as the English officer, whose sweet-natured romance with Captain America belies her tough exterior. Aside from the opportunity to mimic a German accent Weaving does what he can with a role that does not allow too much subtlety.
Given the underwhelming returns of the recent Green Lantern film, Captain America offers an entertaining superhero yarn that is not afraid to wear its nostalgic heart on its sleeve.
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