I have to be honest, before my Marvel conversation with my brother I had no intention of seeing Captain America. There were two reasons for this. The first was that reviews were less than favourable, and with film ticket prices so high you have to be picky about what you see. The second was that it is called "Captain America". Having grown up far away from the United States I grew up with a different perspective of the US. For example, I grew up believing that the word "America" meant the Americas, as in North, Central and South. Unfortunately the States seem to have taken the word to mean the US only. So you can understand why I'm a little hesitant to watch anything that in my opinion is probably focussed on showing "America" to be the greatest nation ever created. I am also a huge fan of war films, particularly those based around World War Two. Sometimes it seems though that American films forget that it was a world war, as in other countries were involved.
Luckily Captain America is not a film about World War Two. The war is definitely prominent throughout the film, especially since our protagonist Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) wants nothing more than to fight in the war. Yet the actual war is never really mentioned, rather it's just there as a backdrop to show off American ideals. What the film really follows is the story of Steve Rogers, an extraordinarily skinny man with a list of health issues that prevents him from being recruited. What Steve does have however is courage and heart. This is noticed by a scientist who picks him for a secret project. Dr. Erksine possesses a machine that gyms would pay millions for. The most technical way I can describe it is that it turns scrawny men into beautiful works of muscular art.
Steve now possesses courage, heart, and a six pack. Unfortunately he's too valuable to be allowed to fight with the other men. He ends up on stage playing "Captain America" in propaganda performances around the world. One day after performing in Italy to the troops he finds out that many of his fellow soldiers, including his best friend, have been captured by the enemy. The command is to leave them. Our protagonist can't allow that though. With the help of the beautiful Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) and Howard Stark (Tony Stark/Ironman's father) Steve rescues all the men, earning their respect. On his quest he also meets Johan Schmidt, aka The Red Skull, aka the antagonist. What follows is a lot of fighting, heroisms, a poorly timed kiss and some martyrdom.
I can't say that I particularly loved this film, but I can't say that I hated it either. The acting was fine, the costumes and sets were superb. The story however was a little too simple for my liking. However, the last few minutes of the film did get me excited for the upcoming Avengers film. Make sure you wait till the very end of the credits to see a sneak peak. It will be interesting to see the role Captain America plays in The Avengers, after all, he was the first.
And to tie my last two reviews together, here's a picture of Thor and Captain America in The Avengers.
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