Movie Review: Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
Cheesy and lifeless; I checked out after the solid opening
Photo: Paramount Pictures
Captain America: The First Avenger kicks off with a solid build. It's 1942 and World War II is well underway. For the frail, asthmatic and symptom-prone Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) all he wants to do is join the fight, but he's been denied at every turn. Yet, he has heart and determination, and won't take "no" for an answer. This determination earns him a spot in the Army after being recognized by Dr. Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci) as a perfect candidate for a super soldier serum he's devising.
So far, so good. However, once Steve Rogers gets his steroid boost and becomes Captain America this flimsy film turns into a ham-fisted cheese-fest I have no desire to watch again.
The cast includes Chris Evans, Hugo Weaving, Sebastian Stan, Hayley Atwell, Samuel L. Jackson, Toby Jones, Dominic Cooper, Tommy Lee Jones, Neal McDonough, Stanley Tucci and Richard Armitage. For more information on this film including pictures, trailers and a detailed synopsis choose from the following menu.
Review
"Captain America: The First Avenger" is a Paramount Pictures release, directed by Joe Johnston and is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action. The running time is 1 hour 53 minutes.
So, of course, Schmidt has to go down and Captain America is just the soldier to do it. His approach… brute force. Bust the door down and go in guns-a-blazin'. Considering Schmidt's army, each dressed as the gimp from Pulp Fiction, is equipped with death rays that will disintegrate a human with one shot, you would think this would be a bad move. No worries, not all of them have said death rays and the ones that do tend to go down pretty easily or just aren't very good shots. So, with a team behind him and his vibranium shield at his side, the Captain sets about cleaning Europe up.
At this point, I have to say, I had seen enough and had pretty much lost all interest. Not because of the seemingly random silliness on the screen — I can deal with that — but there was absolutely no life to this film outside of the little bit Hugo Weaving and Tommy Lee Jones tried so desperately to bring to it. Sure, there were explosions and a lot of throwing-the-shield-around montage moments, but it was all so dull I just didn't care.
As Captain America, Chris Evans is toned down to a cardboard cutout. Evans was the best thing about the Fantastic Four films and I liked him in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and The Losers. He has charisma and personality to spare, yet none of it is on screen here. Instead we get the lifeless editing of a ripped-off Indiana Jones motorbike chase, magical zip lines from nowhere and when Captain gets the job done you can count on a soldier shouting out, "Hey! Let's hear it for Captain America!" Speaking of which, this film works much better as a comedy than it does as any sort of action adventure.
Additionally wooden is Hayley Atwell (The Duchess) as the film's love interest Peggy Carter. Atwell has the appearance of Kelly McGillis circa 1985 and reads her lines like she's Keira Knightley. And as appealing as she may look, her character is dull as a board, often accompanied by a blank stare and late in the film she becomes what seems like the butt of a joke in a newsreel scene that may be one of the worst I've seen this summer. Add to that a kiss for luck I could hardly believe made the final cut, and I wouldn't have thought the cheese factor could get any higher. I was wrong. Bombs labeled with the names of the cities they were meant to destroy were the true capper. I couldn't hold my laughter in any longer.
The villainous Johann Schmidt is so paper thin not even Weaving could do much to save him, and if there was ever to be an entry in this recent rash of Marvel superhero films leading up to next summer's The Avengers that felt like a footnote to something bigger, Captain America fits the description. Even without the intrusion of the S.H.I.E.L.D. organization that hampered Iron Man 2 and Thor, the fact this is a hastily made throwaway in the grand scheme of things is perfectly clear.
Director Joe Johnston (The Rocketeer, The Wolfman) tried hard to present a retro superhero film and for that reason I actually felt this would be the superhero film of the summer. Finally, something different. Something that didn't begin with a fictional astrology lesson or characters we've seen countless times before. While the film remained true to these expectations the screenplay by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely felt like a poor attempt at a pulpy retro tale and Johnston and his team of editors seemed to be arbitrary with the scissors. The climax to scenes seemed to be missing, details when needed were never heard and the overall sense of heroism was rarely felt.
Captain America reminded me a lot of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, but it's executed like Michael Bay's Pearl Harbor. It was lifeless, frequently cheesy and I had very little interest left once the skinny soldier became the human hulk. I don't have any kind of hatred for it, but it's definitely a film I won't be angling to see again.
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Obviously you haven't read many of the Avenger comics…
Seriously, dude, stick to reviewing the blech indie films that make people want to sit in a dark room for a week. Captain America is supposed to be slightly cheesy. He's a comic book character! duh!
it's more than slightly cheesy.
You don't come here a lot, do you? http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/article/top-ten-list-worst-excuses-bad-movies
I think that article should be posted on the front page permanently, as a must-read for any commenter on this website, so we can get rid of people like Paperclips making the same hollow arguments over and over again.
haha Oh, I can't believe the irony at what you just said Vince. I see it that way for both parties
Comics are a different medium, so what works for one doesn't necessarily go to the other. I liked Captain America as a film myself, but it does have problems.
Yeah I could have just watched the final few scenes and been coooool.
So, is this just another preview for the Avengers like the other Marvel comic books films have been?
Ahh, I don't know what Marvel films you have been watching but the X-Men films, Spider-Man films, Daredevil, and etc have not been build-ups to The Avengers. Just ones starring the actual team members individually.
those films were not made by marvel
Brad's on point. I made the mistake of doing a double bill of Deathly Hallows Part 2 followed by the midnight screening of Captain America and Hallows Part 2 kills this film in every department.
When Brad says there's not life to the picture after he becomes Captain America, he literally means it. I usually have a reaction to any film I see in the theatres. I left the theatre with nothing. No reaction. It just sits on the screen, ticking off items on a list to get to the Avengers.
And the ending is absolutely, stunningly awful.
Thor, even with the SHIELD intrusion, was better than this because that cast brought that thin script to life.
Honestly, of all the Marvel Studios' produced characters we've seen, Thor has the most promise, in terms of further stories. He's just a much more interesting character than the rest of them.
The sole reason why I'd even bother with the Avengers next May is to see the Thor character interact with the rest of these guys.
Yeah, Captain America just doesn't work.
So I don't think it's the movie that failed. It's the fact that you didn't care, checked out and didn't care to get invested in the movie.
Your loss. It was a lot of fun. Yeah, I know…I'm a bad cinema fan. Maybe you can catch The Tree of Life again…
Thats So much Sarcasm that its practically oozing out of my laptop screen ….hahahhaaha….
I read the review from ign.com (where they are pro movie reviewers who happen to be comic book fans) but they said it wasn't the worst movie but CA should've taken more chances and simply settles for being good as opposed to great. contrary to what Brad says they say that Evans is the best part of the movie but the story feels incomplete. I'm not sure what to really expect between brad's review and ign's.
I think u should go with an open mind for this one…at least i would….comic book movies can be quite polarizing as far as opinions go..both of these reviewers can be right or wrong in some ways….do ask yourself, are u a comic book fan to begin with or just a normal movie goer….that will shape up ur opinion eventually….
The reason it feels incomplete is because of the awful ending. We'll get the rest of Steve Rogers' story in the Avengers.
Doesn't really surprise me…I've never had much faith in Joe Johnston who apart from the solid October Sky has directed such snoozefests as The Wolfman, Hidalgo & Jurassic Park 3.
Well, I wouldn't fault Johnston for Wolfman. He got the job two weeks before production started. Not really his fault on the script level, but that film is one of the most gorgeous looking films I've seen in a decade…
But, I think this is more of Marvel's doing to get the final piece to the Avengers for than Johnston not knowing what kind of story he wanted to tell.
I mean, with this ending, they literally closed the door on any interesting sequels for this character. We might as well just watch Captain America in the Avengers' films and not his own series.
Sorry Cory, just to elaborate on my point..I didn't mean to just blame him for the film or script. I meant that in all the films mentioned by myself he struggles to get any life out of the actors (including some fantastic & established actors) which leads to very stale, dull movies with no life.
As for the script..again, the guys who wrote this screenplay have the Narnia trilogy as their main credits which doesn't really inspire the greatest of confidence.
I do have a prediction about the Avengers after seeing this film. I think Chris Hemsworth is going to steal the whole film.
Say what you want about Thor but that guy is a star. The cast of that film carried the hell out of that film. I have no fears of him being overwhelmed by RDJ.
That is going to be the most interesting thing about the Avengers movie, the Thor-Ironman interaction. One thinks he is a god, the other one is really a god! And with these two actors, is going to be a blast.
I love it when people who haven't seen a movie comment on a review and tell the reviewer why they're wrong. See the movie first, joker.
Well, I'll have to wait till next friday to see it, here in Mexico open next week, so I can see also how people from another country than USA reacts to the Capster
Same thing in Brazil, Captain America opens next week.
Too bad there are only three theaters with IMAX here (located in São Paulo & Rio de Janeiro), and those screens are booked for HP7p2, otherwise I would have taken that route to maximize the enjoyment out of this film.
Don't listen to Brad on reviews. He thought Scream 4 was one of the best movies of 2011. I mean Scream 4 real original. Capt. America might be lack luster in plot and acting but its a hell of a lot better than Scream 4.
Says the man commenting on Brad's review. You also provided no evidence to you claim other than saying Captain was lackluster in plot and acting as you were defending it.
Yep. He liked one film that you happen to dislike. That automatically makes him disqualified from writing film reviews and he should just not continue with this blog at all. Why bother, I mean, HE LIKED SCREAM 4!!!! Derp Derp. Brad really does get so many moronic comments on his reviews for summer blockbusters if he happens to not like them.
It's gotten overall positive buzz, so I'm still looking forward to see it, plus I love watching Hugo Weaving in anything he does. For me, he was by far the best part of The Wolfman with his scenery-chewing awesomeness, a movie that I otherwise thought was horrendous. Plus, Captain America can't be any worse than Green Lantern.
And at the end of the day, why should I listen to you? You are more credible than Brad because you disliked Scream 4? Don't think so.
I enjoy Brad's opinions because he sees a lot of movies for one, and whether I agree with him or not he always supports his likes and dislikes very thoroughly.
I'm just going to wait until I see it tonight before I give my two cents, as all you should who haven't seen it yet..
all that and just a c- ? the way you were saying things i thought you were giving it a D or an F ! I wanted to check this movie out … i don't know if i will anymore giving the amount of cheesiness you say is in this film. I guess harry potter win this summer ! and Super Hero movies are DEAD !!! they will go the way of the horror genre only much much quicker because i feel like people are getting tired of it all.
I hate to break this but Horror as a genre isn't all that dead. People like to be scared as much as they like to laugh, so like any perennial it won't be vanishing anytime soon.
Neither will Superhero films.
It's like every genre though – peaks and troughs, good and bad, swings and roundabouts.
Very well said Winchester
I saw it at a matinee (seemed appropriate) and dug it. I really loved the first half, which is the origin part of the story up through his first AWOL mission.
I will agree that the film lost focus after that, however, although I still found it rousing in places and it had instilled enough good will in me to leave the theater happy. What the second half needed most of all was a more clear sense of the missions. We knew the broad scope of things, but never the specifics… letting the audience know what goals had to be accomplished would have kept a lot of it from feeling like generic action montages.
I liked the final plane sequence myself, as well as the cheese… I liked the kiss (I thought Hayley Atwell was great, especially her various little glances), and the labeled bombs made me chuckle in a good way. All in all, I really appreciated the lack of smarm and cynicism to the whole thing. I don't want all of my films and heroes presented this way, but I'll be damned if it wasn't a breath of fresh air to get out of the modern, constant wise-cracking action mode of filmmaking for a couple of hours.
Deadline is reporting $4 million in midnight takings………..more than the other three superhero films midnight showings this year.
I probably won't see the film until next weekend when it opens here although I do plan to, so I'll talk about it then, but I might 'suspect' in advance that if it has problems they may be like those of Thor, which was abundantly and clearly a film made ONLY because it was a required piece of The Avengers puzzle that HAD to be made in order for the scheme to work out.
Iron Man 2 had this feeling as well, in fact the only two films that (so far) for me didn't have that feeling getting in their way were 'Iron Man' and 'The Incredible Hulk'.
I'll know better when I see it though.
an entire fleet of marvel heroes cant top the dark knight, what a shame.
Fleet? It's only a small number out of hundreds…with fewer having their own movies as opposed to being reduced to cameos or supporting roles
Yes Dark Knight is an awesome film, and it may be one of if not the best super hero film of the 2000's. However you must admit while the 80's and 90's may have been DC's with the Batman and Superman films the new millenium has been dominated by Marvel comics, it has expanded its franchise and characters to new and old fans on a whole new level. Anyone growing up in this generation could never forget the memories of characters like Blade, Spiderman, Daredevil, X-men, Iron man, Hulk, Punisher, Thor, Captain America, exc. and hopefully many more to come in the future.
I think it's funny/ironic that this review sums up pretty much how I felt about Thor, but your review for Thor pretty much sums up how I felt about Captain America.
Also, did anyone else think that Hugo Weaving's German accent sounded like Christoph Waltz as Hans Landa? It was the first thing I thought of.
I had read beforehand that he patterned it after Werner Hertzog, and I really heard it while sitting in the theater.
I was thinking the same thing while watching it, but it was a bit more subtle than Waltz's.
Im kinda interested to see how it will do internationally, since the title is really American and the character himself is not that well known and definately not in the leagues of Spiderman, Batman, hell even Thor might be a more well known character…
I don't use the excuses from the top ten list. I personally prefer "Your wrong" or "What are you talking about?". I have never read 99% of all comics, but I don't ever find reason to get lost as people did with films like Thor or Green Lantern. Captain America is way better than the two of those though, and the overrated X-Men: First Class.
Hell, i've said all along that Johnston was a bad choice, Letterier should be given another chance to direct another Marvel film! The director for the Avengers movie I feel will create the same type of lifeless movie as Cap! Listen, if Joss Whedon doesn't open the movie guns blazing then he has failed in my opinion, what would be the point of "building" a storyline? Hell, he could create Marvel greatness by doing this, tell me if this doesn't get your blood pumping, the opening scene takes place 3 months earlier, there is a huge fight in a wooded area at night between Hulk and…Wolverine! This balls to the wall fight ends with Logan barely surviving, only by puncturing the back of Hulk is he able to get away, but before he does he turns around and tells Banner "I'll see you again someday", and that scene will tie-in to Wolvy's movie(genius) we're then brought to the present day by being introduced to the "new" Banner, and the Avengers movie begins. Whedon has no time for a slow start-up! He will need to wash his hands of any connection to this Capn movie.
For all of you comic book fanatics criticizing the opinions of others, let's begin with Critical Thinking 101. Captain America is a MOVIE, not a comic book, and if a producer takes on such an adaptation, it needs to translate well across the mediums. I agree with Brad's review whole-heartedly: Captain America failed. It had its moments, mostly based in Chris Evans' likeability and a few big-budget effects. Even brilliant Hugo Weaving never had a chance to shine in this clunker.
Thor did it right, as did Iron Man. Both films and their respective character namesakes connected with the viewing audience, regardless if movie goers were comic book fans. Conversely, I was slack-jawed at some of the rookie shortcuts (montages, blackout screen, cliche kiss, etc.) taken by Captain America's writers/producers/directors. I didn't care what happened to the characters, and I feel the film never tapped the powerhouse talent it had on its roster. Here's hoping that Avengers in 2012 does a better job with on-screen chemistry.
I agree with other posters who believe The Avengers belongs to Thor/Hemsworth.
I liked it. I thought it had a lot of action. It was one of my favorite superhero movies of the year. At least it is better than the embarrassing and awful green lantern.
In what way is this lifeless? The film itself is not a living being, so that is pretty moot. Secondly, isn't it supposed to be cheesy? I mean, it's a comic book film, you add too much drama and angst, you'd wind up with a carbon copy of The Dark Knight. You make it too lighthearted, it would come out silly and impossible to take seriously. So in a way, this is the perfect comic book movie, combining the necessary cheese factor and drama it needs.
"In what way is this lifeless? The film itself is not a living being, so that is pretty moot."
Depends on how you look at film. I tend to look at a film as a living, breathing piece of art, whether it's a major studio blockbuster or an independent picture. It's how I appreciate the art form. But that's just me.
I liked it. I went in thoroughly prepared to hate it, from what I read in this review. But throughout the film, I realized that the cheese factor must be taken with a grain of salt, since it's Captain America and all about patriotism and the everyday, underdog hero. I liked Chris Evans's toned down portrayal–after all, he's Steve Rogers, not Tony Stark. And I enjoyed the element of self-sacrifice. Also, that moment with the newsreel, in which the review said that Haylee Atwell's character was the butt of a joke…what joke was that? It wasn't glaringly obvious. Anyway, I found it enjoyable for what it was.
Wow, if you want to here a good review for a marvel movie ask a marvel fan, because they will tell you honestly if its good or bad. Marvel characters mean a lot to the fans and when they feel like hollywood has butchered a character they wont hesitate to let you know. Captain America may not be an award winning movie but it is a good movie, these reviewers take everything bad about a movie and focus in on it instead of the good. Think about how difficult it would be to take a character like Captain America or Thor and make a movie that doesn't bomb, (look at the previous CA films). All 3 Marvel movies this year have been succesful and exceeded my expectations, movies are like music everybody has there own taste. Critics are people who have had there fun gene removed and think everything needs to be perfect and don't realize most movie goers just want to have a good time and arent expecting a perfect movie.
CA was a fun film as long as you go there looking to have some fun, I'm one hardcore Marvel fan who wasn't disapointed. (SAW IT TWICE!!)
I quite liked it. Far too long and it feels like three films in one (and – you're right – the first one, the origin, is the strongest).
However, I dug the "mythology" stuff. While Thor was about reconciling the American superhero myth with a wider European mythology, Captain America did the opposite, juxtaposing the very American genre of superheroes (as embodied by Captain America, th embodiment of the American Dream) juxtaposed against Schmidt's faith in a mythology and culture that wasn't even his own (listening to Wagner, who was similarly fixated on the Norse pantheon rather than anything Tuetonic). I think it worked best when it played with those central ideas – a sort of cultural clash between new and old world (Red Skull is captured in portraits, Cap is immortalised on film and in comics).
It's a shame about all the cheesy stuff which occasionally went a tad too far.
I enjoyed it. It did get pretty cliche once that montage clicked in, but I wasn't expecting something much different from there on out. Considering that beforehand, I thought Captain America was the lamest Marvel superheroes, and would probably be one of the worst Marvel movies one could make (probably still is), it did a decent enough of a job of getting me to root for Steve Rogers.
Plus, it was nice to see Chris Evans tone down the Johnny Storm in him, but after reading some of the comments above, I agree that he could have brought a little more charisma to the role. I suppose it's kind of hard being known as one superhero and trying to portray another without crossing their traits. I suppose that's what actors are supposed to do though…. :/
You are the laziest reviewer i know. "Checking out after the solid opening?" You didn't give it a chance. Anyway, i assume the next Plabet of the Apes will get a C too? LAZY!