Review - Captain America (2011)

Since I've got no idea when or even if Red Tails will hit German movie theatres I thought I could just as well give you my impressions of the Captain America movie I saw just recently with a good buddy of mine, and my review mirrors his own. Since it's WW II & alternate history, this one was right down my alley.

Steve Rogers is a pansie, an eighty pound paper towel that could be beaten up by a girl. But it's the 1940s, and the USA is at war. And while Rogers doesn't have the physique to volunteer for service with his friend, he has his heart at the right place - so much, in fact, that he tries every trick in the book to be admitted into the forces. But to no avail, neither the army nor the female half of society takes notice of little Steve. But one man does take notice. An emigree scientist, a Jew having escaped from Germany and now working for the US government on a secret supersoldier program, takes Rogers in. Because who would be the better choice than the man who - on first sight - seems to be the worst choice?

I won't spoil much more of the story, even though it does tend to fit in with the general comic book level of complexity, meaning it could fit on a post-it note. But let's be honest: that's not much of a problem with an action-oriented movie if you get the right tone. And Captain America actually gets most of it right.

For example, we get a really great villain in the form of an uncompromising Red Skull played by an as always perfect Hugo Weaving (Lord of the Rings, Matrix) who had obvious fun in his role. However, "Hydra", his Nazi-esque and even more evil-than-the-Nazis organisation, receives too little exposition and explanation; if you're not a fan of the comics you're bound to end up asking who the hell all those guys in those funny uniforms are?!

The story is told in a rather serious tone that nonetheless leaves some space for quips and moments of (self) irony. The production design is reminiscent of recent WW II movies - that is, until "Hydra" gets its screen time with rather futuristic designs. Which, incidentially, is a good touch as it prevents Captain America from becoming a melodramatic WW II movie.

Nice bridges to Thor (the Odin Cube is the source of "Hydra's" energy) and Iron Man (Howard Stark works for the US government) are built, and the single movies are pulled a bit closer together by that, ultimately helping to establish a connected set of origin stories for the upcoming Avengers movie.

I was also positively surprised by the movie's sense of patriotism, and in two ways in that: for one, unlike the watered down Superman reboot, Captain America is an American fighting for America (and in a wider sense, against evil). This is exactly the core of what that character is supposed to be. And secondly, despite that, the American patriotism is presented so tastefully that international audiences won't be alienated. I believe that a good balance was struck there.

There's a nice cast of interesting supporting characters that is sadly underutilized by rushing the second third of the movie unnecessarily forward. Steve Rogers practically changes on the spot from an icon selling war bonds to fully trained supersoldier. He really does; he's gone through basic training, then goes on a long bond sales tour, and from one moment to the other he switches his posturing on a stage to parachuting behind enemy lines. Sure, he's strong and he's fast, but he lacks the training and experience for this kind of action. This is were the movie falls terribly short. Even a training montage - maybe even just one of he training himself - would have gone a long way to change this for the better.

As I mentioned above, there's a cool cast of supporting characters, but they have terribly little screen time and development. As Markus Antares noted, a great chance to make this into a comic book based Dirty Dozen was wasted here.

In the end, Captain America is less than it could have been in the sense that it is "just" another origin movie leading up to the Avengers. My buddy and I feel that the character wasn't done with WW II yet, and that a great chance has been missed here to fully develop Steve Rogers/Captain America, especially with the movie's end kept in mind.

Final Verdict: B. A must see for afficionados of the genre and those waiting for the Avengers movie. It's above average, but does not rise to the heights of Iron Man.