Patriotism; the current selling point of the next entry to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After a billionaire in a suit of armour, a scientist who turns into an enormous green rage monster and a hammer-wielding god from another world, the next step that the studio makes is to somehow make a hero well-known for his admiration for his country likable for a wider market. While now Captain America is a more appealing hero, back in 2011 it was questionable how well he'll do. Does he do well in his first appearance since the 90s or does he need to cool off fast?
Whilst the film initially opens in the Artic, the film is primarily set in the 1940s following your friendly neighbourhood stick figure (Chris Evans) as he tries his hardest to join the US military. With best friend Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) officially part the regime and Steve Rogers constantly being denied, he volunteers to take part in an experiment by former Hydra scientist Dr Erskine (Stanley Tucci) to create the world's first super soldier, with training arranged by Colonel Phillips and Agent Peggy Carter (Tommy Lee Jones and Hayley Atwell respectively). As expected, Rogers is picked from the selection bunch and becomes a changed man - and the only one, following an assassination attempt by a member of Hydra. But after spending some time as a mascot for the US government he turns Captain in order to rescue a number of kidnapped soldiers, including Barnes, from a Hydra base, run by Armin Zola and his leader Johann Schmidt (Toby Jones and Hugo Weaving). Because of his success, Rogers is promoted into becoming the Captain he is, taking down Hydra one base at a time. But with the enemy possessing the power of the Tesseract - a magical object from another world - can Rogers win the battle?
Despite how confusing it may sound, the story is very easy to follow, with the build up of Steve Rogers as a character being the primary focus of the plot. As a simple person who doesn't want to kill but wants to stand up against the bullies, he's not the bland character you'd expect to just support America because America - he's used to promote America for bonds money and just rolls with the caricature. But perhaps because Steve Rogers is such a likeable character as underdog-turned-hero the film is all the more appealing. When you follow a great lead you have a more enjoyable experience, and that's thanks to Chris Evans' performance. The story itself isn't the most creative - again resulting in a standard love interest with Atwell and a big battle at the very end - but the pace works at a good rate despite the action sequences being relegated to montage.
The rest of the cast is perhaps not as involved as Evans, with the exception of Atwell who does very well in her biggest role of her career. Agent Carter is a conventional love interest, but it does take time for it to turn up, with little hints to start with before full-blown jealousy for a very cheeky Natalie Dormer, but she gets some great little moments alone and with Evans, who she has great chemistry with. Tommy Lee Jones is playing Tommy Lee Jones, Stanley Tucci is being Stanley Tucci with an accent, and Hugo Weaving is certainly hamming it in. He's a fun villain with a very menacing presence, but hard to compare with Loki or the Abomination. Toby Jones is great as always - although his accent is a little distracting - and the Captain's ally Sebastian Stan is not in his strongest role in this universe yet. There's also Dominic Cooper who does a good impression of Tony Stark for his role as father Howard, and the Howling Commandos are unmemorable outside of being part of the Captain's gang.
Thor was a hard act to follow, but Captain America: The First Avenger does very well at bringing what could have been a huge failure to the big screen. The best thing about it is clearly Chris Evans who suits the role really well, and Hayley Atwell does best at fighting the stereotype character that the script writes her as. But the rest of the cast are not giving their all and the story - while at a good pace - isn't as interesting as it could be. As a precursor to Avengers Assemble, it does its job well, just not so well as a standalone film. 7/10.
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