Captain America (2011)

Let's face it. Like most people Reb Brown will always be my Captain America. Captain America was awesome in that movie. Taking relaxing drives in his van with his see through plastic shield while wearing a motorcycle helmet was exactly how I always pictured Captain America. If there is anything more Captain America than that, I don't know what it is.

That horrifying image aside, the newest Captain America is tailored with a lot of love and respect for the character. The real question is, is this the Captain America movie we've always wanted? Well, for the most part yeah. It accepts the cheesy origins of the Cap and does an excellent job of showing it without making the movie feel like a joke. The movie knows when to make you laugh and when not to, and all of the laughs are natural well earned ones.

The part of the movie everyone is gonna be talking about for years to come is the amazing USO part where Steve Rogers is on a stage in a familiar costume with dancers singing his awesome theme song. Yeah he has a theme song. That really gets the idea across as to how this movie is. It's there to make you feel good, but not to make you feel stupid.

This movie is entirely a character study of Steve "Captain America" Rogers, and on that note it succeeds in every way imaginable. Sadly it is not perfect. When I saw The Incredible Hulk a few years back, they blatantly kept talking about Captain America and even went as far as having Tim Roth's Emil Blonsky injected with an incomplete version of Super Soldier serum. What followed that was some of the coolest action scenes I can think of. Blonsky was flipping around and fighting the Hulk and it was awesome. Naturally, that lead me to be excited to see how badass the complete serum would make someone. Sadly it seems the complete Super Soldier serum just makes you use nonstop CGI. Don't get me wrong, it isn't a deal breaker but I figured Captain America would be the one guy whos action scenes would be doable in the Marvel universe.

The villain would be the second flaw in the movie. Red Skull is an awesome villain. He's just so damn evil. Unfortunately the script doesn't really do anything with him. Hugo Weaving was the right guy for the part, but Red Skull was only there so Cap would have someone to fight. The final battle between the two is what I've come to expect from these Marvel movies (minus the Incredible Hulk), a huge letdown. Two Super Soldiers fighting it out and it lasts for what feels like a minute and a half. Red Skull deserved better.

This movie DOES NOT just feel like a commercial for The Avengers, and to be honest I'm sick of people saying that about these movies. It is a great true to the character story of a simpler time, when morality was more clear cut. Remember when America fought wars with good intent? This is what makes Cap a great character, he's from the old school and really believes in doing good. I hope to see him showing how he loves his country but doesn't always agree with it's decisions in future installments.

One last thing to touch on is the acting. Chris Evans is the man. Without his charm, Steve Rogers could have come off as a boring goody two shoes character as opposed to a good man who wants to do what's right. Other big thumbs up go to Tommy Lee Jones, which is a no brainer, Stanley Tucci, who was unbelievably charismatic and well written. The real surprise was Hayley Atwell, who really is a facial expression master. I believed her and can't wait to see where she ends up in her hopefully long acting career.

Over all, Joe Johnston proved he gets Captain America and that he was the right guy for the job. If he does the next one I hope he tones down the CGI and works a little harder on the action scenes. This is a winner and I would call it pretty much par with the first Iron Man. See this movie!