During World War II, Steve Rogers is a sickly man from Brooklyn who's transformed into super-soldier Captain America to aid in the war effort. Rogers must stop the Red Skull – Adolf Hitler's ruthless head of weaponry, and the leader of an organization that intends to use a mysterious device of untold powers for world domination.
True to "Captain America," this is the modern (comic book) version of the All American movie. Good guys versus bad guys without a lot of ambiguity. NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT.
This movie is pretty much perfection for the genre. Entertaining A to Z story with high-end Hollywood professional movie making throughout.
This is a long form review initially published in 2011:
Though it ran at over two hours, I did feel that it had plenty of room to go further than it did. I honestly felt like Red Skull could have had a film all to himself, and actually kind of suffered for making him as intriguing as he was.
Chris Evans was an interesting choice as the titular role of Captain America, given that he's already played American sweetheart Marvel Super Hero "The Human Torch" in Fantastic 4 and Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer. He didn't Oh-My-Gosh blow me away type-thing or what have you, but he was pretty great.
So far in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I'd slot Captain America clean in the middle. I liked Iron Man and Thor more, but _...
PLOT
Steve Rogers, a scrawny young man, wants to enlist in the US Army and go overseas to fight in WWII. But his size and health means his attempts at enlistment always end the same way -- a 4F rating. Until a scientist sees him and recruits him to try out for a special training program to create a super soldier.
WHAT I LIKED
The Marvel universe sticks pretty close to classic script with him being given a serum that jacks his body into super muscle mode. He's already brave and smart, so it would seem like a no-brainer to send him overseas? But the guy in charge of his training doesn't want him, he's just one man, so Rogers ends up doing public relations back home. And he is quite shocked that the men overseas don't react as positiv...
Definitely the most underrated of all the MCU films, Captain America: The First Avenger is a great war film done comic book style about a little guy making a big difference. Red Skull is one of the better villains simply because of how fantastic Hugo Weaving is. Peggy Carter is a great heroine and Hayley Atwell's performance is an absolute joy. Also, Tommy Lee Jones and Stanley Tucci light up the screen whenever they're on.
With strong action scenes, nicely developed characters, and seamless CGI, Captain America: The First Avenger is perfectly fine as a stand alone film. Shameful that so many audiences were just going out of obligation for The Avengers, because this movie has a lot to offer.
Probably only my third time viewing and first in at least 8 years and while it's not great, I did find it to be pretty entertaining and Chris Evans embodies the role so well. Red Skull and the heavy prosthetic they placed on Hugo Weaving still was pretty silly looking, however, making him one of many weak villains in the MCU. 3.25/5
I had a great time with this, it narrowly surpasses 'Iron Man' for me.
'Captain America: The First Avenger' is thoroughly entertaining. I absolutely enjoyed the story and how it is told, while the 1940s style is done fantastically - love the settings and costumes. The only negative I have is about the body double effect of skinny Captain America - which looks, honestly, ridiculous... in an amusing way, at least.
This is, possibly, the most I've enjoyed the overall cast for an MCU film so far. Chris Evans is fun to watch in the lead role, he does a grand job. Behind him, the likes of Tommy Lee Jones, Hayley Atwell and Hugo Weaving are enjoyable too.
A very pleasant experience, this. Good fun.
Really good movie. I loved the little tiny skinny him. He looked hilarious. Lots of action and cool cgi stuff going on.