Movie Review: Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

Title: Captain America: The First Avenger
Release Date: July 22, 2011
Director: Joe Johnston
Production Company: Marvel Studios
Summary/Review:

The Marvel Cinematic Universe adapts the origin story of how the earnest but weak Steve Rogers becomes the superhuman warrior Captain America.  It’s nicely done mix of a World War II historical drama (especially the sets of 1940s New York City) with pure fantasy of futuristic technology mixed in.  Is there a term like “steampunk” that applies to the World War II era.

My big criticism of Marvel movies is that they tend to overdo the fights, chases, explosions, etc. to the point that they lose any sense of what’s at stake.  But I think Captain America strikes a nice balance of quieter scenes developing Rogers’ character and his relationships with Bucky and Peggy, intermixed with well-choreographed action sequences.

There are a lot of parallels in the plot to last year’s Wonder Woman film – a superhuman and a ragtag crew of soldiers venture behind enemy lines in a World War and stop the production of a superweapon – and even though Captain America came first, I think Wonder Woman is still a better movie.

Rating: ***

Related Posts:

• Iron Man (2008)
• The Avengers (2012)
• Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
• Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 (2017)