Marvel May - Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
Hey guys, Chuck here. For those who live in the United States as I do, I hope you're enjoying your Memorial Day weekend. And if you don't live in the United States, I hope you're enjoying this weekend nonetheless. And since it's Memorial Day weekend here in the United States, as of the posting of this review, I feel it's the right time to look at the fifth entry of the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Captain America: The First Avenger. Released in July of 2011, this Joe Johnston directed superhero film, set during World War II, shows the origins of the first superhero of the Marvel Universe. So, let's dive into Captain America: The First Avenger.
We open with a dig team in Canada, where the wreck of a World War II-era aircraft is found in the ice, with a man inside, holding a shield colored red, white, and blue with a giant star in the middle. Flashing back to World War II, we see a village under attack by German forces working as members of HYDRA, the Nazi rogue science division led by Johann Schmidt aka the Red Skull, played by Hugo Weaving. Schmidt ultimately finds what he's looking for: a relic known as the Tesseract, which is a blue cube of infinite power. Despite warnings from a villager, Schmidt takes the cube regardless, planning to use it to power advanced weapons. In the United States, we meet Steve Rogers, played by Chris Evans, who is a very frail, sickly man who wants to fight in the war. Unfortunately, Steve's various ailments prevent him from enlisting in the Army, leaving him unable to fight for his country. Meanwhile, Steve's best friend Bucky Barnes, played by Sebastian Stan, is getting ready for deployment overseas, and the two friends hang out, with a couple of girls in tow, at a major technology expo. It is here that we see Howard Stark, played by Dominic Cooper, showing off his flying car invention, which ultimately doesn't work very well. Steve, meanwhile, goes to enlist at a recruiting center, despite warnings from Bucky against it. It is here that Steve meets defected German scientist Dr. Abraham Erskine, played by Stanley Tucci, who offers him a chance to serve in the Army and grants him approval for enlistment.
Meanwhile, Schmidt works with Swiss scientist Arnim Zola, played by Toby Jones, who tests the power level of the Tesseract, and successfully transfers its power to his designs for weapons and other tech, all of which could turn the tide in the war in Germany's favor. However, Schmidt sees a future with HYDRA separate from Germany and Hitler. Meanwhile, Steve is trained under the watch of Col. Chester Phillips. played by Tommy Lee Jones, and Strategic Scientific Reserve agent Peggy Carter, played by Hayley Atwell. Despite unfavorable comparisons to his fellow soldiers, Erskine still plans to use Steve as the one to be subjected to his super soldier formula, which he used previously on Schmidt. Unfortunately, Schmidt's ambition and malice had an adverse effect on the super soldier serum, leading him to having his signature facial features that resembled a red skull, hence his nickname Red Skull. The day of the procedure arrives, and Steve is injected with the serum, and exposed to vita-rays. The procedure is successful, and Steve goes from being a frail weakling to a super-buff beefcake. Unfortunately, an undercover agent of HYDRA kills Erskine and takes the last vial of the serum. Steve chases him through the streets of New York, and eventually catches him, only for the spy to use a cyanide capsule in his tooth to commit suicide, and with his dying words exclaims "Hail HYDRA!" Col. Phillips, Peggy, and Howard head to the front line to take the fight to HYDRA, leaving Steve behind. However, a US Senator named Brandt, played by Michael Brandon, offers him an opportunity to serve his country another way.
Steve, under the name of Captain America, goes across the country selling bail bonds, which help finance the war effort. Steve also is featured in propaganda films, comics, and essentially becomes a marketing tool for the American war effort. At the front, however, the soldiers don't take Steve seriously. Sometime after a horrible appearance for the troops, Steve learns that the regiment that Bucky was part of had several men being held prisoner by HYDRA. With help from Peggy and Howard, Steve defies orders from Col. Phillips and mounts a mission to rescue the troops behind enemy lines. Steve frees the soldiers, including Jim Morita and Dum Dum Dugan, the latter of whom is played by Neal McDonough. Steve then rescues Bucky, and come face-to-face with Schmidt. Upon returning to the American base, the troops rejoice in the rescue of their fellow soldiers, and give a rousing cheer of approval for Steve. Col. Phillips later gives Steve the go-ahead to assemble a team, known as the Howling Commandos, to attack HYDRA bases directly, turning the tide against Schmidt and HYDRA. On a mission that sees the capture of Zola, Bucky unfortunately falls to his apparent death.
Under interrogation from Phillips, Zola reveals the location of Schmidt's base, and Steve makes his way into the base, clearing the way for Phillips, Peggy, and the Howling Commandos. Steve follows Schmidt onto a large airplane, where bombs are set to be dropped on major cities around the world. Steve stops one of them, and fights Schmidt and his men. During their fight, Schmidt picks up the Tesseract, which dissolves him and sends him far across the cosmos. Steve, unable to stop the plane, forces it to a crash landing, landing into the ice, leaving him to be missing in action. Howard, while searching for Steve, finds and takes the Tesseract. In the present time, we see Steve in a recreation of a World War II era hospital room, only to realize that he's not in his own time, due to a baseball game being played on the radio being one he attended personally. Steve breaks out and runs smack into the middle of modern day Times Square. S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury, played by Samuel L. Jackson, informs Steve that he'd been asleep for almost seventy years. Steve, realizing that many of his friends are gone now, walks off into a world he doesn't yet know.
This movie is an improvement over the previous three MCU movies, but still not quite as good as the first Iron Man. Chris Evans is great as Steve, Hayley Atwell is terrific as Peggy, and the rest of the cast is great as well. Unfortunately, much like Thor, this movie only really exists to introduce Captain America before his appearance in The Avengers. On top of that, the Tesseract, seen briefly in the post-credits scene in Thor, is properly introduced in this movie so that casual viewers will recognize it when they see it reappear in The Avengers. I did enjoy the World War II setting, however, as it really expands on how far across time the MCU is spread out. I'm going to give Captain America: The First Avenger a rating of 4/5. This is Chuck signing off. Join me on Friday for the final review of Marvel May: The Avengers.
We open with a dig team in Canada, where the wreck of a World War II-era aircraft is found in the ice, with a man inside, holding a shield colored red, white, and blue with a giant star in the middle. Flashing back to World War II, we see a village under attack by German forces working as members of HYDRA, the Nazi rogue science division led by Johann Schmidt aka the Red Skull, played by Hugo Weaving. Schmidt ultimately finds what he's looking for: a relic known as the Tesseract, which is a blue cube of infinite power. Despite warnings from a villager, Schmidt takes the cube regardless, planning to use it to power advanced weapons. In the United States, we meet Steve Rogers, played by Chris Evans, who is a very frail, sickly man who wants to fight in the war. Unfortunately, Steve's various ailments prevent him from enlisting in the Army, leaving him unable to fight for his country. Meanwhile, Steve's best friend Bucky Barnes, played by Sebastian Stan, is getting ready for deployment overseas, and the two friends hang out, with a couple of girls in tow, at a major technology expo. It is here that we see Howard Stark, played by Dominic Cooper, showing off his flying car invention, which ultimately doesn't work very well. Steve, meanwhile, goes to enlist at a recruiting center, despite warnings from Bucky against it. It is here that Steve meets defected German scientist Dr. Abraham Erskine, played by Stanley Tucci, who offers him a chance to serve in the Army and grants him approval for enlistment.
Meanwhile, Schmidt works with Swiss scientist Arnim Zola, played by Toby Jones, who tests the power level of the Tesseract, and successfully transfers its power to his designs for weapons and other tech, all of which could turn the tide in the war in Germany's favor. However, Schmidt sees a future with HYDRA separate from Germany and Hitler. Meanwhile, Steve is trained under the watch of Col. Chester Phillips. played by Tommy Lee Jones, and Strategic Scientific Reserve agent Peggy Carter, played by Hayley Atwell. Despite unfavorable comparisons to his fellow soldiers, Erskine still plans to use Steve as the one to be subjected to his super soldier formula, which he used previously on Schmidt. Unfortunately, Schmidt's ambition and malice had an adverse effect on the super soldier serum, leading him to having his signature facial features that resembled a red skull, hence his nickname Red Skull. The day of the procedure arrives, and Steve is injected with the serum, and exposed to vita-rays. The procedure is successful, and Steve goes from being a frail weakling to a super-buff beefcake. Unfortunately, an undercover agent of HYDRA kills Erskine and takes the last vial of the serum. Steve chases him through the streets of New York, and eventually catches him, only for the spy to use a cyanide capsule in his tooth to commit suicide, and with his dying words exclaims "Hail HYDRA!" Col. Phillips, Peggy, and Howard head to the front line to take the fight to HYDRA, leaving Steve behind. However, a US Senator named Brandt, played by Michael Brandon, offers him an opportunity to serve his country another way.
Steve, under the name of Captain America, goes across the country selling bail bonds, which help finance the war effort. Steve also is featured in propaganda films, comics, and essentially becomes a marketing tool for the American war effort. At the front, however, the soldiers don't take Steve seriously. Sometime after a horrible appearance for the troops, Steve learns that the regiment that Bucky was part of had several men being held prisoner by HYDRA. With help from Peggy and Howard, Steve defies orders from Col. Phillips and mounts a mission to rescue the troops behind enemy lines. Steve frees the soldiers, including Jim Morita and Dum Dum Dugan, the latter of whom is played by Neal McDonough. Steve then rescues Bucky, and come face-to-face with Schmidt. Upon returning to the American base, the troops rejoice in the rescue of their fellow soldiers, and give a rousing cheer of approval for Steve. Col. Phillips later gives Steve the go-ahead to assemble a team, known as the Howling Commandos, to attack HYDRA bases directly, turning the tide against Schmidt and HYDRA. On a mission that sees the capture of Zola, Bucky unfortunately falls to his apparent death.
Under interrogation from Phillips, Zola reveals the location of Schmidt's base, and Steve makes his way into the base, clearing the way for Phillips, Peggy, and the Howling Commandos. Steve follows Schmidt onto a large airplane, where bombs are set to be dropped on major cities around the world. Steve stops one of them, and fights Schmidt and his men. During their fight, Schmidt picks up the Tesseract, which dissolves him and sends him far across the cosmos. Steve, unable to stop the plane, forces it to a crash landing, landing into the ice, leaving him to be missing in action. Howard, while searching for Steve, finds and takes the Tesseract. In the present time, we see Steve in a recreation of a World War II era hospital room, only to realize that he's not in his own time, due to a baseball game being played on the radio being one he attended personally. Steve breaks out and runs smack into the middle of modern day Times Square. S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury, played by Samuel L. Jackson, informs Steve that he'd been asleep for almost seventy years. Steve, realizing that many of his friends are gone now, walks off into a world he doesn't yet know.
This movie is an improvement over the previous three MCU movies, but still not quite as good as the first Iron Man. Chris Evans is great as Steve, Hayley Atwell is terrific as Peggy, and the rest of the cast is great as well. Unfortunately, much like Thor, this movie only really exists to introduce Captain America before his appearance in The Avengers. On top of that, the Tesseract, seen briefly in the post-credits scene in Thor, is properly introduced in this movie so that casual viewers will recognize it when they see it reappear in The Avengers. I did enjoy the World War II setting, however, as it really expands on how far across time the MCU is spread out. I'm going to give Captain America: The First Avenger a rating of 4/5. This is Chuck signing off. Join me on Friday for the final review of Marvel May: The Avengers.
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