Rating: 4/5
As anyone who reads my reviews hopefully knows, I know a lot about comic books and superheroes and the like. I'm not as into them as I was about a year ago, but I still appreciate a good fun superhero flick. The last such movie was Green Lantern, which despite the inconsistencies and silliness of the plot and script, had a sense of humor about itself and was a fun ride. Luckily, Captain America doesn't make X-Men's mistake and is similarly enjoyable.
Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) is a ninety pound weakling from Brooklyn who just wants to join the army. His best buddy Bucky (Sebastian Stan) is serving in Steve's dream unit, but Steve just can't make the cut. One day, Steve gets his chance when he participates in a secret experiment and becomes Captain America. With enhanced strength, durability and agility, Steve must now fight Hitler's secret science division HYDRA, and its evil leader, Red Skull (Hugo Weaving).
Captain America has an important advantage over Green Lantern in that the acting is much better. Chris Evans does a surprisingly great job as Cap, and the supporting cast, particularly Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter and Dominic Cooper as Iron Man's dad, is really awesome. The action is also not as low-scale as Thor, which shows that director Joe Johnston was a great choice for this material. The action scenes are big, loud, and awesome to look at, as is the much better CGI and costumes.
The script for Captain America is also very good, and it makes the ingenious decision of having the first half-hour or so be about Steve Rogers before his transformation. It gives necessary character development and shows that Peggy doesn't just like Cap for his bod, but for him. This is the first superhero movie I've sat through all year that actually makes the main character a hero. Captain America is selfless and noble, no matter what the situation. He is a true super-hero.
I liked Captain America because it was a good-old fashioned romp. It accepts the fact that the main character is a guy in a flag suit and uses that mythos to delve deep into the character. It isn't as amazing as the Dark Knight, but unlike X-Men: First Class, it isn't trying to be. Captain America also isn't a full-length trailer for the Avengers, which is awesome. I recommend it.
P.S. This time, do stay after the credits.
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