Billed as the story of “the first Avenger,” Captain America almost serves as a prequel to films such as The Incredible Hulk and Ironman. The storyline here predates what happens in those movies, and the film version, which was originally conceived back in 1997, is a period piece of sorts that centers on the early life of Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), a Brooklyn kid who wants to go to war to fight the Nazis but can’t get accepted into the military on account of his poor health and diminutive stature. He gets a break, however, when he meets Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci), a German defector who heads up a pilot program designed to produce super soldiers. Steve volunteers to be the guinea pig and after getting inoculated with Erskine’s special serum, he puts on the muscle and becomes a fighting machine. At first, he’s designate to the sidelines and takes on the Captain America persona to recruit new soldiers. But once he performs a daring rescue mission, he becomes the military’s go-to-guy as it tries to take down Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving), a mad scientist who has aspirations to destroy the United States. There’s a lot of exposition in this movie and once Captain America finally has his showdown with Schmidt, it’s all rather anticlimactic. While the film certainly captures the look of the era and is a refreshing departure from all the special effects flicks we’ve seen this summer, it doesn’t establish Captain America as a compelling character. The guy lacks Iron Man’s humor or Thor’s physique. Perhaps that’s supposed to be part of his charm, but even the romance between Steve and Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) doesn’t resonate.
-Jeff Niesel