Captain America: The First Avenger is the fourth comic book-inspired movie to come out this summer, joining the ranks of the great (Thor, X-Men: First Class) and the not-so-great (Green Lantern). While Captain America ended up not being as good as I expected, it's still entertaining, and worth seeing in the theater.
Steve Rogers (Chris Evans, "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World") wants to do his part and help fight the war, but he has numerous health problems and is too skinny to join up. He tries to be recruited multiple times, but it never works, until Dr. Erskine (Stanley Tucci, "Burlesque") chooses Steve to be one of his science experiments, as he is on the quest to make American "supersoldiers" to fight the Nazis. The experiment works on Rogers, who immediately becomes more muscular, taller, faster, and powerful, but the serum is destroyed, and so he will be the only "supersoldier." When Steve finds out that his friend Bucky (Sebastian Stan, "Hot Tub Time Machine") and his unit have been captured by the Germans, he embarks on a mission to rescue them.
Chris Evans was pretty good in this role, and he will be back on the screen in The Avengers next year. Iron Man fans will get a kick out of seeing Howard Stark, Iron Man's father, in this film, as a science and aeronautics genius (played by Dominic Cooper, "The Devil's Double"). Tommy Lee Jones ("The Company Men") plays a funny role as an officer in the film, and Hugo Weaving ("Transformers: Dark of the Moon") is Schmidt, who later is revealed to be Red Skull, an enemy of America who wants his own "supersoldiers" to fight for Germany.
Maybe see this film. There is sort of a lull during the middle where I was a bit bored, but otherwise it's action-packed. The 3D was very good too, although it's not needed if you don't want to pay extra for it. There is supposedly a scene from The Avengers after the credits too, although unfortunately the people who saw it at the screenings missed out on this, as it will only be shown in the movie starting today (Friday). Captain America is definitely entertaining and most people will like it; when it comes to this summer's comic book movies, however, X-Men: First Class still reigns supreme.
Captain America: The First Avenger opens in theaters today, July 22, 2011.
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Liz Parker is a 2009 graduate of the University of Michigan. She currently works as an Assistant Medical Editor for a pathology website. Visit her at her movie blog Yes/No Films
