Captain America: The First Avenger

In all my life there has never been a decent movie made of the iconic Marvel comic character Captain America. There have been multiple attempts and they've all been simply atrocious. They were either done in by really bad acting by two bit actors or ridiculously small budgets that doomed the production. I have to tell you that after seeing this incarnation I'm still not sure they got it right. This time around the budget was enormous for Captain America: The First Avenger. The special effects were very impressive and the acting was top notch thanks to one hell of a cast but maybe, just maybe no matter how much money you spend or who you get to act in it, maybe Captain America just doesn't make a good movie.

Now when I said the acting was top notch, I meant it. Chris Evans plays Steve Rogers aka Capt. America and while he's NEVER impressed me before with his acting (though he was decent in Sunshine) he was decent in this movie. The real star of the movie in my opinion was Hugo Weaving who plays Johann Schmidt aka Red Skull and leader of Hydra. Hugo goes all in portraying the Red Skull and does a fantastic job. He's menacing, violent, and just downright crazy and we all know Hugo can do that better than almost anyone. There's also Oscar award winner Tommy Lee Jones playing Colonel Chester Phillips and the chameleon like Stanley Tucci playing Dr. Abraham Erskine who is responsible for the super serum that takes scrawny Steve Rogers and turns him into a one man fighting machine.

The rest of the cast includes Haley Atwell, Derek Luke, Toby Jones, Sebastian Stan, Dominic Cooper playing Howard Stark, and Samuel L. Jackson reprising his role as Nick Fury yet again. Now the story (for those that have never read the comics) follows Steve trying to join the army so he can get sent overseas and fight Hitler and his Nazis but due to his asthma and his weighing ninety-nine pounds gets him rejected for duty with every attempt and the attempts are numerous. That is until Dr. Erskine snatches him up and pumps him full of the super serum. He's then sent around the country to help sell war bonds as well as overseas to entertain the troops as Captain America. It's not until he finds out his best childhood buddy Bucky Barnes is in trouble. Then there's no stopping Captain America from punching people out and throwing his "mighty shield".

It's slick, stylish, campy, over the top, and utterly ridiculous at times but director Joe Johnston who's last film was the amazingly weak Wolfman does his best to deliver and entertaining film and he does. It's very entertaining, it's just too bad it's hollow. There is absolutely nothing at its core emotionally when you get right down to it. The script written by four scribes takes care of that very early on in the film and after that moment in the movie where tragedy strikes a major character, the movie just falls flat. The music by the great Alan Silvestri does an adequate job but for the most part the music falls as flat as the movie which is surprising if you know Silvestri's work over the years.

Again maybe Captain America is that one Marvel hero that just doesn't transfer well to the screen like the X-Men or Thor no matter how hard someone tries. Maybe he's just better left on the pages of his comic but that's my opinion. Go see for yourself and let me know what you think and I'll see you at the theater.