Avengers Assemble: Captain America

I would like to apologise for the lateness of this blog post. I have exams to revise for and I got a new job. I blame the Avengers for coming out in the middle of my exams. I shall post this, but you may have to wait for my Avengers Assemble review.

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The final avenger to be created for our viewing pleasure, but the first to assemble. Captain America: The First Avenger was released shortly after Thor in 2011.

Set during World War II, the film follows Steve Rogers transformation from a sickly man to super-soldier, Captain America. To aid the war effort Rogers must stop Adolf Hitler's head of weaponry, Red Skull and his attempts at world domination.

Unlike the other Avengers, Captain America is packed full with British stars. The first of which plays the strong and independent Peggy Carter. Hayley Atwell depicts the character having two sides; the caring woman and the strict British agent (to the surprise of the male characters). Dominic Cooper players super genius, Howard Star, the father of Tony Stark. They have very similar characteristics (cocky, big headed, rich and smart) and they actually look quite similar. Another British Star is Toby Jones who seems to pop up in lots of American films. The recent Hunger Games star, plays Dr. Amin Zola, Red Skull's kind-of sidekick. He doesn't seem very evil, but I personally get the feeling that without Red Skull he would have taken over the world.

Now onto the THE American. Captain America, Steve Rogers is played by Chris Evans. His character is very unlike the other avengers as he is shy, caring and quite. It seems like he doesn't believe what is happening to him and you want to give him a big hug. The only minor problem I have is that Chris Evan has already played a superhero (Human Torch in Fantastic Four) and I feel that there is a slight expectation that the two characters will be similar. But, as I said, only a minor problem. Finally the villain, Red Skull played by Hugo Weaving. There is no doubt that Red Skull is evil as he is the head of weaponry in Adolf Hitler's regime. I personally feel that the character is lacking something and I don't think he is evil enough.

There are both good and bad points in terms of the setting. I loved the fact it was set in Brooklyn during World War II because I love that era and city. I also liked the use of Flushing Meadows because it links nicely to Iron Man. The bad point was that Brooklyn didn't look very real. you could easily tell that it was CGI and it made it hard to focus on what was happening.

The narrative followed the similar superhero story. You see what Steve Rogers was like before and how he becomes Captain America. This part of the narrative I found really interesting because you could see why they needed him and what they do to him. To cut a long story short, Steve Rogers ends up fighting in the war where he meets Red Skull and has to defeat him. Out of all of the avengers film, I found this to be the most forgettable in terms of narrative. (Sorry Captain America fans)

As per usual there are links to the other films. The most obvious being Howard STARK as I mentioned earlier, but there are some more subtle links. When Red Skull grabs the cube, the world of Asgard appears in the air (I had to point this out to my brother on multiple occasions) and Nick Fury makes an appearance at the end.

Over all I did enjoy the film, but it didn't really stand out for me. I would happily sit down and watch it again and I will pay money to buy it, but I personally prefer Iron Man and Thor.