Captain America: The First Avenger

I’ve been a big fan of this project from the very start, so you can always take one star off, if you like, but just I can’t help myself. The Cap’n is exactly how I wanted him to be. Maybe it’s a little short, on the other hand it doesn’t lose any tempo anywhere. The intro with the puny young Steve is just great. Watching his futile attempts at joining the army and the training is even more entertaining that the elimination of Schmidt’s bases (the fantastic Hugo Weaving) thanks to the balanced doses of humor and selfless courage. Chris Evans did an excellent job with his portrayal of Rogers. Thanks to him, Captain America shakes off the image of parroting clown and turns into a convincing hero. But Peggy Hayley Atwell is equally important. Thanks to her, the romantic storyline is the strongest element of the movie. Neither the action, nor inventions, nor the demonic psychopath with the red face, but the sad ending dialog is what will get to you. I had a date. The lead-up to the Avengers is very obvious in this movie and it basically touches on all of the other worlds we have seen so far. Fundamental to this is the microworld of Thor and Iron Man, the Hulk is a side-effect from development of the serum. This excellent lead-up is topped off by the post-credits scene/trailer. (08/19/2011)

I wanted to believe in it after the good trailers and mostly positive feedback. But Joe Johnston and I once again don’t see eye to eye. I don't mind the poetics of Captain America as such, I understand the time period and why the comic was created, and how it got moving according to Hollywood rules is appropriate to all of that. Yet the whole thing is so perfectly staged, it has a lot of visual frills, and it overflows with insight that is delivered by precisely cast actors, until in the last third I stopped enjoying it just because of how perfectly it copies the classic template. It's not the failure that Green Lantern was, and the king of the naive comic book films this year was Thor (and the film made do with half the bombast!). (11/26/2011)

This stupid bullshit has better reviews than the brilliant Green Hornet? Poor taste rules the world :D… Captain America felt bland already from the trailers, so I didn’t bother going to the cinema – thanks God for that! It’s been long since an expensive Hollywood blockbuster made me suffer so much. I didn’t like the story, the visuals were very ugly; I really can’t find anything to praise. After the trailer for Avengers (that looks every bit as derivative as the Captain and the other origin stories), I’m now feeling almost certain that the Marvel Universe will not produce anything great. (10/24/2011)

He came last, but when things get worse, be sure that he will be standing at the front line. Steve Rogers stayed somewhat on the sidelines throughout the Avengers journey, but in the end, to my great surprise, it is precisely him who got under my skin the most. His loyalty, bravery, and naivety in the most positive sense, combined with his style of fighting, are simply unrivaled. When the dark Red Skull or the self-sufficient Agent Carter join, there is nothing left but to applaud. Marvel won this war, and I gained a hero who has been appearing on several t-shirts to me for almost a decade since the filmed origin. (08/13/2011)

Fun, full of exaggeration and featuring the excellent Tommy Lee Jones, but also straightforward and with disgusting Czech dubbing to boot. It also works mainly as a mere performance of the Captain, necessary for the Avengers, so the start in the first half is quite lengthy. The film feels a bit like a prologue. The excess of German weapons and equipment is immense. But it was worth waiting for The Avengers teaser. (07/22/2011)