Contributed By Ng Jia Qi
I’ve never been a fan of Captain America, so admittedly, I went into the cinema with a bit of apprehension. I always thought he was a little bland, too goody-two-shoes for my taste, so I reckoned I’d probably be bored midway through the show. Boy, was I mistaken: this movie, directed by Joe Johnston (Wolfman, Jumanji) definitely psyched me up for next year’s highly anticipated The Avengers
Faithful to the original comic book tale, the movie is set during World War II. It delves into the back story of Captain America a.k.a Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), who goes from a sickly, scrawny army reject to a super soldier through a top secret government experiment.
Evans—who proves he can do more than play the irascible Human Torch in this turn as sensitive action hero—is backed by a strong cast including Stanley Tucci as the genius scientist Dr. Abraham Erskine who has created the serum responsible for Rogers’ transformation, Hugo Weaving as the evil Johann Schmidt and Tommy Lee Jones as Rogers’ gruff, tough-love officer Colonel Chester Phillips. But it’s the little-known Hayley Atwell, who stars as the romantic interest Peggy Carter, who steals the show.
The movie is enjoyable, giving a clear introduction to Captain America’s origins and how he became part of the Avengers 70 years later. However, the tried-and-tested theme of good versus evil could have been delivered with more imagination, and the characters would have benefited from being a little more complex. Nevertheless, Captain America: The First Avenger is well-paced, with some good laughs thrown in. There are lots of insider references that Ironman/Men In Black fans will get a kick out of.
And as with all Marvel films, stay on for the post-credit scenes.
