Captain America: Blu Ray Review
Captain America - The First Avenger
Rating: M
Released by Universal Home Ent
So, another film from the Marvel juggernaut heads our way ahead
of the release of the super powered The Avengers next year.
This time, it's the turn of Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) aka Captain
America to take the centre stage ahead of the launch of the
franchise.
Rogers is a weedy, asthmatic runt of a man whose quest to sign up
for the American army and take on the Nazis is continually turned
down because of his imperfect physique.
Overhearing one of his pleas to join up, Rogers is co-opted by Dr
Abraham Erskine (a brilliant character turn from Tucci) into a
platoon run by Tommy Lee Jones' Colonel Chester Phillips which is
aimed at creating a super soldier to win the war.
However, at the same time, Nazi Germany is gearing up for takeover
with the help of the Red Skull (Hugo Weaving) who's using
technology from Odin's world and the might of his underground
organisation HYDRA to push the weapons as far as they can go...and
take over the world.
Well, let's get the good out of the way - Chris Evans is very good
as the all American pie hero Rogers/ Cap America; he brings a real
extra dimension to what is essentially only a one dimensional
character. Rogers' whole mantra is "I don't like bullies - I don't
care where they're from" and it doesn't really make for an in depth
character to root for. Plus the Captain could do with a dash of
something to prick his pomposity, be it self deprecation or a bit
of sly humour.
Credit has to go to the digital team who've done a great job of
digitally shrinking Evans down into his weedier version
pre-transformation - the work is seamless, visually impressive and
ranks as one of the best effects committed to celluloid thus far
this year.
The whole Captain America affair is a kind of Boys' Own derring do,
Saturday matinee piece of patriotic fluff. As a set up piece and
origin story, it's slight and feels inconsequential to the likes of
Thor, Iron Man et al. It does score points though for a song and
dance routine...
There's nothing inherently wrong with this slightly cheesy,
cornball, slow mo action shots explosion fest but it does feel like
it's been shoehorned into release schedules to ensure everything's
in line for the Avengers. It's only credit to Chris Evans that the
film manages to work.
Extras: A very solid bunch here - featurettes, deleted scenes,
commentaries - well worth an extra rating
Rating: 7/10
