Tuesday 22 November 2011

Captain America: The First Avenger

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Year:2011
Country of origin:USA
Director:Joe Johnston
Genre:Avenging gathers pace
Starring:Chris Evans, Hayley Atwell, Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving
Rating:3/5
IMDB link:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0458339/
Tagline:Avenge
Favourite line:"I'm not gonna kiss you."

The build up to next year's Joss Whedon helmed Avengers movie gathers pace with this historically set comic book romp.

The plot:
As the USA is plunged into the hell of World War II one potential recruit, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) is turned away, told that he is a little too wimpy. As luck would have it, a German scientist in league with the Allies is working on a serum that will turn a test subject into a super-soldier and, through reasons too implausible to go into here, Rogers is selected for the programme.
Now injected, the once skinny body of Rogers - well, a normal man's body, really, just skinny in comparison to the goons that infest this type of movie - is transformed into a muscle-bound brick shithouse, with the power of swift regeneration and superhuman speed, otherwise known as Captain America.
So equipped, Rogers is set to work to take out the German black ops. unit known as Hydra, led by Hugo Weaving's delightfully maniacal Red Skull.
Will Captain America save the day?
Will Steve Rogers get the girl?
Will anyone outside of America be able to take this character seriously?
Yes, yes and no.

Whilst this is far from terrible, there are a few problems, not least the ultra-patriotic nature of the character which, to those of us who dwell on shores other than those that the eponymous character captain's comes across as vaguely ridiculous.
It's like if James Bond were called Johnny English.
No, hang on.....
Plotwise, this begins to drag as the action proceeds to the point that, ultimately, I just wanted the damned thing to end.
Additionally, lead character Chris Evans as Captain America has already played a lead role in a superhero movie, as The Human Torch in Fantastic Four. Now, call me a dunderheaded twatnick if you must but, as a result, this just seems like a bit of bad casting. Indeed, irrespective of his appearance as another superhero, I found his character to be utterly unlikeable, and was little surprised he used to get his head kicked in on a near nightly basis when he were but a wimp.
In summary, then, this is not a patch on Thor, is roughly as good as Green Lantern, but leaves Daredevil and Catwoman in the dust.

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