CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER (2011) MOVIE NEWS & REVIEW

captain america: the first avenger (2011) movie

Genre              |   Science Fiction

Classification   |   M

Running time   |   124 minutes

Released         |   22 July 2011 

cast

Chris Evans ... Captain America / Steve Rogers
Hayley Atwell ... Peggy Carter
Sebastian Stan ... James Buchanan 'Bucky' Barnes
Tommy Lee Jones ... Colonel Chester Phillips
Hugo Weaving ... Johann Schmidt / Red Skull
Dominic Cooper ... Howard Stark
Richard Armitage ... Heinz Kruger
Stanley Tucci ... Dr. Abraham Erskine
Samuel L. Jackson ... Nick Fury
Toby Jones ... Dr. Arnim Zola
​Neal McDonough ... Timothy 'Dum Dum' Dugan

director

​Joe Johnston

writer

​Christopher Markus ... (screenplay) &
Stephen McFeely ... (screenplay)
 
Joe Simon ... (comic books) and
Jack Kirby ... (comic books)

cinematographer

​Shelly Johnson ... director of photography

music

​Alan Silvestri

film editor

​Robert Dalva
Jeffrey Ford

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box office result

Worldwide             $​​​​​​​​​​​370,569,774

Australia                 $​​​​​​11,108,979

North America       $​​176,654,505

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movie minutiae

After Joss Whedon was hired to direct THE AVENGERS (2012), he was given a copy of this movie's script, and made a few re-writes to tie it more closely to the Marvel Cinematic Universe: "I just got to make some character connections. The structure of the thing was really tight and I loved it, but there were a couple of opportunities to find his voice a little bit, and some of the other characters, and make the connections, so that you understood exactly why he wanted to be who he wanted to be, and progressing through the script to flesh it out a little bit."

The final Paramount Pictures film produced with Marvel Studios. Disney bought the rights to THE AVENGERS (2012) and IRON MAN 3 (2013).

Although Captain America was the last of the core members of the Avengers to get his own stand-alone film and subsequent franchise, his series established many narrative elements and behind-the-scenes talent that would later spill over into the Avengers films. This films marks the first appearance of the Tesseract, later established to be the Space Stone. CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER (2014) introduces Sam Wilson and Pietro and Wanda Maximoff, while the dissolution of Shield carries over into AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON (2015). CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR (2016) introduces Spider-Man and Black Panther and includes all of the then-current Avengers except for Thor and Hulk. The dissolution of the Avengers then carries over into AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR (2018). Writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely went on to write THOR: THE DARK WORLD (2013) (which introduced the Reality Stone), CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER (2014), CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER (2016), AVENGERS: INFNITY WAR (2018), and AVENGERS: ENDGAME (2019). The last four were also all directed by Joe Russo and Anthony Russo.

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related movies

CAPTAIN AMERCIA: THE WINTER SOLDIER (2014)

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER (2011) MOVIE IMAGES

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CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER (2011) STORY SYNOPSIS

​During World War II, Steve Rogers decides to volunteer in an experiment that transforms his weak body. He must now battle a secret Nazi organisation headed by Johann Schmidt to defend his nation.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER (2011) MOVIE REVIEW

Reviewed by Mark Geraghty   |   Review date 22 July 2015

​​Pop Movee Rating

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER is a lot of fun; there's no denying it. When Marvel got serious about turning its comic book properties into feature films, CAPTAIN AMERICA was near the top of the list, right after IRON MAN and THOR.

With the unexpected success of IRON MAN (2008) and the stellar box office returns of its sequel, Marvel, under Disney ownership, got very serious very quickly about establishing a revolving lineup of superheroes that could grace the silver screen every year.

CAPTAIN AMERICA, the third film under the stewardship of Kevin Fiege as the head honcho of Marvel film production, set about using experienced talent in front of and behind the camera to deliver THE FIRST AVENGER to the big screen.

Overseeing proceedings was Joe Johnston, a veteran of the industry whose career had started with George Lucas at Industrial Light and Magic back in the 1970s and the STAR WARS revolution. Johnston had made his way into feature films and had delivered hits like HONEY, I SHRUNK THE KIDS (1989), JUMANJI (1995) and JURASSIC PARK III (2001).

Johnston was a relatively safe pair of hands for CAPTAIN AMERICA but wasn't a top-tier Director or auteur who was going to work against the larger Marvel Studios agenda. Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely were given the writing assignment and were well versed in the fantasy genre, having written the three CHRONICLES OF NARNIA movies; although tackling one of Marvel Comics more revered characters was no easy task given the complex mythology being planned behind-the-scenes at the fledgling studio.

In front of the camera, the decision was made to cast Chris Evans as the titular character. Evans was no stranger to comic book inspired films, having played Johnny Storm in the two mid-2000s FANTASTIC 4 movies. Evans fit the part perfectly, with his imposing physique and All-American good looks.

Other cast members included Tommy Lee Jones as Colonel Chester Phillips and Hugo Weaving as the villainous Johann Schmidt. Relative newcomer Hayley Atwell was cast as Peggy Carter, Dominic Cooper as Howard Stark and Sebastian Stan in the pivotal role (in terms of the developing comic book mythology) as ‘Bucky’ Barnes. Stanley Tucci also pops up early in proceedings as Dr. Abraham Erskine, the man who helps transform Steve Rogers from a weakling into a Super Soldier.

As far as the film goes, it’s a very straight-forward action adventure.

Act One is dedicated to the origin of Captain America, highlighting Steve’s various efforts to enlist in the U.S. Army during the Second World War to be with his friend ‘Bucky’. Upon failing yet another medical examination, Dr. Erskine intervenes and offers Rogers the chance that he dreams of. Rogers undergoes the dangerous experiment that will transform him into CAPTAIN AMERICA and almost immediately launches into action when a Hydra spy interrupts the celebration of Erskine’s work.

Act Two places the CAPTAIN on the sidelines, stuck promoting War Bonds to theatres full of applauding American citizens around the country. The tide turns for the Captain when is sent to Germany to perform for the troops. At first, the troops heckle him off the stage, but when a team of soldiers that include ‘Bucky’ are captured by Hydra forces, Agent Carter and Howard Stark help him to drop behind enemy lines to stage a daring rescue mission. Colonel Phillips is about to throw the book at Carter but receives a reprieve just as Rogers returns with hundreds of American soldiers who had been imprisoned by the Hydra forces working for the Germans.

CAPTAIN AMERICA operates as a perfectly good action film and the majority of that genre’s fans will be satisfied with what Joe Johnston deliver. One story element that is of interest beyond the film’s action beats is the idea that Hydra came into being as an extension of Adolf Hitler’s plan for Nazi Germany to rule the world. This is a different origin story to the Marvel Comics, but it’s a clever because it provides the motivation for Captain America to become both a hero and a leader of men. (As later Marvel films would reveal, Captain America is the spiritual and tactical leader of  the Avengers; providing the moral compass for right and wrong based upon his wartime experiences in the fight against Hydra.) The manner in which screenwriters Markus and McFeely weave Hydra into the story opens the door for an exciting finale for THE FIRST AVENGER, as well as countless story opportunities for later films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Performance is not the strong point of CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER.

Chris Evans gets a pass mark as Rogers, but it never feels like he’s really nailing the part. What gets him over the line is his preparedness to throw himself into the physical part of the role; throwing, ducking, punching, weaving, kicking and tumble-rolling his way through all manner of physical threats.

Hugo Weaving, a great actor in most people’s book, gets to do all the scenery-chewing as Johann Schmidt, providing one of the more memorable Marvel movie villains in an area where subsequent films have lacked as strong an antagonist - with the exception of Tom Hiddleston’s Loki.

​Hayley Atwell and Tommy Lee Jones play off each other nicely, with the latter doing his “Gruff” Tommy routine for most of the film but keeping it nuanced enough as to overpower Atwell’s heart-on-her-sleeve approach in relation to her feelings for Rogers. Toby Jones as Schmidt’s scientific side-kick Arnim Zola brings some depth to a small role and does a good job of displaying his conflicted emotions between the cause he believes in and Schmidt’s destroy-at-all-cost megalomania.

​The different parts of CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER don’t quite add up to create a compelling whole that is greater than the sum of those parts. There is nothing new in terms of execution that sets the film apart from any other comic book blockbuster.

In the wake of IRON MAN and THOR (which debuted only two months before this film), CAPTAIN AMERICA doesn't quite measure up the pace of either of those films; both of which redefined what a Marvel character movie should be. The film’s 1940s timeframe is a key inhibitor. IRON MAN and THOR both used contemporary settings for the bulk of their action, so character’s behaviour in both more-or-less reflect modern western society and provide the viewer with familiarity in spite of the "fantastic" props and settings.

As a period piece, CAPTAIN AMERICA is required to make its characters reflect how people acted in the 1940s during the Second World War, including their social and cultural mores. Key players deliver stilted performances that don’t quite capture the spirit intended by the writers. That said, the plot provides for an entertaining romp that operates as a self-contained story and also establishes the framework for what is to come in later Marvel movies.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER (2011) USEFUL LINKS

Captain America: The First Avenger - Wikipedia
​Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) - IMDb
​Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) - Rotten Tomatoes​

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