Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

Dah, da-da-dah, da-da-dah, da-dAmerica! Yes, that’s right folks, I said… AMERICA!

Captain America is a bad idea. That’s to say that Captain America is a bad idea to anyone who isn’t American. Or rather, Captain America is a bad idea to anyone who isn’t the sort of American who has five national flags hanging from their house and recites the pledge of allegiance every day over breakfast.

To those of us who don’t fit into that category, the idea of an America-themed superhero, who shows the world that America is best by saving them from the evil Nazi supermen splinter-group Hydra, and who is dedicated to fighting for truth, justice and the American way (no, wait, that was the other chap… Super-something…?) is a little bit nauseating. But fear not, dear friends, because the stomach-turning American patriotism that was originally so key to this character is hardly visible here, indeed being slightly lampooned by the use of the Cap as a bond-selling propaganda tool.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that you already know what’s going to happen in this film. Whether it’s because you’ve read the comics, or seen the all-too-revealing trailer, or you know about next year’s multi-superhero orgy flick The Avengers… or whether it’s because the first scene telegraphs the ending almost completely… you know how it’s going to go. But even without all that, you would probably still be able to have a pretty decent stab at predicting the story, because it is as clichéd as they come; anybody who has seen an underdog-becomes-super comic book movie will feel like they’ve seen this before, and sadly all of the many good things about The First Avenger aren’t quite enough to overcome that.

The cast is good, with Chris Evans a particularly wise choice for the scrawny Steve Rogers – the special effects used to make the very non-scrawny Chris Evans so puny are subtle and brilliant – who is transformed into the first of a new breed of super soldier, Captain America. Hayley Atwell is suitably loin-stirring as the love interest, and Hugo Weaving is always a good choice for a scenery-chewing baddie.

The action is entertaining enough, although the focus on the supernatural elements rather than the war itself (the one part of the story that makes this unique) was disappointing, particularly as it feels like this was mainly done to accommodate The Avengers.

Overall, an entertaining film that I shall no doubt re-watch and enjoy again, partly because it is rather forgettable. But the most important part, and the part that will never be forgotten, is the propaganda song “Star-Spangled Man”, which you will most certainly be humming for weeks afterwards. Dah, da-da-dah, da-da-da… well, you get the drift.

  

***/*****