The Film

“Wars are fought with weapons, but they are won by men.” No statement is truer than in Captain America: The First Avenger. The fifth comic book adaptation from Marvel Studios tells the story of Steve Rogers, an unlikely hero from Brooklyn who, after being selected for the “Super Soldier” program, becomes the iconic “Captain America” and leads the fight against the “Red Skull” and HYDRA, a Nazi Research & Development organization, during World War II.

The film stars Chris Evans (Fantastic Four, The Losers), who delivers a shockingly magnificent performance as Steve Rogers. His portrayal of the character who starts out a small, feeble man with a heart of gold and transforms into an symbol of strength, courage, and perseverance shows that Evans has done his homework on the character and understands on a personal level who he is, and more importantly, who he inspires to be. The film also stars Hugo Weaving (The Matrix, V for Vendetta) as the villainous Johann Schmidt aka Red Skull. And though he does a good job in portraying such a formidable antagonist, his performance left a little more to be desired from an actor of his caliber and reputation. The all-star supporting cast includes Tommy Lee Jones as Col. Chester Philips, Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter, Dominic Cooper as Howard Stark, Sebastian Stan as James “Bucky” Barnes, & Stanley Tucci as Dr. Abraham Erskine. All of whom, especially Tucci, deliver standout performances of their roles.

The film directed by Joe Johnston (October Sky, The Wolfman) is an excellent presentation of visual story telling and special effects. Everything from the creation of “Skinny Steve” and the Red Skull’s makeup, to the costumes, shield, and CGI are executed with such precision. The writing and dialogue are done equally well, thanks to the work of Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. And the music by Alan Silvestri is the “icing on the cake.”

The Blu-Ray

3D: The 3D looked fantastic on my 3D TV and is well worth the extra money if you’ve get a 3D TV at home.

Audio/Video: Both the audio and video quality are phenomenal.

Special Features include:

Commentary: By Joe Johnston, Shelly Johnson, & Jeff Ford, offers insight into the creative process of the film.

Featurettes: The making of the film, divided into several sections. Includes special first look at “The Avengers.”

Deleted Scenes: Or lack there of.

Marvel One Shot: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor’s Hammer: A HILARIOUS short film starring S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Coulson.

The Film Rating: Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

The Blu-Ray Rating: Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

From The Baltimore Sun:

“Though Weaving says that such big-budget fare as “Captain America” can be a lot of fun — not to mention lucrative — these movies don’t present the kind of acting challenges on which he thrives.

“I think I’ve about had enough,” he says.

“I’m not sure how many more of them I’ll make. It doesn’t feel to me as though they’ve been the majority of my work, though that’s probably the way it seems to most other people.”

Would Marvel re-cast or would a big pay check be an easy, temporary fix?

Surely, just because a guy wears a star-spangled suit doesn’t just make this a piece of Americana. The film earns it. While Steve Rodgers is a sickly young man, his heart is rooted in ideally what makes America great, and a sad reminder of what’s been lost: respect. Rodgers might not have had the muscles, the stamina, the knowledge of what makes a solider, he however carries the better part of an American soldier. His undying love for good, justice, and Democracy, now in our eyes, looks like a nostalgic value, but it was the bedrock of The Greatest Generation.

There’s a sequence in the film, made up of a montage of Captain America given war bond speeches, playing the hero in movie serials, his face plastered on comics, that is a wonderful sequence of the marketing of America during WWII, that while reeks of cheese then and now, is key bit of long lost American Pride. During WWII, actors were either in service, selling war bonds, or even partook in propagandist films, which rallied our spirits during the war effort. This sequence is a wonderful ode to the actual creation of the Captain America character in the 1940s from Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, as seen in the kids holding March 1941′s Captain America Comics #1. Even a montage of Cap’t punching Hitler, is a great nod to the fun WWII themed covers of his comics.

Maybe kids today just don’t understand that time. Captain America: The First Avenger serves as a reason why we should. Given the best script director Joe Johnston (The Rocketeer, Jurassic Park III) has received, he paints each sequence as a loving snapshot of American heroics, which honors the movies, the comics, and our fantasies of our grandpas in WWII. It’s picturesque, with some nice nods to Return of the Jedi. Hugo Weaving dominates as The Red Skull, a mad hate-monger, far worse than Hitler. His arc is a mirror for what we fought against in WWII, while being a yang to Captain America’s ying. Chris Evans captures that gee-golly attitude we commonly associate the late 1940s with.

Action-packed, humorous, it’s a heartfelt ode to comic book movies when they were just comic book movies, devoid of the ultra-seriousness. But there’s a maturity here too. If anything, Red Skull/Captain America’s climatic fight felt short-changed, as if it’s a quick set-up to The Avengers, with a sly nod to Thor. The film’s pitch-perfect though; a comic book version of Back to Bataan (1945), an Americana piece of big budget film-making, that focuses on heart than action set pieces. We just want more WWII/Captain America action in further sequels, but maybe his do-good attitude mixed with pure patriotism is what our country needs now more than ever – today.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

“There are so many different stories and differing images of Red Skull out there, I just wasn’t sure where to go—do I dive into the comics, or work from the script? I felt that the best thing I could do would be to work off the particular version of Red Skull in the script, as Marvel developed this particular story line for him. No matter how long the character has been around or how many appearances he has made in comics or in pop culture, the only thing that is pertinent for me as an actor is to try and understand what the character is and what he’s trying to achieve. And that is all on the pages of the script.”

“I knew nothing about the Captain America stories, and I have a very limited knowledge of super heroes in general. It’s been an education for me to become part of this world. Johann Schmidt is a German officer who has an interest in a power beyond an Earthly power and, as far as villains go, I think that makes him all the more interesting.”

They haven’t shown much of his performance in the trailers, so it’s going be one of the film’s surprises when it opens July 22nd.

Source: CBM

In the novel, Elrond shelters Bilbo Baggins (Marin Freeman) and the Dwarfs while on their journey to the Lonely Mountain. It would seem difficult for Jackson not to include that scene in the film as that’s how two characters become friends.

Update: Stuff is reporting that Weaving is apparently going to return in the prequel as Elrond, but it may be wise to wait for an official announcement.

Bad-ass!

Captain America: The First Avenger opens on July 22.

No word yet if Hugo Weaving is voicing the character again, but we can assume he will return.

Here’s the long awaited first footage from Marvel’s Captain America: The First Avenger, coming from director Joe Johnston, on July 22nd, 2011.

Source: Yahoo! Movies

Captain America: The First Avenger opens on July 22.

There has been early talk about this change from the beginning, but the executives were “pleasant surprised” the change was needed. It’s not rare for films to change their titles when released in different countries, and has been done since the 1950s with many foreign films. Although, die-hard Marvel fans may not like this change, but it sure didn’t hurt when Christopher Nolan didn’t include “Batman” in the title of The Dark Knight.

It’s uncertain just how truthful this is, but even so, it could be seen as a blessing in disguise. Many are skeptical about the film with casting of Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America, and Joe Johnston’s previous film, The Wolfman (2010) was panned by many. And the last thing anyone wants to see is a bad trailer. However, this has yet to be confirmed just yet, so take it with a grain of salt.

Captain America: The First Avenger opens on July 22, 2011.

Source: Daily Blam

Captain America: The First Avenger opens on July 22, 2011.

Johnston spoke with Comic Book Movies that there will be references to Thor, but only the fans may be able to notice. “There are links between all the MARVEL films, mostly ones that only the fans will pick up on,” Johnston said. The reference in the film will be subtle, but with Captain America set in the 1940s allowed for only a few. “We have several subtle references to certain elements in THOR, but since CAPTAIN AMERICA is a period picture taking place in the 40′s, there are fewer opportunities for contemporary links to the rest of the MARVEL universe,” he added.

There were already a couple references to Captain America in Jon Favreau’s Iron Man, and Louis Leterrier’s The Incredible Hulk. Joss Whedon recently enplaned his contributions to the film’s script (here), which may have included these references. Captain America will star Chris Evans as the title character, with Hugo Weaving playing the villainous Red Skull.

Captain America: The First Avenger will be released on July 22, 2011.

“Based on the books by Kathryn Lasky, the film follows Soren, a young owl enthralled by his father’s epic stories of the Guardians of Ga’Hoole, a mythic band of winged warriors who had fought a great battle to save all of owlkind from the evil Pure Ones. While Soren dreams of someday joining his heroes, his older brother, Kludd, scoffs at the notion, and yearns to hunt, fly and steal his father’s favor from his younger sibling. But Kludd’s jealousy has terrible consequences–causing both owlets to fall from their treetop home and right into the talons of the Pure Ones. Now it is up to Soren to make a daring escape with the help of other brave young owls. Together they soar across the sea and through the mist to find the Great Tree, home of the legendary Guardians of Ga’Hoole–Soren’s only hope of defeating the Pure Ones and saving the owl kingdoms.”

Legends of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole will open on September 24, 2010.