Captain America was easily the most challenging character from the Marvel Cinematic Universe to adapt to the film medium: just look at the ridiculous 1990 version to see how not to do it. The main issue confronting the 2011 movie was that Cap's old school, all-American appeal would likely not sit well with international audiences, who would probably find the whole idea of such a jingoistic superhero obnoxious and irritating. Credit to director Joe Johnston, then, for having an unexpected lightness of touch, and making of Captain America: The First Avenger a surprisingly self-aware, old-fashioned adventure movie which managed to perfectly resolve the character's perceived issues. What's key is that the film is a period film in the same vein as, say, an Indiana Jones movie, and that it makes light fun of Cap's wholesome image and use as a propaganda tool, rather than going the self-serious route. Chris Evans' spot-on portrayal of the character and an excellent supporting cast (namely Stanley Tucci, Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving, Toby Jones & Haley Atwell) helped to make this a breezy blast, and something completely different from what we'd seen in the MCU up to that point. Cap was a critical hit (79%), and made $370 million against a $140 million budget, though this was significantly less than the first outings from Iron Man ($585 million) and Thor ($449 million), if more than 2008's The Incredible Hulk ($263 million). Cap has since enjoyed considerable success in The Avengers, and been fully established as an A-lister with the mega-hit Captain America: The Winter Soldier (which has just crossed the $700 million mark worldwide), seemingly causing many to dismiss the first Captain America movie as a passable first time up to bat, when in fact, it's considerable better than that. It may not boast the thrills or political currency of the sequel, but the first Captain America smartly side-stepped its potential pit-falls and delivered an exhilaratingly old-school action flick that deserves far more credit than it gets.
Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes).
General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.
