By deciding to tackle Captain America's origin story, the filmmakers put themselves in a position to possibly fail by making a movie not set in modern day. When trying to tie the film into the Avengers franchise, this could have been a risky move. How do you handle characters introduced so far in the past when you meld the movies together to create the Avengers? How will Cap handle that change? What's going to happen?? Luckily, the people making Captain America were smart enough to just craft a wonderful standalone movie. Does it have the necessary Avengers tie-in? Of course, but it is done much better than the ones forced into Iron Man 2.
Captain America is allowed to grow before our eyes, with a focus on who he is and what he wants to achieve. Instead of worrying about shoe-horning in as many Avengers references as possible, the filmmakers take the time to tell a wonderful story about a man who just wants to fight for his country, who just wants to stand up for those that can't stand up for themselves. There is a great message to be found in Captain America, and Chris Evans does a marvelous job of embodying it. As with the other Marvel movies, he is surrounded by a great cast, especially Stanley Tucci, who is incapable of not being awesome. Tommy Lee Jones is also running around, being gruff, yet fair.
To balance out all the awesome that was the casting for the good guys, Hugo Weaving is the Red Skull. He is just a joy to watch. He is menacing and just plain evil. He is the perfect foil for Chris Evans' Captain America. I've made mention of the difficulty I have accepting the Hulk as a real creature when he shows up. I thought I would have that problem with the Red Skull's cartoony red head. Because our good friends handling the film utilized prosthetics and make-up with minimal CG tinkering, the Red Skull actually didn't bother me at all. I bought it. CG is wonderful when used to enhance basic effects. I can't imagine how the film would have been if they had decided to go full CG for Red Skull. I can only imagine it would have been unpleasant.
The effects throughout Captain America are wonderful. The effects used to make Chris Evans scrawny and the Red Skull creepy are so good that I couldn't always tell where the practical effects stopped and the CG began. That's the highest compliment I can pay special effects nowadays. I don't recall balking at any of the effects in Captain America.
One of my greatest criticisms of the previous Marvel films was directed at the handling of the female characters and potential love stories. I haven't really believed any of the previous love interests, even though I have accepted them. With Captain America, that changed. Chris Evans and Hayley Atwell have a charisma together that works. The story does a good job of showing the relationship grow. Unlike the relationship in Thor, which is incredibly sudden, the relationship in Captain America feels natural and real.
With the addition of Captain America to the Marvel movies, Iron Man has competition for the best Marvel film. Captain America gets it right. From the casting to the special effects, Captain America does it all right.
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