Civil War Countdown: Captain America: The First Avenger

So, we had Iron Man, The Hulk, Black Widow, Thor, and Hawkeye. Everything was slowly coming together for the Marvel passion project known as the Avengers. But there was still a crucial piece missing…that one final key that made the team a whole in the comments. Just one last man…and a shield.

Captain America was the golden boy of the Avengers, the one who always ended up leading the team on all the art and all that. He was crucial, and they saved him for last, taking the form in Captain America: The First Avenger, in another bold and very risky move. Was it a best for last story, or did Cap get the cold shoulder? Ehhh…

The movie obviously follows the life of Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), a very skinny and short American who desires to join the army and fight in World War II and stands up to those who don’t share his views. Though his best friend Bucky (Sebastian Stan), doesn’t think he should go forward with it, he still pushes forward, ending up enlisted in a new super soldier program, fueled by his new love for Sharon Carter (Hayley Atwell) one of the agents of the program.

He comes out buff and as strong as ever, giving him the physique to enlist in the army. However, at first, he’s put to the task to advertise for the war. Finding himself tired of it as he visits Europe to cheer up the soldiers on the front line, he finds out that Bucky’s been placed in prison by the Nazi-formed Hydra science division, headed by Johann Schmidt, aka, the Red Skull (Hugo Weaving). Rogers manages to free all the prisoners and break Bucky out, but not before facing off with Schmidt, who reveals himself to be a failed experiment of the super soldier program. Cap manages to escape, however, and his highly awarded for his actions.

He’s then enlisted in a special corps of men who slowly take down Hydra from the inside. Everything goes smoothly until one mission that involves Hydra’s main train, where Bucky seemingly falls to his death. Distraught and disheartened, Cap leads his men to take down the final Hydra base and Schmidt. They successfully infiltrate the base, leaving Red Skull to Cap, who both fight for a good while until Schmidt escapes on a weaponized plane heading for New York City. Cap manages to hop on the plane in the last second and kill Schmidt, leaving the control to himself. Realizing he has no other choice but to put the plane into the ocean, he does so, leaving him frozen in the arctic ice. He stays there for seventy years until a team from S.H.I.E.L.D. manages to thaw him out, and, finally, enlisting him in the Avengers team.

I’m going to be honest here. In my eyes, The First Avenger is one of the weaker movies in the cinematic universe, in fact, I’d go so far as to call it the weakest. It has such a one-note plot, and most of the action just bores me to death, to the point that both times I’ve watched this movie in my life, I found myself craving something else to do. It’s just such a weak, weak movie, even outside of the Marvel standings. In fact, the only good thing in my eyes is really in terms of the casting. They’re all great actors, they don’t deserve this type of treatment at all.

I know this is kind of a short review, but I honestly don’t have much to say about this movie. If there was ever one Marvel movie to skip, this is it, and that’s why I’m giving it 2.5 out of 5 stars, with the middle ground made up of its fantastic casting choices. At least we’re out of exposition flicks and now we can get onto the real MEAT of the MCU…

Time to assemble.