Friend Movie Review: Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

Because I am a geek I've been reading MCU articles lately. One of these articles was a chronological MCU watching order that included all the television, Netflix, and One-Shots. The first movie on their list was Captain America. Made me wonder the merits of watching the movies in order of release vs the timeline. We have opted to go follow the original release dates. Which do you think is better? Leave a comment below or tell me on facebook.

This is the only Captain America movie we are watching in this series marathon. We watched the other two back in February...I wonder if that is still close enough to attempt a review. We will see.

The Good:
Susi: There were a lot of great one liners; laughter always makes for an enjoyable movie. It is acted well. I also like the character of the Captain. He was good before he had powers. It is seeing his humanity that makes him a great hero.
Stuart: I like the Captain. He's enjoyable to watch.
Brendan: There is the right amount of serious and funny. It might be set in World War II but it isn't a war drama or attempt the grit of  Saving Private Ryan. It has this found away to use the setting without mocking either. I also like the Captain's motivation, with the death of Dr. Abraham Erskine and losing Bucky he could have been set on a vengeance quest. I am glad that isn't what they did.
Me: I love this movie. I love Cap. I love his origin story. I love Peggy Carter. I really love Peggy Carter, her style, her wit, her...everything. She is high on my want to cosplay list. I love that the villain is Hugo Weaving. It is also just a charming, bitter sweet story. There are is a richness and goodness to the character of Rogers that I want in a superhero. It makes me want to watch more.

The Less Than Good:
Susi: Rogers went against a direct order and nothing happen. There was no penalty; he wasn't court marshaled. I get that such punishments would have stopped the plot but it wasn't believable.
Stuart: The technology to harness the Tesseract and make super weapons seemed unrealistic. It was too advanced to be unbelievable.
Brendan: The CGI wasn't great and the unhistorical weapons were problematic.
Me: There were moments the CGI took me out of the moment this time around. And the escape from the compound Bucky was being held in seemed over the top ridiculous.

This Time Around:
Brendan: Second favourite movie in Phase One
Me: I still love this movie. I am not sure which is my top Phase One movie but Captain America is in the running.

Favourite Scene:
Susi: The scene when Peggy is annoyed with Steve Rogers, because he had made some assumptions about her and Stark. Rogers asks Peggy what she thinks of the new shield. She unloads a gun at the shield and says, "Yes. I think it works."
Stuart: During boot camp, the recruits are half way through a long run and are given the chance to climb the flag pole to get a ride back to camp. Everyone tries and fails, Rogers is still running to catch up. The drill sergeant then yells for them to get moving and informs the group no one has ever retrieved the flag. At this time Rogers removes the pins holding up the pole, grabs the flag, and earns the ride back to camp.
Brendan: To prove Rogers isn't qualified for the program he throws a training grenade into the recruits and yells "GRENADE!" Everyone runs except Rogers who jumps on the grenade.
Me: I also choose the grenade scene. I just realized this is perfect foreshadowing to the self-sacrifice Rogers makes at the end of the movie.

Favourite Line:
Susi: "If you have something to say, right now's a perfect time to keep it to yourself." -Col. Chester Phillips (Tommy Lee Jones)
Stuart: I'm here to turn myself in
Brendan: "Give that boy a sandwich" -a spectator before Rogers under goes the procedure
Me: "Go get him. I can swim" -the boy at the docks

Rating:
Susi: 4.5 snappy comebacks out of 5
Stuart: 4 shields out of 5
Brendan: 4 hydra heads out of 5
Me: 4.2 Howling Commanders out of 5
Rotten Tomatoes: 79% (Or 3.5 tomatoes out of 5)

Fun Facts:
The Captain America comic book shown in the movies bears the cover of the actual Captain America #1 released in 1941.

 And this one just makes me sad: Originally cameo appearances were planned in the film for James "Logan" Howlett (Wolverine) and Erik Lehnsherr (Magneto), who were present during World War II (Logan was a soldier and Lehnsherr was in an internment camp). These cameos were scrapped due to rights issues. Facts were found on the IMDb trivia page.