With The Avengers looming and audiences as accepting as they’ll ever be, Marvel saves the most questionable iconic hero for last, yet succeed with a wonderful sense of self awareness.

Next to Thor, Captain America is another Marvel hero I have trouble with… I mean we are talking about a superhero who’s defining feature is the Stars and Stripes, yet this origin story plays out with a remarkable sense of honesty, and paints this potentially aloof character as the most likeable hero in Marvel’s catalogue.
Steve Rogers is a man determined to enter the US army during World War 2, despite a list of physical ailments that make him unsuitable, but when a scientist chooses him for an experimental enhancement, his future radically changes.
The film has a nice retro-science fiction feel about it, throw in the character of Howard Stark, the genius inventor, and Marvel’s universe comes crashing together nicely. One of my favourite actors Tommy Lee Jones is a hard-as-nails military officer, while Hugo Weaving proves maliciously capable as The Red Skull. As with Thor, the writing here is charming and instantly appealing.
My only gripe with the film is some rather dodgy looking composite shots, especially in some action scenes; it made the scenes appear obviously layered and cheaply constructed. Whether it was on purpose (perhaps for the cheesy montages) or not I am unsure, but it may not age well.

Overall it is a great comic book action movie, as solid as all of these Marvel pictures are turning out to be! Now we have run out of heroes to introduce… we await for the payoff.

Additional Marshmallows: Did you know the director was responsible for Jumanji, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Jurassic Park 3 and Rocketeer?

Actually… there was a really strong Rocketeer vibe going on here!