"Captain America: The First Avenger"

Okay, so... the Marvel universe movies have been doing the rounds. We've had the two Iron Man movies, Thor, and Incredible Hulk hit the screens under the direction of the Marvel Studios for a bit now, and now comic book fans everywhere have The Avengers to look forward to next year.

So that leaves one movie, right?

Let's get to today's movie then!

Captain America: The First Avenger

Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) is a small boy from Brooklyn who has attempted five times to enlist into the U.S. Army in World War 2. Every single time, he's been turned down due to extremely poor health. However, things greatly change when he is adopted into a top secret experiment in which an experimental serum is injected into his body that basically powers him into one of the most powerful men. And just in time too: it becomes apparent that there is more than just the Nazis that he will have to fight when Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving) defects from the Nazis and heads the organization HYDRA. So Steve goes into battle.

And... that's basically it.

What to say about it? It's really, really good.

No, really. Everything about this movie is great. But it's tough to talk about, so where do I start?

I think there's one thing here that indicates that this is a good movie: it takes the wholesome American guy with pure uncorruptible goodnes out to do great things for his country archetype, and manages to take this concept seriously without it coming across as silly and extremely annoying to the audience. I think it comes down to a few very key decisions on the part of the filmmakers, but perhaps most of all was the casting of Chris Evans as Steve Rogers. Chris Evans is perfect for the role of Steve Rogers: some of his lines probably would have been annoying coming from a different actor, but Evans manages to inject something in his lines that gives the audience the idea that he means everything he says. In the end, it's a huge part of what makes his character work so well. And we're with him to the end.

And everything else? It feels... honestly, it feels like the perfect blend of superhero movie and World War 2 war epic. I of course didn't bring up at least half the cast, as there are a lot of characters, ranging from a female agent with the army (Hayley Atwell) via the eccentric Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper) (whom Iron Man fans might recognize as Tony Stark's father) to an army general who is generally unsure of Steve's abilities (Tommy Lee Jones). And everything that happens in this movie feels like it has actual dramatic weight to it as well.

Oh, and there's a lot of great action here too. The action in this movie is really intensely directed, and it is incredibly intense action, especially when he gets his shield and starts beating people up with it. And it lent itself to some huge set-pieces later on, particularly in the later part of the movie during the inevitable showdown between Steve and Johann.

So in short? Go see Captain America. I assure you, it's well worth the ticket price for more reasons than I care to go into right now. Evans is a perfect Steve Rogers, it feels epic and sprawling, and the action is entertaining. What more could you ask for?

4/4

A must-see picture of the year.

This is Herr Wozzeck Reviews. I'll see you guys next time.

P.S.: I'd like to leave a small note for the filmmakers behind Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which had a new trailer attached to Captain America: Thank you for basically telling everyone the entire plot of your movie in your new trailer, guys. You do realize that anyone that has the internet probably knows how Planet of the Apes ended, right? Right? Either way, if it turns out that it sucks later on, then you've just saved me nine dollars I could've spent to go see it. *sigh* Seriously, guys, epic fail on your part. Epic fail.