This is a long form review initially published in 2011:
Though it ran at over two hours, I did feel that it had plenty of room to go further than it did. I honestly felt like Red Skull could have had a film all to himself, and actually kind of suffered for making him as intriguing as he was.
Chris Evans was an interesting choice as the titular role of Captain America, given that he's already played American sweetheart Marvel Super Hero "The Human Torch" in Fantastic 4 and Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer. He didn't Oh-My-Gosh blow me away type-thing or what have you, but he was pretty great.
So far in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I'd slot Captain America clean in the middle. I liked Iron Man and Thor more, but Iron Man 2 and The Incredible Hulk less. Marvel Studios stated that the movie they wanted to make was set in the 40's, even though the rest of Marvel Cinematic is modern-day. This was 100% the right move to make, why? Not because of the setting, aesthetics or direction, but because it's fuckin' smart. How do you have the world appreciate an Uncle-Sam loving upper-middle class white male military blindly-loyal patriot? You make him fight the God damn Nazis, that's how.
It may seem strange, but I actually enjoyed the opening of Captain America the most, which he spends a a meek, asthmatic Steve Rogers, yet to undergo the Deus Ex Machina Super Serum. It really showed the best of Evans acting ability, as well as the writing of Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely whom together wrote You Kill Me and The The Chronicles of Narnia Trilogy.
I watched it in 3D, which was more bearable than usual. As the films of MCU progress, each of them becomes more and more a prequel to The Avengers, Captain America being the most to date. Despite its almost-entire lack of Avenger cameos, this more than previous films felt like a prequel for what's to come, which is not strictly speaking a good thing.
I had plenty of minor issues with Captain America, and though their was quite a number of them, all were minor, and ultimately, the only part of me that regrets watching it was the part that keeps thinking "My fucking God, I have to wait a YEAR before Avengers comes out?!"
79%
-Gimly