Big spoilers here…I mean the film has been out for five years now

Captain America: The First Avenger has one goal and it accomplishes it: provide an origin story for Captain America (I suppose it sets up some things for The Avengers as well). It accomplishes this goal in a straightforward manner in a very good but not quite great way.

The First Avenger is a classic zero to hero story. Steve Rogers is a skinny kid in Brooklyn with a great heart and fighting spirit. He’s found by a scientist for the U.S. military who’s directing a project to create the ultimate super solider and thinks Rogers the right choice because of his personality. It turns out he’s right, as Rogers is transformed into Captain America, proves his worth, and takes down the Nazi organization HYDRA, led by the Red Skull. It’s a basic but good story that gets the point across.

The First Avenger is made up of several mini-arcs that work, yet are rushed. He starts off as that skinny kid that no one believes in (and may be smarter than everyone else too), but rather early in the film he’s transformed into Captain America. He’s stuck as a symbol of the American effort in World War II, another interesting direction, but then decides to go on his own and free soldiers (including his friend “Bucky” Barnes). Agent Carter falls for him, sees him kissing someone else, gets mad then falls for him again. It works…but again it’s rushed. Admittedly his friendship with Bucky is underdeveloped…but still good enough.

Some of the performances work really well here. Tommy Lee Jones is great as Colonel Chester Phillips and Hayley Atwell is just as great as Agent Carter. Hugo Weaving is a very good villain as well as his Red Skull is one of the more memorable Marvel villains in the MCU (whatever that’s saying). Chris Evans wasn’t bad either.

Perhaps I didn’t say much in this review but in turn there’s not a lot to say. There’s much more good than bad and we get a good origin story for Captain America. There’s nothing in this film I would particularly classify as bad other than it being a bit rushed.

We also had one of the better final scenes of the MCU…when Cap wakes up in modern day NY, setting up the Avengers. Just a great scene.

Pros:

+Agent Carter is great, and the Red Skull is one of the more memorable MCU villains.

+Zero to Hero story done quite well.

+Establishes the Captain America character well.

+It was cool to see Howard Stark in action.

Cons:

-Some plot points are a bit rushed.

A good film that establishes Captain America for the MCU. There’s not much bad here at all and a whole lot of good.

Grade: B+