So I just got back from watching Captain America, and my opinion? An excellent film, better than Thor, and I liked Thor quite a lot too. I'd almost say it was as good as if not better than the Iron Man films, which next to the Nolan Batman films and Watchmen, are the epitome of a good superhero film.
The story is this, Steve Rogers, a dangerously skinny guy looking to join the army to aid the war effort against the Nazis is repeatedly denied on the grounds of making a stick figure look like it's put on weight. But due to his honesty and courage, is selected by a German Scientist to be America's first Super Soldier. The rest of the film is Steve, as Captain America, helping to defeat HYDRA, a superscience Nazi division, defected from the Nazis, whose leader Johann Schmitt AKA, The Red Skull, dreams of conquering Earth through use of their highly advanced technology.
There are several things I can say in the film's favour, the first and foremost being that Steve Rogers is a rather well written character to say he has absolutely no character arc in the film, a stark contrast to Thor, where the character arc is the main focus. Instead, in Captain America, he starts off as a likable good guy, ends as a likable good guy, and in the middle he does not compromise in this in the slightest.
You really get the impression that Steve was meant to be Captain America from the very beginning, my favorite examples being at two certain points. The first time, Steve is asked if he wants to join the army to kill Nazis, to which he replies "I don't want to kill anybody, I just don't like bullies, wherever they come from.", the second point is when Steve's drill sergeant throws a false grenade near him, and he dives on it to try and save everybody else from the blast at the cost of his own life, believing it to be a real one, while everybody else ducks behind cover. Both of these moments occur before he even becomes Captain America. Overall, Steve made me think "This is how Hal Jordan should've been written in the Green Lantern rather than being forced to be a goodie.".
Also in the film's favour is that the fight scenes are the truest to the comics I've ever seen, throughout the film, Captain America is jumping, thwacking his enemies with his shield and frisbeeing it into them, amongst other uses. And unlikable the last action film I saw, the action scenes were far more coherent, Captain America as well as his squad were always very visible, and what they were doing was always obvious, even in the wordless montage scenes.
The thing that kept me thinking long after the film had ended the most however, was how it related to the other Avengers film, because the way they all connect seem very clever, and this isn't even the things they state outright, many connections I noted were only vaguely implied, it was a lot of fun just noticing how the stories all interconnected, it made me want to watch those films over again. So not only do I want to watch Captain America again, but the rest of the films, because a narrative can be seen throughout all of the films, at least for me anyway.
Lastly, I really loved the Red Skull as a villain, while not as sympathetic as Loki, he's one of the most comic book-y villains I've ever seen in a comic book adaptation. Once he reveals his red face, he spares no expenses and just wears a long black cloak with a skull logo on it. I almost wanted him to tie Steve's love interest to a train track because that would seem very in character for him. My only problem is that while I was watching him, I was thinking of the contrast between how real the Iron Man villains are in comparison, who are in the same universe and act far less cartoonishly evil.
In summation, a fine example of a comic book film, ever since Iron Man, Marvel films have only been getting better, which gives me very high hopes for The Avengers, you might say it is silly of me in today's cynical days to have high hopes for a film, but I'd rather look forward to something and have it be good than not look forward to it and be surprised.
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