Captain America: The First Avenger Blu-ray Review

• 6th Dec 2011

Marvel complete their first round of characters headed for The Avengers next year with Captain America: The First Avenger.

The film does have a pointless prologue, but once Steve Rogers comes into the picture Chris Evans takes the reins and he truly flies with it. Steve is as thin and unhealthy as they come. But despite this he is keen to get involved in the war effort as he believes in the message being shipped out there and thinks it is a worthy cause to fight and even die for a country you love. This is a very brave character to have in the cynical age we live in. OK, he appears back in the war-time era (which probably helps) but it is still brave to have a young hero so full of a patriotic need and worth who wants to fight for the cause and serve even when he is not capable of doing so.

This character trait is something that carries over once he is given the body with which to take to the battle. Yes, Rogers is the ultimate goody-two-shoes. You might even say that he has no character arc as he doesn’t change his personality. But that, for me, was the point. He wanted to be something and was given the chance to be it and proved to all who wouldn’t listen that he could be the embodiment of his own convictions. His arc comes only through what happens to him – first physically and then through actions taken.

I love the idea of the good guy being right and not being an anti-hero. I love it because no-one (back then or now) wants to believe it, which makes him a perfect hero with which to sympathise, because you know full well that most people would never sympathise with a guy that is this right.

This is also a great character set up for a man who is essentially going to go head to head with Iron Man in the future. If they stay true to the graphic novels – these guys will become the best of antagonistic friends destined to get on and fall out. If Marvel have any clue then they will take this series and this relationship right up to its tragic climax.

Joe Johnston is well known for many things in the film industry but rarely is he remembered for directing a truly under appreciated comic book movie called The Rocketeer (well, the moment Captain America came along critics suddenly rediscovered it!) These films make interesting companion pieces as both are set in the same era and have a lot of lush production design.

The supporting cast are all just fine. The main villain (Red Skull) is perhaps underused but there is the idea that we may see him again in the future (wink wink). Two things are for sure; 1: Joe Johnston still has the same magic that he applied to his wonderful The Rocketeer film and 2: I will never forgive the person who convinced me this film was terrible and not worth paying to see at the cinema.

If you are not put off by a bit of flag waving (and if you are watching a film called Captain America, then come on!!!) then it’s easy to get pulled into this retro-fitted world of wartime America. Marvel (haha) at the world fair, be exhilarated by the CA battle montages and revel in the truly joyous “Star Spangled Man” song that appears midway through!

The Blu-ray looks and sounds great and there is supplemental material. The director and select crew provide a commentary. There is another Marvel One Shot short film featuring Agent Coulson and then there are a few deleted scenes and trailers. Where the set falls down is in the featurettes.  Previous releases have had 30 minute plus documentaries on the history of their characters. Captain America gets about five minutes covering his history. It is a fact packed five minutes, but frankly could easily have gone much deeper with all the artists who have worked on such a prestigious character over the years. The likes of Iron Man and Dare Devil had such features which had contributions from the makers of the graphic novels and comics but this trend seems to have been dropped from recent disc releases on other characters and it isn’t here either.

There are a few other short featurettes on supporting characters and the designs involved – all worth a look, just sadly not as long as you’d hope. Don’t let this deter you from thinking that this Marvel film is one that grows better with each watch.

Steven Hurst