Captain America: The First Avenger

[gameplan.exe]

NO SPOILERS

This was a solid movie. I don't think I'd rank it as high as some of the other comic book movies that have been out in recent years, but it was better than a lot of them (IMO, of course). I think they got his origin right. I never read his books, but I know the jist of his story. I'm not too sure about Red Skull's origin, or how accurate his role/plot was, but I will say that Hugo Weaving, the make up team, and the writers/director did an excellent job with the character. I've never been interested in Red Skull before this movie, but now, my interest is piqued.

The other actors, I think did a good job. Tommy Lee Jones seldom fails to deliver, and there were some other little nuggets of solid performances that were good to see. Overall, I'm a huge fan of all things American (except the cheese - ack!), and in that sense, this movie delivered (who doesn't love seeing the Axis fall? That never gets old to me). It was very patriotic. America wins again. Go Cap!

Movie grade: C
Comic grade: B

[mattkoz]

I agree that this was a well done Marvel film. Both my wife and I enjoyed it immensely.  There was good action that wasn't so fast paced that you couldn't tell what was happening. Also a few good one liners for comic relief. I also agree the make up work with Red Skull was excellent.

However, I have to give thumbs down to 3D. We saw it Wednesday night as part of a free sneak preview and it was the 3D version. In some scenes the backgrounds were made to look awfully fake and flat because of the limits of the depth capabilities. The Worlds Fair scene looked like they were standing in front of a matte painting! What a bad gimmick.

[gameplan.exe]

I agree that this was a well done Marvel film. Both my wife and I enjoyed it immensely.  There was good action that wasn't so fast paced that you couldn't tell what was happening. Also a few good one liners for comic relief. I also agree the make up work with Red Skull was excellent.

However, I have to give thumbs down to 3D. We saw it Wednesday night as part of a free sneak preview and it was the 3D version. In some scenes the backgrounds were made to look awfully fake and flat because of the limits of the depth capabilities. The Worlds Fair scene looked like they were standing in front of a matte painting! What a bad gimmick.

yeah, I saw it in 3D, too. I generally agree with the assertion that 3D is mostly a gimmick, always. I mean, Avatar was amazing in 3D, but it was filmed/designed to be in 3D. Lots of these movies lately... they just seem to tack it on and it seems, well... tacky 

[Kal-el]

Glad to hear it's good. I'm waiting a week or two before seeing it (so I can use the theater passes I have), but I am really looking forward to it.

[The Dude]

I thought it was pretty fantastic, although I am biased as Cap is my favorite A-list character in comics. Still it was an outstanding in every way it needed to be and my favorite comic movie of the summer, perhaps my favorite since Spiderman 2.

[gameplan.exe]

I thought it was pretty fantastic, although I am biased as Cap is my favorite A-list character in comics. Still it was an outstanding in every way it needed to be and my favorite comic movie of the summer, perhaps my favorite since Spiderman 2.

Always glad to hear a fan is pleased! That's how I felt about Thor, since he's my favorite non-Xmen character.

So, since he's your favorite, have you been reading his books a long time? Have you read back issues, like back to the 50s and 60s?

[Palatinus]

I thought the movie was great.  I avoided the 3D after reading the posts here.  I am really looking forward to The Avengers movie now.  I loved how well Cap developed in the film and I feel like they did such a great job meshing together tidbits from the comics that have lost continuity and making them work in the movie.

[The Dude]

My Cap run like most of my comic collection is mostly mid 80s-early 90s based (with only my Avengers and Marvel Team Up collection dating back earlier) The Avengers was my favorite title and Cap was always my favorite Avenger more so than his solo exploits that's where my love of Cap came from. I always loved how on paper Cap is the weakest Avenger and yet he's the one that all the team members look up to and go to when it really hits the fan. (There's a great story with the Avengers facing Nebula that really captures this dynamic around issue 320 or so that was recently collected in a Spiderman-Avengers trade). Cap also usually shines in the big cosmic crossovers like Secret Wars or Infinity Gauntlet where he leads all of earth's heroes. I would say in an Avengers setting Roger Stern, Kurt Busiek and Jim Shooter write the best Cap.

In terms of his solo book my original comic collection hit pretty much the entire Mark Gruenwald run (10 years from issue 307-420ish) but then Mark Waid's take on the character didn't appeal to me at all and I dropped the book shortly afterwards. For that era my favorite story is the "Cap No More" arc which runs from 327-350 and it is one of the 10 best stories Marvel has ever published in my view (recently collected in trade thanks to the movie as "the Captain", although they start up at I think 333 rather than 327). The Gruenwald run is also why D-Man and Serpent Society were both listed in my favorite character thread.

In terms of older stuff I do have Essential Cap vol 1 and vol 5. Vol 1 is fun to see early Red Skull and AIM but it's not a must read. Vol 4 on the other hand is very, very goo as its by Steve Engleheart (elsewhere on this board praised by me for his work with West Coast Avengers and let me tell his 80s Silver Surfer is fantastic as well). Englehart has the first ever Cap walks away from his costume story, plus a fun little mini-epic with Yellow Claw both collected here. (I also have Essential Avengers 1 and 2 which are both quite excellent for 60s Cap).

However if I was to reccomend one single Cap trade above all others, it would be Roger Stern's War and Remembrance from 1980. A nine issue run that captures absolutely everything you would need to know about Cap if you've never read him before. You get a mix of World War II Cap with his origin revisited and then reuniting with the Invaders and Nick Fury in modern times to face some reawakened nazi era foes, as well as the more modern adventure never say die Cap going up against threats that should be out of his power class like Dragon Man or Mr Hyde, and its rounded out with some idealism inspirational Cap with him being asked to run for President in a famous story. An inexpensive trade that is well worth picking up (and is actually quite reminiscent of the tone the movie managed to capture) it hits all the beats that make the character iconic and blends them together seemlessly.