Avengers: Age Of Ultron

http://marvel.com/avengers

When I took part in a film reviewers accreditation course last year, one of the things they told us was that we should never ever reveal spoilers in our reviews. Sometimes however, in order to talk about the things you enjoyed or didn't like about a movie, you kinda have to reveal certain elements of the film. Having said that, I am going to try *really* hard not to intentionally spoil anything.

Avengers Assemble was one of my favourite movies of 2012. It was the culmination of all of the individual phase 1 Marvel movies of Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Captain America: The First Avenger and Thor. And as if that wasn't enough for me to fangirl over, it was written and directed by one of my favourite geek icons, Joss Whedon.

The three years that have followed have felt like a lifetime. I developed what I can honestly say has been a life changing crush on Jeremy Renner, the actor who plays the always on target Hawkeye. I eagerly went to see all of the phase 2 movies in the hope that Hawkeye might appear, much like Bruce Banner in Iron Man 3, or Natasha Romanoff in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. But sadly, due to Renner's busy schedule, the one scene featuring Hawkeye that was written into a phase 2 movie had to be scrapped. 

And so Avengers 2 became the most anticipated phase 2 movie of all for me. Spoilers slowly started to leak as the release date got closer, and these were spoilers that gave me pause. I didn't think they could be true. And I didn't want them to be. But I wanted to give Age of Ultron the opportunity to prove me wrong. 

The film opens with a battle at a Hydra facility in the fictional eastern European town of Sokovia. The Avengers are there to find and re-claim Loki's scepter as seen in the first movie. The base is overseen by Baron Von Strucker who will be familiar to hardcore fans of the Marvel comics. He was seen at the end of Captain America: The Winter Soldier with gifted twins Quicksilver (Pietro Maximoff) and Scarlet Witch (Wanda Maximoff) in his possession. Following the battle between the Avengers and the twins, one member of the team is badly wounded and they head back to Avengers Tower. At this point it seems apparent the Black Widow Natasha Romanoff has been doing some training with The Hulk, and following their encounter in the first movie where she was attacked by him, she now seems to be the only member of the team with the power to turn him back into mild mannered scientist Bruce Banner. Interesting. 

With Loki's scepter (and the infinity gem encased in it), in their possession, the team of Banner and Stark set about creating 'a suit of armour around the world', a new kind of robot with one job built into his subconscious - to create world peace. Together, the science bros create Ultron. But Ultron has other ideas, and somehow becomes a sentient being with a mind of his own, and that mind wants anything but peace. It's up to earth's mightiest heroes to stop him, but are they up to the task when they're the ones who brought him to life in the first place?

As far as characterisation goes, most of the Avengers are spot on the money. Tony is his usual egotistical self, Thor continues to add humour to the group, Cap remains in his leadership role and tries to be a good role model at the same time, at one point telling Tony to watch his language. But I think the biggest surprise for most people (and hopefully a welcome one), will be that we get to see the real Clint Barton this time. He's sassy, funny, and definitely the heart of the movie. As a Renner fan, I certainly enjoyed his scenes and was glad that they finally made use of his character. I also thought that Ultron was a formidable villain and that the Maximoff twins were a great new addition - although the accents were a little ropey. Paul Bettany's addition to the film in a more fleshy role also contributed greatly, and one scene in particular had me, and the rest of the audience gasping. 

Sadly, the same can't be said of Banner and Romanoff. Their characterisation lacked in ways I can't really go into without adding a spoiler, although it was certainly hinted at in the trailers. This is a particular disappointment following Captain America: The Winter Soldier where I thought Natasha really grew as a character and was someone I really wanted to see more of. I heard that we would get to see some of her back story in this film, and whilst you did, it was all too brief, and the rest of the time her character was reduced to little more than a googly eyed girl. As she's the only female on the Avengers team, I find this particularly insulting writing on Joss's part. And particularly disappointing as he's so well known for writing amazingly well rounded female characters (Buffy, Willow, Faith, Echo, Zoe to name but a few). Where was that head when he was writing for Nat? Banner is also very weak character wise in this movie, and I think if they are going to make another solo Hulk movie, they need to step up his characterisation in a major way. He's great as a science bro, but he needs more backbone on his own.

My other gripe with the film was the way in which certain events unfolded without any indication that such things existed prior to this movie. There were what, four phase 2 movies prior to Age of Ultron, and not one of those movies even hinted at things that appear in this movie. Things that we're just expected to believe have been this way for a while even though this is the first we're hearing about it. A heads up would have been good. 

I can't help but feel like these events unfolded in this way, without prior warning, simply because Joss wanted it that way. I read in an interview recently that he was asked if he took into account what the fans wanted, and he point blank said he didn't, he took into account what he wanted, as he is a fan himself. I think this answer shows his complete lack of respect, not only for the fans but for the characters he's blatantly shown such disregard to in this film. They deserved much more.

My only hope is that the Russo brothers who did such a wonderful job of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, will be able to salvage Joss's wreckage for the Infinity Wars films they are taking on in 2018 and 2019. 

As for Age of Ultron, I went in with high hopes and I came out disappointed. 6 out of 10. 

Viewing Date - 22nd April 2015

UK Release Date - 23rd April 2015

Cast Overview:

Robert Downey Jr ~ Tony Stark / Iron Man

Mark Ruffalo ~ Bruce Banner / The Hulk

Chris Evans ~ Steve Rogers / Captain America

Chris Hemsworth ~ Thor

Scarlett Johansson ~ Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow

Jeremy Renner ~ Clint Barton / Hawkeye

Elizabeth Olsen ~ Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch

Aaron Taylor-Johnson ~ Pietro Maximoff / Quicksilver

Paul Bettany ~ The Vision / J.A.R.V.I.S.

Don Cheadle ~ James Rhodes

Cobie Smulders ~ Maria Hill

Samuel L Jackson ~ Nick Fury

Anthony Mackie ~ Sam Wilson / Falcon

Hayley Atwell ~ Peggy Carter

Idris Elba ~ Heimdall

Stellan Skarsgård ~ Erik Selvig

James Spader ~ Ultron

Written and Directed ~ Joss Whedon

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

http://marvel.com/movies/movie/181/captain_america_the_winter_soldier

Much like Cineworld did for the Midnight Screening of Thor: The Dark World, they offered those seeing the Midnight Screening of Captain America: The Winter Soldier a chance to catch up on what they might have missed, by showing a double bill of Cap 1 with Cap 2. As a big fan of the first film I of course wanted to go two for two with the Captain. You can read my previous review for Captain America: The First Avenger by clicking the respective link, but do know that if I were reviewing it now it would get a much higher score as I have grown very fond of The First Avenger.

However, Cap one has had it's time in the glowing spotlight of my blog, and as such I am going to move swiftly on to the new, and very different Winter Soldier. Different primarily because it's set in the present day, but also because there is a lot more interaction here with a couple of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s finest agents that you might be familiar with if you've seen a little movie called The Avengers (or Avengers Assemble in the UK). As much as everyone talks about Cap's (Chris Evans reprising his role of Steve 'Captain America' Rogers) friendship with Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), most of his work in the war in the first movie was done alone. This movie sees Steve team up with Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) for a mission to free S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who are being held by terrorists on one of their own ships. Whilst completing the mission, Natasha hacks into the S.H.I.E.L.D. database on board the ship and downloads information about her employers, which upsets Steve's sensibilities about doing the right thing and trusting those you work for. However, it seems Natasha was right to capture the secret S.H.I.E.L.D. files, as not long after this Director Fury (Samuel L Jackson) faces off against the mysterious Winter Soldier and Natasha and Steve find themselves on the run from the very organisation they work for. Will they discover what is in the S.H.I.E.L.D. files? Will they find out who the Winter Soldier is? You'll have to go and see the movie to find out.

As I mentioned above, if I were to review The First Avenger now, I have no doubt I would give it a higher score as it has become one of my favourite Marvel movies. The funny thing is that in the run up to the release of the sequel, a lot of people have said to me, "Oh I didn't really like the first one", which on the one hand is fine, because the sequel is entirely different, it's set in a different time, with the majority of different, present day characters. But if you don't like the character of Steve Rogers, if you don't like his values, or the old school way he has of solving problems etc, I still don't know if you'll find a lot to like in Cap 2. Thankfully for me, as I said, I love the first film, and I like the fact that Cap is old fashioned. I think it makes his movies a refreshing change from the norm.

In this instance I loved his team up with Natasha. I loved the dynamic of the two of them, I loved the way they worked together and the way they challenged each other. I loved the fact that there was no hint of romance between them, that they could be a man and woman and just be colleagues, who might someday be friends. After seeing Johansson trying to be a 'serious' actress in Under The Skin and achieving nothing other than getting under my skin, it was nice to see her do justice to a character she is clearly very comfortable with after 3 outings in her catsuit. She adds so many layers to Natasha's already intriguing background that you feel like you'll never really be sure who she is. But damn do you want to find out.

I also loved the addition of Anthony Mackie's Falcon Sam Wilson. And my only real complaint about the movie is that he isn't in it nearly enough. As if adding Falcon to the mix wasn't enough to widen the scope for the next movie, the story arc of the Winter Soldier has only melted enough to dip your little toe into, and as such I am excited to see what more we will learn from Cap 3 (already announced at the UK Premiere of Cap 2) and beyond. If Marvel can keep up the fantastic work they have put in at ground level then I can't wait to see what will be next.

Whether you are a fan of The First Avenger or not, you should see The Winter Soldier and make your own mind up as to whether there is anything here for you. I was not disappointed and I doubt you will be either. 9 out of 10. 

Viewing Date - 25th March 2014

UK Release Date - 26th March 2014

Cast Overview:

Steve Rogers / Captain America ~ Chris Evans

Nick Fury ~ Samuel L Jackson

Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow ~ Scarlett Johansson

Alexander Pierce ~ Robert Redford

Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier ~ Sebastian Stan

Sam Wilson / Falcon ~ Anthony Mackie

Maria Hill ~ Cobie Smulders

Brock Rumlow ~ Frank Grillo

Jasper Sitwell ~ Maximiliano Hernandez

Kate / Agent 13 ~ Emily Van Camp

Peggy Carter ~ Hayley Atwell

Dr Arnim Zola ~ Toby Jones

Director(s) ~ Anthony and Joe Russo

Writer(s) ~ Christopher Markus (Screenplay), Stephen McFeely (Screenplay), Ed Brubaker (Concept and Story), Joe Simon (Comic Book) and Jack Kirby (Comic Book)

Captain America: The Winter Soldier UK Premiere

Around a month ago my cinema/premiere buddy Blair asked me, “so do you think you might want to go to the Captain America 2 premiere?” To which my reply was something along the lines of “err, why WOULDN’T I go?” Bearing in mind we did the Avengers Premiere together, and following Margaret Thatcher’s untimely demise which caused the Iron Man 3 premiere to be put back by a day, I did that - and the Thor The Dark World premiere - stag. Add to that the fact that Chris Evans was the only Avenger who wasn’t at the Avengers premiere, this was my chance to see him for the first time, along with Samuel L Jackson, who also was not in attendance at Avengers, and Anthony Mackie who is having his first outing as Falcon.

Yes I was bloody well going. But then I got a new job, and as luck would have it, the induction training was during the same week as the premiere. Thankfully my new boss is lovely and allowed me to take the day off. Good job too because I then found out that not one, but two of my tumblr friends were going to be there! Having had two previously great experiences meeting tumblr people in real life, it just made me even more excited for the premiere.

On the morning of the premiere I decided to go with my contingency Natasha costume, which ironically, I don’t have a picture of me in, but it was a take on this:

I set off for London on the first train that didn’t cost a fortune, and after some delays caused by overcrowding, Blair and I arrived at around 11am. I immediately panicked as the pens already looked busy. I spoke with a security guard to find out the situation with wristbands and he informed me that each pen had a different colour, and so once you were in, you were in! I told him that we were meeting people and weren’t sure which pen they were in, as we hadn’t thought to exchange numbers beforehand.

He said there was plenty of room and we could wander around until we found them, which thanks to one of the girls dressing up as Black Widow (complete with Red wig), did not take long at all.

Once the initial greetings were done, we then began our 6 hour wait for the stars to arrive. Thankfully as there was so many of us, it meant we could go for walkabouts in turn, go to the toilet, get food etc, without worry that our places would be taken.

Blair and I also bumped into a friend we made at the Star Trek premiere so it was lovely to see him too and have a bit of a catch up.

The girls convinced me I should put on my catsuit, which I brought in case I suddenly felt brave, and so I went to get changed. Then at 3.30 there was the cosplay contest to win tickets to see the movie. As I had the catsuit on, I figured what the hell and entered the contest, even though I didn’t think I stood a cat in hell’s chance next to the Widow I was with and her much more accurate costume.

 

Me in my Widow costume with little Steve

Sadly, none of our group won tickets so we took our places for the warm up guy to do his bit, and then before we knew it the stars were coming out of the stage door designed to look like Cap’s shield. First out was Anthony Mackie looking very *ahem* excited, or like he was smuggling in a gaggle of snakes maybe?

Next were the directors Joe and Anthony Russo, then came Samuel L Jackson, who took a selfie with the crowd behind him:

The Winter Soldier himself, Sebastian Stan was up next, followed by Scarlett in a very pretty scarlet dress (good thing the carpet was blue)

and bringing up the rear was Cap Chris Evans…

There were other Avengers/Cap alumni also walking the red carpet, Hayley Atwell and Jenny Agutter, but they were not interviewed.

I actually had a mini conversation with Hayley after she signed my magazine and she came across as very gracious and down to earth whilst also being incredibly beautiful and much less buxom than she appears on screen. After so many premieres I really do believe the old adage that the camera adds 10lbs.

As if all that excitement wasn’t enough, after the premiere another tumblr friend came to see us! She travelled half way across London and probably for only 5 or 10 minutes with us. It was so nice to finally meet her after many misfired attempts, and she was just as lovely in person as she has always been via various message portals.

So to sum up…

I managed to get signatures from everyone mentioned above apart from Scarlett (although she did sign the item I was holding out for Blair - I just didn’t get her signature on anything of mine) and Samuel (although Blair did manage to get his signature on both something of mine and his magazine).

I must admit that I am thrilled with my signatures, not least Chris’ as it adds perfectly to my existing collection. If my nephews are reading this, you best not sell these when I die because it’s been a painstaking journey to collect them and I’m not done yet, I still have Scarlett, Jeremy and Mark to go (and Clark and Cobie would be nice but I shan’t quibble).

But it’s a collection I’m determined to complete. So here’s to the next premiere.

Before I sign off and tell you what I thought of Cap 2, here is me, in my contingency Widow outfit (leather jacket behind me) with my haul for the day

*additional pictures courtesy of Blair Holmes

Avengers Assemble

http://marvel.com/avengers_movie

Allow me to start this review by saying that I have never been a fan of comic books. As a girl who's brother is an extremely talented cartoonist and comic strip creator, this is not a good thing to admit. I have tried to get on board with them. And of course I can appreciate the talent of the writers and artists involved. I just don't enjoy it as a medium.

Film however is another matter entirely. There is a medium I've been on board with for as long as I can remember. And in fact recall that one of my (or possibly THE) first cinematic experiences I had was Bambi. An animated film. So on film I can totally get on board with cartoons, animation, comic book characters etc. This is why, although I've never read a Marvel comic book, I still consider myself a fan of the Marvel universe. And of Stan Lee. Who is of course a legend.

The only problem with having not read the comics is that I don't really KNOW these characters as well as those who have read them. Or as well as my 6 year old nephew who has taught me a thing or two about these characters since I watched Thor with him last year. 

Regardless of my lack of knowledge I was excited to see some of my favourite Marvel heroes, Thor, Iron Man and Captain America alongside some newer characters who have yet to have their own movies, Hawkeye and Black Widow, and even some of my less favourite characters such as The Hulk. 

So how and why does this band of misfits come together? Well to save the world of course! SHIELD head honcho Nick Fury has been running some experiments on a powerful cube of energy called the Tesseract (you may recall seeing it in Captain America: The First Avenger). This cube allows a gateway between worlds, which Loki uses to come to earth with his plan of ruling it. Nick and the team at SHIELD cannot allow this to happen and so call upon Dr Bruce Banner to help them locate the Tesseract, as it omits a low level of gamma radition of which he is the expert. When things at SHIELD's headquarters go from bad to worse it's up to the unlikely group of heroes, Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and Black Widow to put things right. But can they stop bickering amongst themselves long enough to fight their combined enemy and his army?

The first thing I want to say is that the key word in the title is Assemble. Not Assembled. So if you're expecting the characters you love, teamed together, fighting the big bad from the off, you'll be disappointed. Avengers Assemble is a slow burner, re-introducing the characters one by one, then introducing them to each other. To be honest, I loved this entire part of the film, Agent Romanoff bringing in 'the big guy', the Dr shaking hands with the Capt. Thor holding his own against the Iron suited Stark. And then Stark taking the p*ss out of all of them. The one-liners kept coming and the friction/camraderie really showed.

Whether you love or loathe these build up scenes, the waiting is worth it when they do eventually team up for the grand finale. This is where I was worried that writer/director Whedon would stumble. As a long time fan of his from Buffy (yes even all the way back to the Buffy movie) through to Dollhouse and Cabin In The Woods which he co-wrote and produced, I knew he could do ensemble casts until the cows came home. What I wasn't sure he could do was all out action. But I'm happy to say he pulls it out of the bag with a truly stunning end sequence in which each character has a part to play and a chance to shine.

Character wise, The Hulk was everything. He might have thought they were more of a time bomb than a team but he was undoubtedly the glue that held them together. Think about all his scenes in the movie and how things would have turned out without him. He was pivotal. Hulk also, surprisingly, got both the biggest laughs and the biggest cheers in the showing I was in. And the laughs for once were not for the way he looked on screen. The artists on this film have done a fantastic job of making The Hulk actually look like the man playing him, not just like a big green monster. Ruffalo's facial expressions are evident, which for the first time makes The Hulk feel human. I loved him, and he was my least favourite going in so that was quite a turn-around. I thought Ruffalo was inspired casting as Banner and Hulk and that he played both guys perfectly. 

I also loved the relationship between Banner and Stark and think this was helped immensely by Ruffalo and Downey Jr's on screen chemistry. First forged in their previous on screen collaboration in David Fincher's Zodiac. This lightbulb moment only occurred to me after I saw Avengers Assemble for the second time (on IMAX - HIGHLY recommended!) and was reflecting on how good their scenes were.

Avengers Assemble is not only an action packed spectacle, it's also genuinely laugh out loud funny and has a lot of character driven moments which make it what it is, an all round great film. Go and see it, more than once and definately make one of those screenings an IMAX experience. The sound and picture quality will blow you away. 9.5 out of 10.

Viewing Date - 26th April 2012

UK Release Date - 26th April 2012

Cast Overview:

Robert Downey Jr ~ Tony Stark / Iron Man

Chris Evans ~ Steve Rogers / Captain America

Mark Ruffalo ~ Bruce Banner / The Hulk

Chris Hemsworth ~ Thor

Scarlett Johansson ~ Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow

Jeremy Renner ~ Clint Barton / Hawkeye

Tom Hiddleston ~ Loki

Clark Gregg ~ Agent Phil Coulson

Cobie Smulders ~ Agent Maria Hill

Stellan Skarsgard ~ Professor Erik Selvig

Samuel L Jackson ~ Nick Fury 

Director ~ Joss Whedon

Writer(s) ~ Joss Whedon (Screenplay and Story), Zak Penn (Story) 

and Stan Lee and Jack Kirby (Comic Book)

The Lady K Academy Film Awards Day 7 - Most Heroic Hero

And here we have the second award of the night, for the Best Hero, or as I've labelled it, Most Heroic Hero. I couldn't very well give you a villain and then no-one to fight for truth, justice and the American way. No, no, the winner isn't Superman. *slaps forehead and shakes head*

The award for Most Heroic Hero goes to Chris Evans for his portrayal of 

Steve Rogers, aka Captain America: The First Avenger

It was only when I was writing about why I picked the end scene of Captain America: The First Avenger to win my award for 'Most Heartbreaking End To A Film EVER' that I realised Steve Rogers would also win the award for Most Heroic Hero. He's just so infinitely good. Through and through. All he wants out of life is to fight for his country and get the girl. He's smart, sensible, romantic, brave, and if that wasn't enough he's got more courage in his little finger than most guys have in their whole bodies. All that and no actual superpowers. He's just been beefed up by Dr Erskine's super duper serum. Which only builds on what's already within someone, in his words "bad becomes worse and good becomes great." Which means good old Steve was already good and now he's a super fit great man. There are plenty of super hero characters who sure have been heroic this year but I don't think any of them stand up to Steve.

In honour of Steve's win I have included a short video which shows clips from the film to the backing of the Star Spangled Man - which in my opinion should have won (or at least been nominated) for an Oscar for Best Original Song. If ever you want to listen to something uplifting and inspiring just put that on your ipod. I guarantee it will make you smile if nothing else.

Special Thanks to MindFreak76 for making such a good video!

Runners Up:

Thor - Thor: Buff and funny but also a bit too spoiled to be winner of this award

Charlie Brewster - Fright Night: Similar kind of 'average Joe' hero but not good to the core like Steve

Who would you like to have defending your corner again the evil villainy of the world?

What's Your Number

http://www.whatsyournumbermovie.com/main.php

Last month seemed to be the month of average comedies. Loads were released, Friends With Benefits, The Change-Up, 30 Minutes Or Less, I Don't Know How She Does It and Crazy, Stupid, Love, to name but a few. And while I saw What's Your Number this month, it's release date was last month. Not a good sign.

Along I went anyway with my cinema buddy to see the story of Ally (Anna Faris), a woman who reads an article in Marie Claire that states that any woman who has slept with 20 or more men will struggle to find a husband. As Ally's just dumped her number 19 she's reluctant to date anyone new until she's sure he's the one. After a chance encounter with one of her ex's who definitely got better with age, Ally ropes her ridiculously hot neighbour from across the hall, Colin (Chris Evans), into tracking down her ex's in the vain hope that one of them will be the one she should've stuck with. 

One very unbelievable cheesy line at the end aside, I actually really enjoyed What's Your Number. It was a lot funnier than The Change-Up, I Don't Know How She Does It and Crazy, Stupid, Love put together, thanks largely to an animated penis. I will say no more but look out for it if you see the film. It still has me laughing now when I think about it. It's also a very sweet natured film and quite a true reflection of how young women pin a lot of faith on magazine articles.

Anna Faris and Chris Evans not only had good chemistry but their friendship was well played and believable. I just wish they'd left out the cheesy line at the end which had me rolling my eyes. The ex's were also a delight to behold with particularly funny turns from Chris Pratt, the always watchable Zachary Quinto, Martin Freeman and Andy Samberg.

This was above-average of the average comedies from last month and is well worth a watch. 8 out of 10.

Viewing Date - 5th October 2011

UK Release Date - 30th September 2011

Cast Overview:

Anna Faris ~ Ally Darling

Chris Evans ~ Colin Shea

Ari Graynor ~ Daisy Darling

Blythe Danner ~ Ava Darling

Ed Begley Jnr ~ Mr Darling

Chris Pratt ~ Disgusting Donald

Zachary Quinto ~ Rick

Martin Freeman ~ Simon

Andy Samberg ~ Gerry Perry

Dave Annable ~ Jake Adams

Director ~ Mark Mylod

Writer(s) ~ Gabrielle Allan (Screenplay), Jennifer Crittenden (Screenplay) and Karyn Bosnak (Novel "20 Times A Lady")

Captain America: The First Avenger

http://captainamerica.marvel.com/

I was lucky enough to go and see Thor earlier this year with my brother and his family. It seemed only fair then, that I should also see Captain America with my brother when he came down to visit me this weekend.

My brother has been a comic book fan for as long as I can remember and is also a very talented cartoonist in his own right. Thus making comic book adaptations a joy to watch with him as he undoubtedly knows all about the genre, the artists and writers behind each comic, the characters motivations etc etc. Fun facts galore. 

Lets see what I managed to pick up about this one. Captain America was not always the typical US marine. He was once Steve Rogers, dweeb. A young, under-developed, man who was desperate to join the army and fight for his country in 1940's war torn America. He has guts, just not the physique to match, something which catches the eye of Dr Erskine, the head of a secret project which will transform Steve's life. It will make him taller, stronger, bigger, faster. The perfect soldier. When the project is complete, and a success, it is decided that Steve will become a mascot for good v's evil, rather than being sent to the front line to fight. So Steve becomes Captain America, the star spangled man,  with his tights and shield. But soon he finds himself fighting the good fight for real when his best friend is captured by the evil Red Skull, who's goal is one of ultimate power.

I will begin by saying that if you are a fan of the comic book, or are someone who is looking forward to seeing The Avengers next year, you should definitely go and see Captain America. For two reasons:

1) This is the last 'setting up' story before The Avengers. We've had everyone else's story, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, but this is the first time we've met Captain America and therefore he deserves his chance to tell his story. 

2) There is a mini trailer for The Avengers which is attached to the scene after the credits. And boy is does The Avengers look gooood! 

Unfortunately, the downside of how good the trailer for The Avengers looks, is that it somewhat makes Captain America less good. If that makes sense? The lasting impression you have is for The Avengers and how much you are now looking forward to it. And it kinda makes Captain America a little bit forgettable. 

Which is a shame as Captain America is a good stand alone movie. Not great. It's not as good as Thor. But it is enjoyable, it has it's heart in the right place and the effects for the first half of the movie are incredible, making the rather buff Chris Evans into a short, skinny guy must have had it's difficulties but the effects to make him so are flawless. And the hero of the hour, Steve Rogers is a genuinely good guy, which just makes what happens to him truly, for want of a better word, shit.

So if you like your comic book movies, are looking forward to The Avengers or even if you're just an action fan, I would recommend Captain America. 7 out of 10.

Viewing Date - 30th July 2011

UK Release Date - 29th July 2011

Cast Overview:

Chris Evans ~ Steve Rogers / Captain America

Hayley Atwell ~ Peggy Carter

Sebastian Stan ~ James Buchanan 'Bucky' Barnes

Tommy Lee Jones ~ Colonel Chester Phillips

Hugo Weaving ~ Johann Schmidt / Red Skull

Dominic Cooper ~ Howard Stark

Richard Armitage ~ Heinz Kruger

Stanley Tucci ~ Dr Abraham Erskine

Toby Jones ~ Dr Arnim Zola

Director ~ Joe Johnstone

Writer(s) ~ Christopher Markus (Screenplay), Stephen McFeely (Screenplay), Joe Simon (Comic Book) and Jack Kirby (Comic Book)