Captain America: The First Avenger Blu-ray Review & Comments

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Reviewed by Chris McEneany, 31st December 2011.
Whilst the jury is still out on whether this super soldier can “live off the land … and eat things that'd make a billie-goat puke”, Captain America has more than earned his little wings with this gutsy, high-calibre showing. Joe Johnston has grappled with the behemoth that is Marvel and produced a rousing adventure that is happily nostalgic, gloriously comic-book and, most importantly, true to the spirit of its war-torn source. Old School both in flavour and mood, the movie boasts some wonderful effects and set-pieces and some winning performances. The little commando squad that blazes away in the shadow of the First Avenger are, sadly, an ethnic misstep that smacks horribly of audience demographic pandering, and an utter squandering of the likes of Neal McDonough. The Asgardian taint to the plot also seems a touch too deliberate but, overall, the film does more than enough to compensate. More than enough that is right, that is. The World War II ambience is very nicely presented and the propaganda-cum-heraldic exploits of the big guy are marvellously rousing. It's pure comic-book stuff, and you can't ask for more than that.

I had a ball with it at the flicks, and it kicks all sorts of retro-ass on Blu-ray. The image is charmingly presented and full of detail, yet still retains something of a nostalgic patina that adds to the ambience. The audio mix isn't quite as devastating as some out there, but it is hard to imagine anyone being disappointed with such blazing wraparound super-sonics. The extras are pretty much what you'd expect from a Marvel disc though, and are superficial at best.

I still have problems with the live-action prospect of The Avengers – such massed ensembles work well in the comics and in animated films, but I can imagine all too easily the movie bulging at the seams and simply coming apart with too many super-egos all flung together and jostling for screen-time – but Captain America, which alongside Thor, was one of the more “difficult” ones to pull off convincingly, helps to allay my fears. And the fact that Kenneth Branagh succeeded with the son of Odin and now Johnston has come up smelling of star-spangled roses with Cap's origin story at least shows that things are heading in precisely the right direction.

Now all the preamble is out of the way, it is down to Marvel to prove that they can handle their biggest and most highly anticipated production to date. Everyone's in place … so there's only one thing left to say, isn't there? "Avengers assemble!!!!"




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Wholeheartedly agree with your review.

Not a marvel fanboy but was happily surprised with this movie.

Hayley Atwell was very nice! :rotfl:
 
The red skull in that photo looks a little too much like Jim Carey dong his usual mugging!

Still looking forward to seeing this:)
 

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