Re: Captain America: The First Avenger-Review, Discuss, Grade, Sequel,
One assumes that after Cap disappears Fury steps in to keep the band together.
This version of Fury doesn't really seem to be that old, from what little we've seen of him.
Samuel L. Jackson is an immortal. Not through any secret serum or anything like that. He's just such a badass that Death won't dare get near him.
I really liked
Captain America. I'd say it's my 3rd favorite movie of the summer (after
X-Men: First Class &
Thor). Chris Evans is especially good, particularly as the pre-transformation Steve Rogers (many kudos to the FX team!). I'd had such a strong preconception of Evans in my head as the Human Torch, more of an obnoxious, cocky type. But here, he plays the good guy with such earnestness. I'm very pleased.
Peggy Carter is the clear winner in the contest for hottest Marvel universe babe!

(Although Darcy from
Thor still wins points for spunk.)
Dr. Erskine was brilliant, mostly due to Stanley Tucci, one of the most underrated American actors working today. The movie lost a tiny part of its zing when he died.
Thankfully, you had Howard Stark picking up the slack. When I'd heard his name mentioned in the trailer, I figured it was just going to be a brief cameo. Instead, he's an honest to god supporting role with prominent billing. I thought he was a lot of fun. You can see where Tony gets some of that zing but Howard channels it in a style more suited to the 1940s. (Although, sometimes, he reminded me of Johnny Depp in
Ed Wood with a little bit of Robert Downey Jr.'s
Chaplin thrown in.)
Tommy Lee Jones does his thing perfectly as always.
Hugo Weaving was sadly the weak link here. I'm a huge fan of his from
The Matrix &
V for Vendetta but here he just doesn't seem to generate any interest.
I pity anyone who saw this movie but hadn't seen
Thor, or did but didn't make the connection between the Asgardians & the artifact the Red Skull found in Norway. That plot point makes absolutely no sense unless you already understand that backstory of the Norse gods being real and coming from a world where science & magic are the same thing.
"The Star-Spangled Man" is a great song.
After seeing Toby Jones as the Dream Lord on
Doctor Who, his character's bow-tie in this movie was a bit distracting.
Other than my general lack of interest in the Red Skull, I felt that this movie's biggest fumble was with the deaths of Dr. Erskine & Bucky. Neither death felt like it really elicited the pathos that was intended. Although I did feel like Joe Johnston nailed the sorrow at the end when Cap's plane goes down, and later when he tells Nick Fury, "I had a date."

I'd really like to see his reunion with an old Peggy Carter in one of the sequels.