Captain America: The First Avenger [Includes Digital Copy] [4K Ultra HD Blu-ray/Blu-ray] [2011]

As I left off with Thor, I have been a fan so far, enjoying each film so far in the series though with several flaws, namely the lack of a strong or truly memorable villain and lackluster third acts. Does Captain America right the wrongs of the previous four films or does it continue the downward slide of poor third acts? Opening up in the midst of WWII, Steve Rogers is desperate to join the fight. He is a classic 4F case, short, skinny and of ill-health. His friend Bucky Barnes is already joined the cause, who is shipping out in 24 hours, but that doesn't stop him from going out in style. Steve decides to falsify his enlistment form to get in and is thought to be in trouble, but is instead confronted by a Dr. Abraham Erskine. Erskine admires Steve's will and honesty and is chosen along with a few recruits to test for the "Super Soldier" program, where he trains under the scrutinous eye of Col. Philips (A very fun Tommy Lee Jones) and Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell). Despite not being physically fit, he does impress with his intelligence, gumption and bravery. After being chosen to go through with the procedure, he is transformed into a tall, muscular soldier, who not only has undergone a physical change, but a molecular one as well. On the other side of the Atlantic, Johann Schmidt (AKA Red Skull played by Hugo Weaving) is planning on surpassing the 3rd Reich and is planning on ruling the world with his advanced weaponry developed under HYDRA. After sabotaging the lab and killing Erskine, Rogers is eager to go after HYDRA but is instead pushed to being a face for the war effort, Captain America, which is a funny montage of a great 40's song, short newsreels and inspiring millions to join the effort. After a demoralizing USO show in Italy and learning of Barnes' team being captured by HYDRA, Rogers decides to solely infiltrate HYDRA's factory, with Howard Stark (Tony's father) and Carter fly him in behind enemy lines. Successfully capturing their technology and freeing 400 men, Cap doubles down on Schmidt and he goes after HYDRA, but will it be enough to prevent world domination? If you didn't the tagline of the summary, then you have no idea how much I loved this film. The penultimate film before The Avengers was released, this was simply a great comic book film. Starting off, Chris Evans is Captain America. He exudes the classic American do-gooder, by being brave, strong, moral and not afraid to fight for what's right. Atwell does a great job as Agent Carter, not only just a pretty face, but a smart, confident and strong presence and a role-model for any female fans of comic book films. Jones is fun as the colonel, and Cooper is fun as Stark. Stanley Tucci is probably my favorite performance in the film, making Dr. Erskine a living, breathing character with such a small amount of screen time. Which brings me to Red Skull. What did I think of him? Well, I loved how totally evil he is, completely consumed by rage and evil but Weaving doesn't do much beyond a few evil glares and snarling with his lines. He's done this before, and it shows, but he still sells it well enough. But how does the story fare? Actually its quite engaging and gripping, with the story being familiar of a guy gaining powers and saves the world, but with some great lines, plot moving along at a nice clip and some smart, well-written action (C/O Chrostopher Markus & Stephen McFeely), its no wonder its one of my faves. And who can forget Joe Johnston directing? He is an unfortunately overlooked director most of the time, having not only directed several classics like Jumanji and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, but also an Oscar-winning Visual F/X artist, knowing full and well to skillfully blend practical and digital effects, as well as knowing that the effects are nothing without a great story and characters to use with them. His experience with the time period with another 40s inspired comic book film, The Rocketeer, is also greatly appreciated and welcome. Everything else ranging from the 40's-styled cinematography, period set design, sumptuous visual effects and a great score all blend to an awesome popcorn flick. Of course, how did the ending fare after all the praise? Actually quite well, with the 3rd act sneaking up on me a tad, and the denouement of the Red Skull feeling underwhelming, but the emotion of how Rogers saves the world is well done and ends with a fantastic that I won't spoil here. Overall, my favorite film of the origin films of Phase One and probably the entire MCU. Moving on to the PQ/AQ, I'll just start by saving this is a demo worthy 2D presentation that does look pasty with the period lighting, the colors are nicely saturated, detailed image (Sourced from a digital shoot with several scenes shot on 35mm film) with an awesome 7.1 DTS-HD track that balances the explosions, pings of the shield bouncing on the enemies, dialogue and music balancing out beautifully. Moving on to the 3D, I was very skeptical of the added dimension, since the Thor 3D wasn't anything special and largely an unneeded experience so I went in with lowered expectations. The opening logo looked amazing of course, but then past the logos, I was greeted with an overall nice 3D picture, that had several scenes of convincing depth, natural spacing of fore, mid and background objects and even several moments of the "comin' right at ya" scenes, but still plagued by several scenes of darkness that flattens to the point of me pulling off the specs just to check if they were okay. Nice enough for a post-conversion, though don't spend $42.99 on this disc for the 3D alone. Extras wise, this is a nice package starting with an audio commentary with Johnston, cinematographer Shelly Johnson and editor Jeff Ford. For his first commentary, Johnston does quite well, though mainly technically oriented with nice insight to editing, directing, camera work and more, it is just an average track worth at least a listen. Next up is Marvel's 2nd One-Shot, "A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to Thor's Hammer" a 4 minute long piece that is superior to The Consultant and is fun to see Agent Coulson do more than just talk and pulling a Caruso (Dramatically removing his sunglasses). Next up are 6 featurettes that are as follows: - Outfitting a Hero - a 10-minute look at the costumes - Howling Commandos - a 6-minute look at Cap's allies he saved from a HYDRA work camp - Heightened Technology - a 5-minute look at the futuristic weapons used by HYDRA in the film - The Transformation - an 8-minute look on how they shrunk Evans for the role of Rogers pre-serum - Behind the Skull - a 10-minute look at the creation of the makeup and casting the role and last but not least - Captain America's Origin - a 4-minute look at the creation of the comic book. Next up is The Assembly begins,, a short look on the last film of Phase One, The Avengers. 5 minutes of deleted scenes with optional commentary, trailers for the film and video game complete the solid set of extras. Lastly, there are no 3D specific extras, and there is a DVD and digital copy included. All in all, a nice release with terrific PQ/AQ, decent 3D, and a generous amount of extras for a terrific film and is a must own. I will return for The Avengers!

“Captain America: The First Avenger” is a great addition to the burgeoning Marvel Cinematic Universe canon, and a great comic book movie, and an awesome action film in general. It certainly atones for the past sins of the Captain, mainly brief and disastrous sojourns in the 70s and one in the 90s. Google it if ye dare! This film, unlike many screen interpretations of Cap which often jump straight to modern-day heroics, was wisely done as a period piece, set in the twilight hours of World War II. We see Steve Rogers before he dons the red, white, and blue, and therefore become much more invested in his character before he was a Super Soldier. Great performances are to be had all around. Chris Evans gets Steve’s humility and all-around good guy charm. The ideals and attitude shown here prove that this was the Greatest Generation. Hayley Atwell does fine as Cap’s interest Peggy Carter, and here she’s in the army as well, putting her in the action instead of the girlfriend back home as she is normally shown, and also oddly British for some reason. Tommy-Lee Jones is as entertaining as one could expect as Army General Tommy-Lee Jones. Yeah, it’s one of those roles, but in a good way. Likewise, Hugo Weaving is great as German Hugo Weaving. But seriously, Weaving was a great choice for Cap’s eternal nemesis the villainous Red Skull. As a villain, Red Skull is pretty standard and doesn’t offer many surprises (even the face reveal was coming a mile away). Toby Jones did good as scientist Arnim Zola, and there was a cool easter egg of his comic appearance. Stanley Tucci shows his acting versatility as Dr. Abraham Erskine. All of the Howling Commandos (sans Nick Fury, contrary to comic tradition) are great too. One of the criticisms of this film is that it is a full-length feature ad for “The Avengers.” Well, there definitely was one after the credits, and it is in the title. The McGuffin of the movie exists to set up “The Avengers”, but despite all this, I believe it holds up on its own as an origin story of one of Marvel’s oldest and greatest heroes. The set-up is well paced and the action scenes deliver on the awesomeness, particularly Cap’s signature shield throwing. There is an unfortunate montage that glazes over much of the battles between the good guys and bad guys, but that’s really my only major gripe with the film. There is a suspension of disbelief that must be had in the plot, but not to the point where it breaks, and the source material forces much of it. Overall, Captain America delivers as a great superhero film. It is in many ways a set-up for “The Avengers,” but it’s a good set-up that can stand on its own.

Great movie and nice Steelbook! Again, Marvel did a great job with this 4K release! I hope they continue the 4K Steelbooks so I can complete my Marvel UHD/Blu-ray/digital/Steelbook collection. I know they are at least doing the other two Captain America movies because they are already listed on here but there are no pictures up or release date as of now. I purposely didn't buy any of the Marvel movies when they first came out because I wanted all of them in 4K. As for the movie, it's Marvel Captain America, if you haven't seen it yet where have you been? Even if you're not into comics or superheroes it's still a great movie so at least give it a chance! Alot of people say Cap. America trilogy are the best films in the MCU but while I do agree they are very good, with "Civil War" being my favorite of the three, I wouldn't say they are the best. Captain America is just too much of a "good" guy for me. But even after saying that I still recommend this and the other two Cap. movies. Red Skull is such a great villain so watch it for him if nothing else. Also, all the Marvel movies are connected so you kinda need to watch it for that reason too.

This is a great movie! This is one of the few comics to screen translations that I would say is worthy of a nomination for Best Picture (Batman Begins and The Dark Knight are also Oscar worthy). Set in WWII, this movie tells the origin and the first adventures of the most patriotic of all super-heroes, Captain America! We see his beginnings as a brave but sickly man who is transformed into a heroic power-house by top secret science. He then goes off to the European front to stop the evil Red Skull from unlocking a power he planned to use to conquer the world! Captain America blends drama, action and heroism in one brilliantly written and superbly directed movie. Chris Evans is great as Steve Rogers/Captain America, Hugo weaving turns in an Oscar worthy performance as the Red Skull and Tommy Lee Jones does his usual great job. There's even a cameo by Stan Lee himself! The visual effects are amazing. A seamless blending of live action and CGI. It's incredible how they were able to make Chris Evans look so small and skinny! The make-up on the Red Skull is some of the best I've ever seen. This movie is extremely faithful to the Marvel comics. Marvel Studios did a superb job of bringing one of their oldest and most recognizable characters to the big screen in a way that long-time readers of Marvel comics can enjoy. This is truly like a classic Marvel comic come to life. There are references to Iron Man and Thor and the story flows nicely into the upcoming 'Avengers' movie! For action and drama, Captain America can't be beat. 'Nuff said?

I was curious why they were releasing Captain America Steelbooks in 4K first and not the popular Iron Man which probably lends itself to the upgrade more with its more tech look. Cap is my favorite character in the Marvel Universe but I think Marvel is trying to celebrate him before his “end” and I’m ok with that. They are executing the Steelbook treatment very well with all 3 movies receiving a “vintage” border and shield motifs on the back. I love when a series of movies has consistency in design. The finish looks like a light gloss with great artwork choice. No title on front but I don’t think it needs it at this point. It makes you want to get all 3 of Cap’s movies. In addition to the special packaging, the main draw is the inclusion of the 4K version of the movie. I would rate the upgrade a solid 3.5 out of 5. Not significant but definitely future-proofing your viewing. All in all, this is a great start to the Captain America re-releases and will definitely be sought after.

I can see why everyone is praising Captain America in some way. Cap manages to deliver a little bit of everything and does it with style and integrity. This extremely talented cast fit each character perfectly, both large and especially the smaller roles. The story itself is told in a masterful, crisp manner. The dialogue is witty and the humor works its way seamlessly in to the natural order of the story. The film certainly is smart but it’s fun first and foremost. Comic book style slugfests are certainly part of the fun but are inserted as a vehicle for the story and not just to see CGI things explode. Things aren’t blown up just for the sake of seeing them go boom. What makes Captain America as good as any Marvel film is the fact that it’s a fine film for kids but it's even greater if you're an intelligent adult. How many movies can pull that off? Like Thor and the Iron Man films, this is movie making of the most entertaining order and it easily deserves all the praise it has generated from both fans and critics alike. It makes anyone long for that Avengers film to be sure.

This first Captain America is a classic Marvel film that can be watched over and over again. The new 4K release, while not making giant leaps in quality over the original Blu-ray, does give us a clearer sharper and image with some enhanced colors. The Atmos audio is nicely immersive but like all of the Marvel movies (and others) released by Disney over the past two years, you have to crank your AVR's volume up to get the most out of it. Disney's sound engineers seem to have no clue as to how to properly encode the soundtracks of big action films. That aside, if you're your a fan of the Cap movies (and who isn't), this new 4K release is a nice upgrade over the Blu-ray.

Chances are you have seen the movie and checking out the review to see if its worth the 4K jump. For the right price, absolutely, it looks great and the HDR and Audio improvements make it a worthwhile purchase. However they have burned me too many times with these tricksy launches. The first movie comes out and i buy to support physical 4K releases and shortly thereafter the trilogy gets released and i should have waited to save money. Wait the trilogy isn't released here, only in the UK for 1/2 the the US price! thankfully 4K is region free, so in the future I'll wait for the inevitable Iron Man trilogy release.