I'm a week late with this post. Saw this last Wednesday in Las Vegas, but the Rio hotel charges too much for internet service, so you guys just had to wait until I got back.Remember the end credit scene of "Thor" earlier this year... the scene where Nick Fury explains that he has found a "Cosmic Cube" and they don't know how to harness its power? This movie is basically the setup for that.
It's 1942, and Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving), the leader of HYDRA (Hitler's secret science division), displays his newest find, a cube of immense power, stolen from Odin's treasure room. Meanwhile, in New York City, skinny little Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) becomes 4-F for the umpteenth time, and cannot join the military. Soon he catches the eye of Dr. Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci), who with the military's help, has created a "Super Soldier" formula, that can turn ordinary men into nearly invincible fighting machines. Rogers is tested under the command of Colonel Phillips (Tommy Lee Jones) in order to determine just how good a soldier Rogers will be.
Dr. Erskine had developed the formula in Germany, and had first tested it on Schmidt, but since it had not been perfected yet, the side effects brought out the evil nature of Schmidt, and turned him into a "Red Skull". Erskine then fled to the US, and perfected the formula here.
When Schmidt (or "Red Skull" as he is now known), learned of Erskine's defection, he ordered the doctor to be assassinated. Soon after Rogers is injected with the formula, Erskine is killed, leaving the military with just the one Super Soldier, soon to be known as Captain America.
Cap is then used as military propaganda to raise the morale of the troops, and is a performer in a stage show in Italy, when he learns that his best friend and a number of soldiers are now prisoners behind enemy lines. In secret, Cap successfully leads a rescue mission to save the men, breaking into a top secret HYDRA base and confronting the Red Skull.
Now convinced of his worth to the military, Cap is allowed to continue to destroy HYDRA bases, in order to stop the Red Skull's plans to take over the world via the Cosmic Cube. In a final confrontation with the Red Skull, Cap learns of his plans to destroy the US with the Cube, and must save America while recovering the Cube for the good guys.
If you had to rank this super-hero movie with the others released so far this year, this would rank up there with "X-Men: First Class". I really liked "Thor", but not quite as much as I did this movie. And although the advanced screening I saw did not have the post credit scene, you'll need to stay a bit longer to catch the trailer for "The Avengers" movie due next summer.
I'd give this 124 minute movie my highest recommendation for this all star, all stripe event... a full fledged "A" for effort, just like the one on Cap's headgear. This movie is so patriotic, it makes Jack Bauer look like a Nazi by comparison.
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