Written by Stephen Tolkin
Directed by Albert Pyun
Runtime 97 min.
3 out of 5
Taking part in a secret super soldier experiment in the 1940s, Steve Rogers becomes the American icon Captain America. After an altercation with the Red Skull, he is trapped in ice for fifty years before being thawed out in 1993. Upon awakening, Steve must come to grips with being a man out of time and also that the Red Skull is still alive and is leader of a powerful crime family. Steve must track down the Red Skull, with each clue giving more insight into his own past and bringing him one step closer to his arch enemy to settle a fight that began half a century before.
This flick is your classic Captain America story, that is, his origin, his World War II beginnings, battling Red Skull, being frozen, awakening in the future and reconnecting with his old enemy who is still active.
I remember seeing this as a kid and liking it. Saw it recently a few years back and still liked it. It’s not the greatest superhero movie, but it still holds its own all these years later.
It’s very much Steve Rogers’s story as he’s Captain America for a little bit then isn’t for a good while, then is again in terms of him getting into costume. As a kid, you don’t care about story and just want to see the superhero. As an adult, you see the big picture so don’t mind the non-costumed parts. It’s a story about a journey, both for Steve and even for Red Skull as you watch Steve wrestle with himself for being from the past and how everything’s changed, and also the different things he finds out as he searches for his enemy.
The Captain America costume is very rubbery, but it’s way better than the one that appeared in the 1979 movies and looks pretty good overall. The shield rocks and when Captain America throws it, it’s got that cool swooshing-through-the-air sound effect, adding to its power.
I was totally fine with Matt Salinger as Steve Rogers. He had that all-American sensibility about him, was naïve in the right ways, learned in others, and filled out those big red boots nicely.
This is a solid Marvel movie that was made well before the whole Marvel Cinematic Universe of today and should be on the shelves of every superhero movie enthusiast out there.
Recommended.
