It’s been a bit of an uneven summer so far for comic book movies. “Thor” was a near campy, somewhat enjoyable romp that made tolerable popcorn entertainment but didn’t exactly have us hankering for a sequel, either. “X-Men: First Class” had the scope and stakes not regularly seen in a comic movie, and buoyed by strong performances by James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender, it certainly elevated the genre but was not without some hard to ignore issues. And the less said about the godawful “Green Lantern,” the better. So, can “Captain America: The First Avenger” top off the comic book summer with a bang? The newest trailer suggests the answer is: yes.
Starring Chris Evans, Hugo Weaving, Tommy Lee Jones, Dominic Cooper, Hayley Atwell, Sebastian Stan and Stanley Tucci, the movie goes right back to the start with a WWII origin story that shows patriotic, skinny nerd Steve Rogers getting beefed up into superhero size thanks to Army researchers. It looks to be a rollicking good time, with Evans seeming to have found a role finally worth his salt and director Joe Johnston perhaps redeeming himself for a decade’s worth of crap. Also notable is that Atwell — unlike Natalie Portman, January Jones and Blake Lively before her — looks like she’ll be more than just a pretty face walking around the set. If we have only one problem with this new trailer, it’s that it is pretty much a walkthrough of the entire movie from front to back. Let’s hope Marvel doesn’t pull a ‘First Class’ and kill anticipation for their movie by showing us the whole thing before it hits theaters.
Anyway, fans and non-fans alike should be very happy with this one. “Captain America: The First Avenger” opens on July 22nd. Full trailer below.
