Trailer Tuesday: Captain America - The First Avenger

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About bloody time! While the trailers for comic-to-film adaptations Green Lantern and Thor have been out for months (note to self: profile them at some stage, finally), it's been a long wait for fans eager to catch their first proper look at Captain America: The First Avenger. Well, the trailer finally debuted last week, and I'm happy to say the project is looking pretty good.


I've written quite extensively about the Captain America film before (here, and here). However, just to recap the basics: Based on one of the oldest Marvel Comics characters (dating all the way back to 1940, Captain America tells the story of Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), a weak and sickly young man who achieves his dream of joining the US army when he is accepted for an experimental programme. Rogers is transformed into super soldier Captain America, the pinnacle of human physical capability, and the US Military's greatest asset. And Cap is much needed when cunning Nazi agent Red Skull (Hugo Weaving) hatches a scheme to take over the world using a mysterious, and extremely powerful, cosmic cube.

Hayley Atwell plays Rogers' freedom fighter love interest Peggy Carter, while Tommy Lee Jones is the commander in charge of Cap and the other exceptional soldiers in his unit. Sebastian Stan is in the deceptively unimportant role of Bucky Barnes, Rogers' childhood friend, and potentially jealous "sidekick" once Steve becomes Captain America.


As for the trailer, well, it's a bit too much "origin" and not enough "Cap in action" for my personal tastes. Still though, the retro look of the fantasy technology is great, and that's really one of the big distinct drawcards of Captain America: The First Avenger as a superhero film - its setting in the early 1940s as opposed to present day.

Also in Captain America's favour is its promised tonal similarity to 2008's Iron Man - combining action and some comedy. Speaking of Iron Man, in the trailer above you can even spot Dominic Cooper as Tony Stark's larger-than-life inventor father, Howard. For those who are unfamiliar with the character history of Captain America, and haven't been clued in by the new movie's title, Steve Rogers will be thawed out of cryogenic stasis in our present day to form part of The Avengers - an all-star Marvel superhero team that includes Iron Man, the Hulk, Thor, Hawkeye and more. The highly ambitious Avengers film is set for release on 4 May 2012.

That's still over a year away though. Captain America: The First Avenger opens in the United States on 22 July. Although no exact release date has been announced for South Africa, according to the distributors it will be sometime in August.


Comments

arcainus said…
When I first saw the trailer I thought, what in the wold is Johnny Storm doing in here! Then I realized Chris Evans IS Steve Rogers.

That is the only issue I have with the film. When I got past that, I am totally excited for this! I love marvel! (as my marvel figurine collection states and other stuff)

great post!
12:47 PM
Natasha said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
1:28 PM
Cleric said…
Looks like it could be cool! :)

I'd just love to see the making of it. How they make him so damn skinny through CG face replacement or completely CG skinny guy?! I'd love to know :)
2:34 PM
Dante said…
Looks good. I am excited.
10:22 AM
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