This week we have the Star-Spangled Avenger finally making his way home on Blu-ray! Captain America: The First Avenger hits DVD and Blu-ray today and is our Blu-ray Pick of the Week!
Synopsis:
“Captain America leads the fight for freedom in the action-packed blockbuster starring Chris Evans as the ultimate weapon against evil! When a terrifying force threatens everyone across the globe, the world’s greatest soldier wages war on the evil HYDRA organization, led by the villainous Red Skull (Hugo Weaving, ‘The Matrix’).”
Film Review:
For the last several years Marvel has been knocking their film properties out of the park. Iron Man, The Hulk, Thor – they have all received fantastic movie treatment. Captain America is the last fim in the interlinking string of movies before they all join up in The Avengers next year, and in typical Marvel fashion his solo film more than pleased the masses.
I was a little skeptical of Chris Evan being Cap, but upon seeing the film I couldn’t imagine anyone else taking on that role as well as he did. The supporting cast was also superb and throughout the film I grew quite fond of Tommy Lee Jones’ Colonel Chester Phillips – who arguably had the funniest one-liners in the film. Captain America is full of great actors who fleshed out the supporting characters extremely well including Hayley Atwell, Sebastian Stan, Hugo Weaving, Dominic Cooper, and Stanley Tucci to just name a few.
Captain America: The First Avenger strikes that perfect balance between heart and action. Not only does Cap and the Howling Commandos kick a lot of ass throughout the film, but you actually care about the outcome and are concerned for their well-being. Especially for those versed in comic book lore that know that Bucky Barnes’ fate has already been written, and the film handles his fate very well – it happens unexpectedly and has a profound impact on the rest of the film. A good action film isn’t just all explosions and throwing punches (or shields), but it’s also a good solid story and Captain America excels in this department. Evans’ portrayal of Steve Rogers both before and after his transformation is fantastic. Even once he becomes the bulked up Captain America you can still see that frail young man underneath all that muscle that wants to do right by his country and friends.
I honestly can’t recommend Captain America: The First Avenger enough. It’s another prime example of Marvel handling their movie properties extremely well – something we got a double dose of this year with both, this film and Thor. For those of you that have already seen Captain America, I doubt I need to tell you this is worthy of adding to your Blu-ray collection. For those of you that somehow missed this in theaters, buy this film and watch it immediately.
The Extras:
Captain America: The First Avenger of course comes in a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack and has a lot of special features. My favorite was the Marvel One Shot, “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor’s Hammer”, in which we get to see Agent Coulson finally be a badass. There are of course some deleted scenes, including a few new action sequences that are worth a look. You’ll also find a few “making of” featurettes that cover how Cap’s costume was made, the work that was put into making “Skinny Steve” and Red Skull, a focus on the Howling Commandos and co-creator Joe Simon discussing the creation of Captain America. We also get a look at the upcoming Avengers movies, and while it’s once again more of a tease than really showing anything substantial, it’s different than what was included in the Thor Blu-ray – so it’s nice that they aren’t just rehashing a special feature we’ve already seen.
Captain America: The First Avenger is a fantastic film that stays true to the character and is a great movie no matter how well versed you are in the comic book history of the character. This may be an obvious pick for our Blu-ray Pick of the Week, but I assure you this film will make a great addition to your home entertainment library!
Captain America The First Avenger is available on Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray, and DVD today at Amazon.com!
Honerable Mention:
I would be remiss if I didn’t also note that the Jurassic Park trilogy is also out today on Blu-ray, which comes with hours of special features including all new interviews with Steven Spielberg and Joe Johnston! You can pick this up over at Amazon as well!