Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Captain America: The First Avenger on Blu-ray

Marvel's first big budget Captain America film gives us the origin of  Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) through he days in WWII and even his reappearance in present time. Evans is terrific in the role and Captain America: The First Avenger provides just the right mix of action, earnestness, and cheesy sentiment. For more the film itself check out my original review.

The film worked slightly better for me on Blu-ray. The CGI effect of skinny Steve Rogers was more believable and a couple of the sequences I had slight problems with felt more natural the second time around. I still have a few issues with the film including the awkward slow motion jumps Cap makes in front of explosions, the lack of Nazis, the clumsy sequence where our hero gets captured by the Red Skull's (Hugo Weaving) men, and the costume still has far too many unnecessary straps.

The extras on the Blu-ray/DVD combo pack include another Clark Gregg short "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor's Hammer," deleted scenes (including the longer ending that thankfully wasn't used), trailers, a short commercial for The Avengers, and commentary by director Joe Johnston, cinematographer Shelly Johnson, and editor Jeffrey Ford.

The Blu-ray also includes a set of featurettes on translating the look of Captain America to film, incorporating Bucky (Sebastian Stan) and the Howling Commandos (Neal McDonoughDerek LukeJJ FeildKenneth ChoiBruno Ricci) into the movie, the transformation sequence of skinny Steve Rogers into Captain America, the futuristic 40's technology used in the film by Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper) and H.Y.D.R.A., creating the look of the Red Skull for the film, and Captain America co-creator Joe Simon talks about the creation of and origin of the character.

The film looks great on Blu-ray and not only does it deliver a good story, but it's a faithful interpretation of the character that fans have been clamoring for that should work for the entire family. It even has a nice message for the kids.

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