Director: Joe Johnston

Writer: Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely (Screenplay) Joe Simon, Jack Kirby (Comic Books)

Starring: Chris Evans, Hayley Atwell, Sebastian Stan, Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving, Dominic Cooper, Richard Armitage

Plot: Steve Rogers, a rejected military soldier transforms into Captain America after taking a dose of a “Super-Soldier serum”. But being Captain America comes at a price as he attempts to take down a war monger and a terrorist organization.

Runtime: 2 Hours 4 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Great Origin Story

Story: Captain America: The First Avenger starts in the middle of World War II as Steve Rogers (Evans) a rejected military soldier because of his size is living in New York where his best friend Bucky (Stan) is about to go back into conflict and America is treating the war as a display. Steve is desperate to help his country, he is given an opportunity by Dr Abraham Erskine (Tucci), which sees him being trained in military training by Peggy Carter (Atwell) and Colonel Chester Phillips (Jones).

Steve is selected for a procedure which will make him a super-soldier because his desires to be a soldier show him to be braver than any other soldiers. Johann Schmidt (Weaving) has been searching for power during the war and this will end up making his search organisation Hydra known to the world. Steve becomes Captain America who will lead the fight in the war inspiring the soldiers and looking to stop Johann attempts at becoming a powerfully enemy.

Thoughts on Captain America: The First Avenger

Characters – Steve Rogers is a small guy from Brooklyn, he wants to join the army, but his size is holding him back, he shows all the strengths of a hero, but this will only get him so far. Given a chance to be a guinea pig for a procedure he gets transformed into a super soldier an icon America can look for war. Once he shows his skills he gets to lead an onslaught on Hydra. Peggy Carter is part of the British side of conflict, she sees the potential in Steve, sees him as different to the normal soldier, while also relating to him as somebody trying to break walls down. Bucky is the best friend of Steve’s he has always stood up for him whenever he needed help, encouraged Steve when everybody doubted him, him being captured is one of the main reasons for Steve to show of his new abilities. Johann Schmidt is the leader of Hydra, he was part of the Nazi war effort, but he has turned to his own desire of power becoming Red Skull a psychotic leader who will kill anyone who fails him as quick as his enemies.

Performances – Chris Evans is great in the leading role, he shows the transformation he takes his character through he goes from the shy want to be soldier to the super soldier. Hayley Atwell is strong playing a woman who has already broken boundaries in her own time. Sebastian Stan is solid enough as the best friend, he best times will come later in the franchise. Hugo Weaving will always make an entertaining villain, which Red Skull is for this franchise.

Story – The story here follows Steve Rogers transform into Captain America a super soldier designed to help fight the war against the Nazis and Hydra, as he must learn to be accepted in the war effort despite being different. This is the origin of Captain America, we see how he went from the skinny short young man, to the super soldier and ever after that needing to go from icon for America to leader of soldiers in the fight. We get to bring in a new villainous group in Hydra which will one day become one of Captain’s biggest enemies, while also playing into the idea of scientific experiments being part of World War II. For an origin story this is everything you need, seeing the hero become the stronger version of themselves only helps us support his cause.

Action/Sci-Fi – The action in this film comes from the large scale battles which are war based that Captain America finds himself in, they get to show off all his skills, while keeping most of the action in the realms of possibilities. The sci-fi side of the film shows how the technology would come to make conflict on a different scale.

Settings – The film keeps the settings simple, we see the New York setting for the Brooklyn boy, while also jumping into the war like situations Captain America finds himself preparing to fight in.

Special Effects – The effects through this film are wonderful, from the CGI used to make Chris Evans small, to the explosive power involved with the new weapons the world could be about to experience.

Scene of the Movie – Captain’s first mission.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – A kiss goodbye.

Final Thoughts – This is another entertaining origin story, it brings us yet another character with his own qualities that makes him stand out from the others and continue to world build.

Overall: Origin story with a bang.

Rating

Director: Rob York

Writer: Scott Baird, Rob York (Screenplay)

Starring: Brandon Ray Olive, K. Danor Gerald, Whitney Palmer, Matthew Mercer, Nicola Posener, D.L. Walker

Plot: After NASA picks up a trio of mysterious signals from within our own solar system, astronaut Roger Nelson is dispatched on a multi-year solo mission aboard the Magellan spacecraft to investigate the sources.

Tagline – The universe knew we were coming.

Runtime: 1 Hour 43 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Interesting Sci-Fi Film

Story: Magellan starts when NASA picks up a trio of signals coming from with our own Solar System, they want to investigate them and turn to astronaut Commander Roger Nelson (Olive) to go on this mission, one which will see him go on a solo mission for ten plus years, leaving his wife Abigail (Palmer) behind with his connection being Becker (Gerald) at mission control.

Once Roger reaches Titan one of the moons of Saturn he locates the first signal, a mysterious orb which gives Roger a strange draw, to make matters worse his wife is suffering back home and we are left to wonder if the sacrifice will be worth it and just what will he discover?

Thoughts on Magellan

Characters – Commander Roger Nelson is the astronaut that is selected for the solo mission one that could easily redefine human history, he simply can’t say no to it even if it means leaving his wife for ten plus years. Roger gets to investigate the location solo while keeping his sanity on the isolated mission with his only communication through the transmission he receives. Becker is the communication with Mission Control, he relays the information from NASA which is one of the two people Roger talks too. Abigail is the wife of Roger that is dealing with her own problems back home struggling with the time away from her husband even if he is doing something wonderful for mankind.

Performances – Brandon Ray Olive does a good job in the leading role, he must do most of the work with most of the film follows him on the solo mission, he keeps our attention which with the wrong actor could easily lose us without a strong performance. In the support roles we follow the actors on camera which is good without needing to do too much.

Story – The story asks the big question, ‘are we alone in the universe’ without going down the line of full alien hunter, invasion or communication. We go down the path of searching for life of other planets or moons which is a path we have been doing in real life, as somebody that would be interested in seeing where science could take us, the slow discovery of anything in space is something that fascinates me and this film keeps us wondering just what could be discovered, without going completely outside the realms of possibilities. The story may have a couple of safe ideas going on with minor moment of peril Roger finds himself which would never be a problem for him on a solo mission and the relationship to the people back home feels like there should have been a lot more communication with NASA.

Mystery/Sci-Fi – The mystery in the film comes from the signals being set to Earth, what do they mean? What are they? Is this sign of life in the universe? These play into the sci-fi side of the film which focuses on finding the answers to spaces biggest questions.

Settings – Most of the film is set on the Magellan the space craft taking Roger across the Solar System, it is a simple craft which does the work needed for the mission without becoming completely tech heavy like we have seen in other film. when we get to planets or moons we can clearly see that this is the films weakness when it comes to the effects used to create the worlds.

Special Effects – Thee effects here are the weak point of the film, we can let the film away with these flaws though because the story is interesting.

Scene of the Movie – The next step.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – The effects when docking.

Final Thoughts – This is one of those sci-fi films which does ask the big questions and becomes fascinating to watch, sure it does have a few issues with special effects, but the story keeps us wanting more and more.

Overall: Fascinating story.

Rating