Captain America: The First Avenger

As part of Marvel Studios' buildup to the Avengers movie in 2012, they have released their final prequel movie Captain America: The First Avenger. Having not read a single issue of the comic, but only knowing his origin from the series and a couple of his enemies, I wasn't really sure what to expect. Thankfully, Captain America as an origin story works heavily in its favor and leaves a great impression in the future of superhero movies.

A grand majority of the movie's run time is dedicated to showing us what Captain America was like in his original time period, the early 1940's. Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) has been turned down by the U.S. Army five times due to his array of health issues. He is physically weak and can't do much of anything when he is bullied by those who are stronger, but he does have plenty of courage and bravery. Dr. Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci) manages to catch wind of this and gets him into a "super soldier" program, where one man will be selected for a special treatment. Colonel Chester Phillips (Tommy Lee Jones) is unconvinced by Erskine's choice, but is convinced otherwise when Steve throws himself onto a dummy grenade, displaying bravery where others would cower. Rogers ends up being picked and undergoes the treatment, becoming taller and more muscular. His enhanced physical abilities are displayed when he takes down a Nazi, thus earning him fame. Steve is now a national hero, touring the country as Captain America to boost morale. This doesn't last long, as he eventually goes on the front lines to take down the organization known as Hydra. Led by Red Skull (Hugo Weaving), they possess advanced technology powered by something known as the tesseract, which is said to contain power from the Norse gods.

The movie as a whole is executed masterfully, with a great script and superb acting. Chris Evans and Hugo Weaving pull of their characters in a way that makes them believable, although Red Skull doesn't get too much of a spotlight. While it may have been better to see more of him, it's also fair to say that enough was shown for the audience to know who he is and what he is up to. Compared to previous Marvel Studios movies like Thor, I was actually able to get more emotionally invested in the characters and wonder what was going to happen to them next. However the movie seems to move at a quicker pace within the latter half, but the action that unfolds is amazing to watch, coupled with a great score that matches the mood.

In order to portray the young Steve Rogers, the studio needed to digitally make Chris Evans' body smaller. This amazingly went undetectable, which shows a lot of dedication in the special effects department. Speaking of which, every other effect in the movie was shown off with the same amazing attention to detail. It all looked and felt surprisingly realistic, especially for the setting, and I look forward to seeing the same treatment in future movies.

Another aspect that deserves equal praise is how the movie makes homages to the comic book, mainly for the costume. This is probably the only thing I would immediately recognize from Captain America, and they injected the original costume plus an older shield realistically into the plot. I also appreciated how they introduced his more iconic circular shield, which I thought was really cool to see in action. As for the new costume, I can't really complain about the design. When it comes down to something like that I normally just go along with it. I think it looks good anyway, and it was fun to see how they still integrated the wings into the helmet design.

The scene after the credits is worth staying around for, as it helps to set up the eventual crossover flick. However, the real meat comes from what follows immediately after: the first ever trailer for the Avengers movie. Just like Back to the Future Part II did for Part III, we get a first look at footage from the next movie, except here we see every character in the Marvel Movie Universe, sans Hulk, in the same room and even interacting with each other. It's well worth waiting through the credits to see.

Captain America: The First Avenger is an excellent movie filled with a nice blend of action and drama, and even the occasional humor. Fans of the actual comic may get the most enjoyment out of this, especially those who can spot references to the source material. Non-readers will also walk out of the theater happy since it also serves as a great summer blockbuster on its own. Either way, you won't regret going to see it.

Review: Dragon Age II (PC)

Okay, first review, let’s try not to screw this up too bad.

I, like most players and critics, was skeptical when the sequel to BioWare’s epic RPG Dragon Age: Origins was released about a year and a half later. It looked like it was going to suffer the fate of KotOR II and be incredibly rushed and blatantly unfinished upon its release. I didn’t really want to find out, personally, but I received it as a gift and decided why not try it?

At first, I was pleasantly surprised. The narrative took no time at all to start, and kept going at full force throughout the entire game. The story, I think, was easily the best point of this game. It breaks out from Origins’ archetypal ‘go to these areas and do the same basic thing in different ways’ story that bugged me to no end about the first game. In effect, Dragon Age II actually has a story in place of a poorly-disguised attempt at making a game playable.

That is not to say that this game is flawless. The rushed development is hard to detect at first, and sometimes it even looks like they somehow managed to spend more time on this one than its predecessor. However, it soon becomes apparent, when you realize that this cave you’re in right now is the same one that you went to for that quest five levels ago. Throughout the game, the same mansion, cave, and sewer map is reused to the point that you only consent to go through them to advance the story.

This may be forgivable, though. To add on to the already impressive story, there is a wealth of clever, well-written dialogue and very deep interactions with nearly every main character in the game. No companion presents his or herself as just being along for the ride. You even receive quests to do nothing more than talk to a companion and advance their subplots. This hardly requires extra effort; the conversations start themselves at the right moments. You never have to worry about initiating the dialogues on your own. And the time that you spend on these little conversations is well worth it; the game’s usually dark tone is underscored with a little bit of comic relief in virtually all of these interactions.

The only feature of this game that I couldn’t make my mind up on was the combat system. Fights look like they’re going to go by much faster than they did in Origins, but the new speed of the system is balanced out by almost every battle assaulting you with at least two waves of additional enemies. Not only does this feel like an attempt to pad the length of what could be short, easy fights, but this can cause immense amounts of lag on an unprepared system. However, if you plan out your fights well, you will find yourself cutting through wave after wave with little difficulty (unless you decide to play on the ‘Nightmare’ setting).

Overall, this game was a solid follow-up to a great game, but it feels like it’s missing something (maybe some varied assets in level design). If you play games for the story, I would definitely recommend this epic piece of storytelling. Otherwise, it may not really be worth your time.