Starring: Chris Evans, Hayley Atwell, Sebastian Stan, Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving, Dominic Cooper, Richard Armitage, Stanley Tucci, Samuel L. Jackson, Toby Jones, Neal McDonough, Derek Luke, Kenneth Choi, JJ Field
OUR RATING: ★★★★☆
Story:
MCU superhero action adventure directed by Joe Johnston. Set during World War II, Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) follows Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), who wants to do his part and join America’s armed forces, but the military rejects him because of his small stature. Everything changes when Dr. Erskine (Stanley Tucci) recruits him for the secret Project Rebirth. Proving his extraordinary courage, wits and conscience, Steve undergoes the experiment and his weak body is suddenly enhanced into the maximum human potential. Joining forces with Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) and Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), Steve leads the fight against the Nazi-backed HYDRA organization.
Our Favorite Quotes:
'A strong man, who has known power all his life, will lose respect for that power. But a weak man knows the value of strength, and knows compassion.' - Dr. Abraham Erskine (Captain America: The First Avenger) Click To Tweet
Best Quotes
Search Team Leader: [in the Arctic] You got any ideas what this thing is exactly?
SHIELD Lieutenant: I don’t know. It’s probably a weather balloon.
Search Team Leader: I don’t think so. You know we don’t have the equipment for a job like this.
SHIELD Tech: How long before we can start craning it out?
Search Team Leader: I don’t think you quite understand. You guys are going to need one hell of a crane!
SHIELD Lieutenant: [after finding the frozen shield of Captain America] Give me a line to the Colonel.
Voice from Earpiece: It’s 3 AM, sir.
SHIELD Lieutenant: I don’t care what time it is. This one’s waited long enough.
Johann Schmidt: [1942 Norway, after breaking into the tower] It has taken me a long time to find this place. You should be commended. Pick him up. I think that you are man of great vision. And in this way we are much alike.
Tower Keeper: I am nothing like you.
Johann Schmidt: No, of course. But what others see as superstition, you and I know to be a science.
Tower Keeper: What you seek is just a legend.
Johann Schmidt: Then why make such an effort to conceal it.
Johann Schmidt: [smashes the glass cube] The Tesseract was the jewel of Odings treasure room. It’s not something one buries. But I think it is close, yes?
Tower Keeper: I cannot help you.
Johann Schmidt: No. But maybe you can help your village. You must have some friends out there. Some little grandchildren perhaps. I have no need for them to die.
Johann Schmidt: [referring to the carving of the tree and uncovers the Tesseract] Yggdrasil, the tree of the world. Guardian of wisdom and fate also. And the Fuhrer sends us for trinkets in the desert. You have never seen this, have you?
Tower Keeper: It’s not for the eyes of ordinary men.
Johann Schmidt: Exactly. Give the order to open fire.
Tower Keeper: Fool! You cannot control the power you hold. You will burn!
Johann Schmidt: I already have.
4F Doctor: [looking at Steve’s file and list of health issues] Sorry, son.
Steve Rogers: Look, just give me a chance.
4F Doctor: You’ll be ineligible on your asthma alone.
Steve Rogers: Is there anything I can do?
4F Doctor: You’re doing it. I’m saving your life.
Loud Jerk: [beating Steve up in an alley] You just don’t know when to give up, do you?
Steve Rogers: I can do this all day.
James ‘Bucky’ Barnes: [after saving Steve from the loud jerk] Sometimes, I think you like getting punched.
Steve Rogers: I had him on the ropes.
James ‘Bucky’ Barnes: [seeing Steve’s enlistment form] How many times is this? Ah, you’re from Paramus now. You know, it’s illegal to lie on your enlistment form. And seriously, Jersey?
James ‘Bucky’ Barnes: Come on, man! It’s my last night. I got to get you cleaned up.
Steve Rogers: Why? Where are we going?
James ‘Bucky’ Barnes: The future.
James ‘Bucky’ Barnes: You’re about to be the last eligible man in New York. You know, there’s three and a half million women here.
Steve Rogers: Hell, I’d settle for just one.
James ‘Bucky’ Barnes: Good thing I took care of that.
Steve Rogers: [referring to his date] What did you tell her about me?
James ‘Bucky’ Barnes: Only the good stuff.
James ‘Bucky’ Barnes: You really going to do this again?
Steve Rogers: Well, it’s a fair. I’m going to try my luck.
James ‘Bucky’ Barnes: As who? Steve from Ohio? They’ll catch you. Worse, they’ll actually take you.
Steve Rogers: Look, I know you don’t think I can do this.
James ‘Bucky’ Barnes: This isn’t a back alley, Steve. It’s a war!
Steve Rogers: I know it’s a war. You don’t have to tell me.
James ‘Bucky’ Barnes: Why are you so keen to fight? There are so many important jobs.
Steve Rogers: What am I going to do? Collect scrap metal in my little red wagon.
James ‘Bucky’ Barnes: Yes! Why not?
Steve Rogers: I’m not going to sit in a factory, Bucky. Bucky, come on!
Steve Rogers: There are men laying down their lives. I got no right to do any less than them. That’s what you don’t understand. This isn’t about me.
James ‘Bucky’ Barnes: Right. Because you got nothing to prove.
James ‘Bucky’ Barnes: Don’t do anything stupid until I get back.
Steve Rogers: How can I? You’re taking all the stupid with you.
James ‘Bucky’ Barnes: You’re a punk.
Steve Rogers: [as they embrace] Jerk. Be careful. Don’t win the war till I get there!
'Wars are fought with weapons, but they are won by men.' - Col. Chester Phillips (Captain America: The First Avenger) Click To Tweet
Dr. Abraham Erskine: [as Steve is trying to get enlisted again] So, you want to go overseas? Kill some Nazis.
Steve Rogers: Excuse me?
Dr. Abraham Erskine: [flipping through Steve’s file] Where are you from Mr. Rogers? Mm? Is it New Haven? Or Paramus? Five exams in five different cities.
Steve Rogers: That might not be the right file.
Dr. Abraham Erskine: No, it’s not the exams I’m interested in. It’s the five tries. But you didn’t answer my question. Do you want to kill Nazis?
Steve Rogers: Is this a test?
Dr. Abraham Erskine: Yes.
Steve Rogers: I don’t want to kill anyone. I don’t like bullies. I don’t care where they’re from.
Dr. Abraham Erskine: Well, there are already so many big men fighting this war. Maybe what we need now is the little guy, huh?
Dr. Abraham Erskine: I can offer you a chance. Only a chance.
Steve Rogers: I’ll take it.
Dr. Abraham Erskine: Good. So where is the little guy from, actually?
Steve Rogers: Brooklyn.
Dr. Abraham Erskine: Congratulations, soldier.
[Steve opens up the file and sees that he’s been stamped as accepted]
Dr. Arnim Zola: [after successfully collecting power from the Tesseract] The exchange is stable. Amazing! This energy where its collected could power my design, all my designs. This will change the war.
Johann Schmidt: Dr. Zola, this will change the world.
Peggy Carter: Gentlemen, I’m Agent Carter. I supervise all operations of this division.
Gilmore Hodge: What’s with the accent, Queen Victoria? Thought I was signing up for the US Army.
Peggy Carter: What’s your name, soldier?
Gilmore Hodge: Gilmore Hodge, your Majesty.
Peggy Carter: Step forward, Hodge. Put your right foot forward.
Gilmore Hodge: Are we dancing? Because I got a few moves I know you’ll like.
[suddenly Peggy punches him hard in the face]
Col. Chester Phillips: [to the new army recruits] General Patton has said that wars are fought with weapons, but they are won by men. We are going to win this war because we have the best men. And because they’re going to get better. Much better. The Strategic Scientific Reserve is an allied effort made up of the best minds in the free world. Our goal is to create the best army in history. But every army starts with one man.
Col. Chester Phillips: [addressing the new army recruits] At the end of this week we will choose that man. He will be the first in a new breed of super-soldiers. And they, will personally escort Adolf Hitler to the gates of Hell.
Col. Chester Phillips: You’re not really thinking about picking Rogers, are you?
Dr. Abraham Erskine: I am more than just thinking about it. He is the clear choice.
Col. Chester Phillips: When you brought a ninety pounds asthmatic onto my army base, I let it slide. I thought, what the hell? Maybe he’ll be useful to you, like a gerbil. I never thought you’d pick him.
Col. Chester Phillips: [referring to Steve] Stick a needle in that kids arm and it’s going to go right through him. Look at that? He’s making me cry.
Dr. Abraham Erskine: I am looking for qualities beyond the physical.
Col. Chester Phillips: Do you know how long it took to set up this project?
Dr. Abraham Erskine: Yeah, I know.
Col. Chester Phillips: And all the groveling I had to do in front of senator what’s his name.
Dr. Abraham Erskine: I know. I am well aware of your efforts.
Col. Chester Phillips: Then throw me a bone. Hodge passed every test we gave him. He’s big, he’s fast, he obeys orders. He’s a soldier.
Dr. Abraham Erskine: He’s a bully.
Col. Chester Phillips: You don’t win wars with niceness, doctor.
Col. Chester Phillips: [throws the grenade towards the new recruits] You win war with guts. Grenade!
Steve Rogers: [as the other soldiers leave, he jumps the grenade] Get away! Get back!
Soldier’s voice: [as nothing happens] It’s a dummy grenade.
Steve Rogers: Is this is a test?
Col. Chester Phillips: [to Erskine] He’s still skinny.
Steve Rogers: Can I ask you a question?
Dr. Abraham Erskine: Just one?
Steve Rogers: Why me?
Dr. Abraham Erskine: I suppose that is the only question that matters.
Dr. Abraham Erskine: [to Steve] So many people forget that the first country that the Nazi’s invaded was their own. You know, after the last war the, my people struggled. They felt weak. They felt small. And then Hitler comes along with the marching, and the big show, and the flags, and the, and the… And he hears of me, my work and he finds me. And he says, you, he says you will us strong. Well, I am not interested. So he sends the head of Hydra, his research division. A brilliant scientist by the name of Johann Schmidt. Now, Schmidt is a member of the inner circle and he’s ambitious. He and Hitler share a passion for a cult power and Teutonic myth. Hitler uses his fantasies to inspire his followers. But for Schmidt it is not fantasy. For him, it is real. He has become convinced that there is a great power in the earth, left there by the Gods, waiting to be seized by a superior man. So when he hears about my formula and what it can do, he cannot resist.
Dr. Abraham Erskine: [referring to Schmidt injecting himself with the serum] Schmidt must become that superior man.
Steve Rogers: Did it make him stronger?
Dr. Abraham Erskine: Yeah. But, there were other effects. The serum was not ready. But more important, the man. The serum amplifies everything that is inside. So, good becomes great. Bad becomes worse. This is why you were chosen. Because a strong man, who has known power all his life, will lose respect for that power. But a weak man knows the value of strength, and knows compassion.
Steve Rogers: Thanks. I think.
Dr. Abraham Erskine: Whatever happens tomorrow, you must promise me one thing. That you will stay who you are. Not a perfect soldier, but a good man.
Steve Rogers: [as he’s about to drink] To the little guys.
Dr. Abraham Erskine: No! No! Wait! Wait! What I am doing? No! You have a procedure tomorrow. No fluids.
Steve Rogers: Alright. We’ll drink it after.
Dr. Abraham Erskine: No! I don’t have procedure tomorrow. Drink it after! Drink it now!
Trailer: