Captain America: The First Avenger reviews are beginning to pile up at Rotten Tomatoes a day ahead of the film’s release. Thus far the concensus is the latest Marvel film in The Avengers franchise isn’t quite as good as the previous one.
As of this morning, Rotten Tomatoes was tracking a total of 33 Captain America reviews. Of those, 22 were deemed fresh and 11 rotten for a total score of 67%. That’s not a bad score for a summer blockbuster, but not a great one, either.
There are still many more Captain America reviews to be counted, but thus far the film is tracking slightly behind Marvel’s previous The Avengers installment, Thor. That superhero epic ended up scoring a 77% fresh rating from 246 reviews.
Of note is that even though Roger Ebert trashed basically every aspect of Thor in his review, he gave Captain America a thumbs up despite the film being “preposterous” and “loaded with CGI.” For many, though by no means all, that’s a strong enough endorsement to sell some tickets.
I saw Captain America last night and thought it was an all-around fun summer blockbuster that should be enjoyed up on the big screen with booming audio and a cheering audience. It’s hard to compare Cap to Thor since Kenneth Branagh and Joe Johnston took appropriately different approaches to their superheroes and the tone of which the story is told. In the end, both are competent origin stories that effectively set the stage for something bigger and better to come.
If you’re looking for some star-spangled fun from a star-spangled man then Captain America: The First Avenger will not disappoint.
– Dan Bradley
