Watched on Blu-Ray

Cap's first solo film was far better than I remembered.

When I first saw it several years ago, I had more problems with the film than I do now.

Admittedly, Joe Johnston misses the chance to treat one or the other character relationship, like the friendship between Steve and Bucky (Sebastian Stan) or the relationship between Steve and Peggy (the wonderful Haley Atwell), even more intensively.

Several years later the relationship of the three characters works much better for me, because the other solo movies, the Peggy Carter series and the many references in the Avengers movies have completely established the trio for me.

To be honest, I remember completely forgetting Steve's close friendship with Bucky before I saw "Winter Soldier" in the movies. When the big reveal came out within the second film that Winter Soldier was Cap's old friend Bucky, I was confused because I could only remember some guy falling off a train.

That wouldn't happen to me today. For someone like me back then, who doesn't know anything about the characters yet, the film could be more problematic in this respect.

The other supporting characters are prominently cast with Stanley Tucci, Toby Jones, Tommy Lee Jones or Natalie Dormer. Even David Bradley, Jenna Coleman and Neal McDonough have small appearances. I want to explicitly mention the perfect cast of Dominic Cooper, who belongs to the most casual dudes on the planet for me since Preacher and also gives the character Howard Stark something incredibly casual.

However, during today's rewatch I was a little critical of the fact that Caps' powerful troupe is completely pushed into the background over time. Unfortunately, these characters remained totally pale and I would have liked to know more about them.

The origin story itself, embedded in the convincing 40s setting, is decent. I also think it's good how connections in all directions were made back then. To Thor, to Tony Stark and to the Avengers Initiative - there were already connections everywhere at that time.

The action is solid and only partly too CGI-heavy. They should have done it with less green screen one or the other time to generate a more credible atmosphere. This was solved much better in the sequels.

The villain Red Skull, played by Hugo Weaving, is unfortunately not very interesting. Weaving himself didn't seem to have much to do with the character. The best argument for this thesis is that he didn't want to participate in Infinity War and Endgame.

But the character Steve Rogers convinces. Chris Evans does a great job and his transformation into a hero as well as his use as a propaganda figure is well portrayed. Even today, the little, slender Steve Rogers with Chris Evans' head on still looks absolutely convincing.

The scene at the end, when Steve wakes up almost 70 years later, is still damn good. I keep getting pity for Cap at this dialogue:

Nick Fury: You've been asleep, Cap. For almost seventy years...You gonna be okay?
Captain America: Yeah, it's just...I had a date.😥

Cap 1 may not be a masterpiece, but it's one of MCU's better debut films.