The parade of superhero movies rolls on in 2011 and now we have Captain America reporting for duty. Much like the first Iron Man, I found myself really having a good time at the movies. What can I say – Captain America does a lot of things right and it just didn't feel as “weighted” as say an X-Men movie where there is a lot of politics built in (mutants vs human, prejudice, etc.). The premise is simple, the effort solid and the result is fun.
Captain America is more or less a World War II movie with the comic book treatment and it works surprisingly well. I think it does work because the premise is not convoluted – America is at war and Steve Rodgers (Chris Evans), a young, scrawny, but well-intentioned man, wants to do his part. Unfortunately for Steve, he just isn't fit for duty as a soldier physically. However, that doesn't keep him to trying to enlist over and over again with different names and addresses. It also eats at him that his best friend is shipping out to fight in Europe without him.
Luckily for Steve, a government scientist happens to pick up on his zeal and realizes that he is an ideal candidate for testing a new top secret super-soldier serum because he respects power and is less prone to abuse it. Suddenly, and much to his surprise, Steve is accepted into the Army. Before long he finds himself in the lab ready for the experiment. They run the test and bam its work! Just like that, Steve is suddenly the perfect physical specimen of a soldier with superior speed, strength, agility and mental facets. However, the Germans (or more specifically their secret science division codenamed “Hydra”) had spies among them and in an attempt to sabotage the program and steal the formula, the serum's creator is shot dead leaving Steve as the only American super soldier. Feeling him too valuable to risk in combat, the Army decides to use him as a war bond pitchman and once again Steve finds himself on the sidelines much to his chagrin.
Meanwhile, Hydra, run by a Nazi scientist Dr. Schmidt (Hugo Weaving) has discovered the power of the gods hidden away in Norway (think Thor tie-in here) and are planning to use it against all nations who oppose them, including their bosses, the Nazis. So as it turns out, the super-soldier serum was the Allies' counter-punch and Schmidt himself was the recipient of an earlier, less stable version of the serum.
Long story short, it isn't long until Steve with the help of Agent Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) and Dr. Howard Stark (father of Iron Man, Tony Stark) that Steve sneaks out to conduct a rescue mission behind enemy lines without authorization in order to do his part in the war and prove his usefulness to his commander (Tommy Lee Jones). The mission is a rousing success and Steve quickly finds himself where he wanted to be all along - on the front lines. I won't spoil any more from here.
As I said, Captain America does a lot of things right. Director Joe Johnston was clearly the right choice for the job. The story is immediately accessible to a general audiences because the premise is simple and because they did a fantastic job presenting Steve Rodgers a relate-able everyman who is genuinely charismatic. They don't have to waste any time or effort driving home the point that “you need to like this guy.”
Now to the points of execution. The film is paced very well and doesn't have any segments that bog it down in needless exposition. It clocks in at a tidy 2 hours, 5 minutes. The editing room was used and in an era of seemingly longer and longer “blockbusters,” it was welcome relief. The casting was also superb! Evans is a good fit for Cap (and this role allows him to escape the Human Torch stigma from the Fantastic Four) and Hugo Weaving always make for an excellent villain. Atwell is paired well with Evans in the role of Peggy Carter as a romantic interest that isn't overplayed. Had it been played too heavy, it would have bogged down the story. Additionally, the movie uses comedy well, not using too much and timing it well and never coming across as overly cheesy (when it isn't intended).
The bottom line is this - Captain America is a solid comic book adaptation that is fun, lighthearted at times, action packed and never devolving into an unintended parody of itself. The latest addition to the superhero movie pantheon is a winner! 8/10
2 comments:
I also really dug it and was curious as where you would rank it among the Marvel films--both the 'Avengers' brand movies that are actually made by Marvel and the peripheral Marvel movies made by other studios (like X-Men and Spider-Man)
Well, I was thinking about doing some rankings but I think I need to let it sink in some more. Lately as I've thought back more and more, I think that the Spiderman movies are losing some of their luster, partly because other great superhero movies have come along after them to raise the bar and partly because the more I reflect on the Spiderman movies, the more I disagree with Maguire's portrayal of Peter Parker - too whiny and mopey and not enough of a wise-cracker.
And when you compare all the things that Captain America does so well versus an admittedly flawed movie like Green Lantern (which I liked), it makes it that much harder to compare. Joe Johnston did a great job with Cap and I think that it was most fun experience overall I've had since the original Iron Man.
Personally, it probably ranks behind the first Iron Man, on par with or better than the first Spiderman (but it'll probably move ahead of it, and better than the X-Men film only because of how light and fun Captain America was in the theater. It was exactly what it needed to be.
And without a doubt, Cap beats the living daylights out of the FF clunkers, both Hulks, DareDevil and Green Lantern.
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