In Review: Captain America: The First Avenger

The Gist

While Captain America: The First Avenger may be seen as nothing more than a mood-setter for the 2012 The Avengers film, it has cemented the idea that Marvel movies are worth your every penny.

The Good

• A typical Marvel film, balancing humor, grit, drama, and the Marvel heroic feel
• A well-done throwback to the 40s; entertaining take on Captain America's backstory
• An excellent introductory movie to the Avengers; leaves a lot of questions

The Bad

• dry script; can be dragging at some points
• too American feel
• stale villain

Synopsis

During the 1940s, a frail, young, idealistic, and patriotic Steve Rogers (a thinned down version of Chris Evans at first) enthusiastically enlists himself for the war. Sadly his enthusiasm can only get him so far as the physical checkup, his frailty and wench-like physique always sends him to the potato peelers, watching over his fellow men head to the war hesitantly. But just like with any fairy tales, Rogers has his own fairy godmother--er father--in this one in the form of Dr. Erskine (Stanley Tucci), developer of a physiology-enhancing Super Soldier Serum, who happened to be at the Stark Expo where Rogers was having his last try to enlist himself. Seeing how determined and a good man Rogers is, Erskine asked him to be part of the Super Soldier program to which he agrees. At first ridiculed by his peers, Rogers remained determined to stick to his job, passing several tests of character, which eventually earned Col. Chester Philips (Tommy Lee Jones) decision to have Rogers be the first person to undergo the super soldier program. Else where, the Nazi (particularly its HYDRA branch) lead by Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving) sees that this cannot happen and hatches on a plan to stop the Super Soldier Program. On the day of the serum transfusion, Dr. Erskine was killed and the Super Soldier was shelved with Rogers becoming nothing than an emblem of the American pride and a source of America's entertainment--being deemed too valuable to be sent to the war. Finally feeling like a dancing monkey in the face of his comrades, Rogers disobeys orders and chases his destiny and in the process uncovers a threat darker than the Nazi.

Star-Spangled Marvel

One can concur that as time go by on, Marvel movies share a familiar quality of having some grit and wit--all the while having good character development and personal drama that makes it relatable. This is not a bad thing as most Marvel movies have followed on (though all failed) the formula set by the first Iron Man film--though most pale in comparison. Captain America does not differ much from these modern set of Marvel movies--except that it had a 40s comic book feel. Swashbuckling was omnipresent for half of the movie and much of the focus on character development is lent to the heroes, with the villains becoming nothing but mere instruments to make the heroes more heroic. In a sense, it is a movie that is very much intended for a World War II audience. Had this been shown during that time, there will be tears on the audience. Nonetheless, audience of the present will still enjoy, but may get bored in the process, especially the French who deride the American way. Captain America, need not be said, is very American in every way.

Too Late the Villain

What can be said of the acting in this film? Pleasant, mostly. Though lacking in some departments. Evans did not display a broad range, which is excusable given that Captain America, even on the comic books does not make plenty of funny. Such is the case that there was a time that Captain America managed to chuck in a joke in the middle of a fight that made Spider-Man elated enough to jeer that "Oy! Cap made a funny." Evans' acting can be said as spot-on, given that Cap is like that in the books, but how I wish they made him less comic book canon and more relatable--though the latter might be the case with the Avengers movie as that is set in present time. Tommy Lee Jones's Col. Philips made perhaps the wittiest remarks in the film while staying in character. But if you are wishing for this film to be a witty humor-fest like Thor or the original Iron Man, you are riding a horse to the village Frustration, city of Disappointment.

One thing I was feeling lacking in this film was that the villain didn't feel too involved in the movie--and it felt confused, for me at least, whether Captain America was winning the war because he was defeating the HYDRA or the Nazi as apparently, the war was against the Nazi with HYDRA having cut its affiliation with the Nazi after successfully harnessing the power of the Tesseract (that glowing blue cube from times of yore) and that the public is not aware of HYDRA. Still, Cap battled HYDRA forces, but the public was rejoicing with every news about the defeat of the Nazis. Nonetheless, The Red Skull felt like such a background character, being relegated to working behind the scenes often while his henchmen get killed.

I wouldn't completely blame the director for not focusing on The Red Skull though. The Red Skull has seen better days as one of Marvel's prime villains and that have gone with the Cold War with the Soviets. The Red Skull may not have been interesting enough to focus attention on, thus it might have been wise that he was skipped to give Evans more airtime. Sad thing is that Captain America doesn't have that many interesting villains in his comic book run--which endangers future Cap movies, but Iron Man has far less, and how Favreau managed to make Obadiah Stane a very menacing villain, Johnston couldn't make of the Red Skull. The Red Skull's involvement in the film is just so oversimplified he felt like the Saturday morning cartoon villains who kept plotting only to get their plans beaten by the heroes again and again. At best, he is forgettable, with the mantle of villainy mainly laid on the Nazis.

Though this fault might have to be for the better in the end as Captain America's backstory is convoluted, really, if you go to wikipedia and look him up, it would be plenty of read--with three Captain Americas taking the guise during the early runs before Rogers retires the character by the end of World War II only to be revived around the mid 60s. Johnston simplified the storyline and made it easily digestible for modern audience. Kids, though, might only enjoy the fight scenes--which has, in my opinion, middling CGI. I suggest you skip the 3D and watch it on a cheaper 2D theatre with good sounds.

Romance on the film was surprisingly thin compared to other Marvel movies--particularly Thor, with the movie being strictly conservative. If anything, the ending of the 1940s plot really saves the film for those who got bored in some parts. The dialogue between Captain America and Peggy Carter is a tearjerker and highlights the budding romance in the film all the while establishing the empathic question of how will the Captain feel after he awakens 70 years in the present where his life has passed him completely--and it was successful in that aspect. It does not make you ask for more Captain America, but it just makes you wonder, how will this all work with the Avengers, and I think this is the absolute goal of the movie: set the mood for the 2012 Avengers film.

Though with a few compromises, Captain America is a movie one ought not to miss, especially that teaser in the end.

A passing mark of 3.75/5.

Below is the teaser for the Avengers as shown after the credits of Captain America. Credits to my friend JP for taking this.