The First Avenger : Captain America May 6th, 2011 - Page 6

I love Captain America. More accurately, inasmuch as I am being honest with myself, I love the IDEA of Captain America. He represents a confluence of geek interests (superheroes/power to morals, etc) with my passionate actual interests (patriotism, service, depression/greatest generation Americana) and so I invest in the character more than is actually there on the page. I've read a decent number of Cap comics, but I wouldn't put any Cap stories near the top of the pile. I loved 65% of what Millar and Hitch did with him in Ultimates and Ultimates II, but I hated the other 35% with a passion. The Brubaker run was good, but I drifted away a few years ago. So, as much as I love Steve Rogers, I love the canvas of Captain America more. The potential for storytelling. I know the man out of time stuff is coming with The Avengers and hopefully, Cap 2.

I rarely "backseat screenwrite or direct", but in truth, I had my own ideas of what I wanted a Captain America film to look like. Hopefully that makes sense. I figured I should show my cards before I reviewed the film.

I liked the movie. I probably had unrealistic expectations and high standards, and that makes it hard to just review the film. It really does get a ton right. I just don't think it ever finds the top gear I was hoping it would. I think it is competently directed, with a well-written first act, and very likeable actors. I was (and am) totally onboard with Chris Evans. TLJ and Tucci were exceptional counter-balances to his character. More was needed with the Howling Commandoes to make them effective. Weaving was awesome, as expected. I really enjoyed his Red Skull, and I hope we see more of him in the future. Atwell was quite good, but I wish she had a bit more. Just a bit.

The single critical element I felt was missing wasn't really missing...it just felt half-formed. The impact of Captain America's real war exploits on the actual war (as opposed to the shadow war against Hydra) and the homefront. Marvel was smart to focus on a fictional element of the war, but a single engagement with U.S. soldiers against Nazi soldiers would have gone a long way (for me). They did add some homefront at the very end (which I though was a very good ending and transition). I just didn't feel he was as big as he should be at the end of WWII as he should have been. But I do recognize it was there...I maybe just wanted it illustrated a bit differently.

I also wish a bit more attention had been given to his abilities earlier. His tactical acumen, his superhuman fighting skill, and his seemingly effortless leadership. One slobberknocker fight a little sooner than the final battle was missing. I did like that the fights were "western" in nature. The connective tissue of the montage warehouse fights didn't convey time very effectively either. That contributed to my feelings that his reputation wasn't quite as formed as it should have been at his frozen end.

But I am thrilled that many people liked it more than me. I'm definitely seeing it one more time with my family, and away from preconceptions, to let it settle. I think it got the tone VERY right.

Can't wait to see the dynamic in the Avengers film.

Sorry for the rambling review. Cap is dear to me!

Saw Capt. America yesterday and I have to say it was my favorite film of the summer and by a pretty wide margin. I enjoyed the other two Marvel offerings, Thor and X-Men First Class, but I thought Cap was the best of the bunch. I can't even imagine how cool The Avengers is going to be....I predict a nationwide "nerdgasm" when that flick comes out!

I saw it yesterday as well. I also liked it a bit more than First Class, and a lot more than Thor.

The Captain America USO tour & song scene was funny as hell!

I saw this movie yesterday and thought it was pretty boring and lifeless. There wasn't anything here that I really enjoyed.

 

It is something that bugs my wife as well.  We haven't gotten around to seeing it (Maybe on Friday), but the trend of Marvel to delete Nazis from the continuity bothers her.  They did a similar thing in the Avengers animated series, where Cap is fighting against Hydra, not the Nazis.

 

I liked it as a whole but it suffers from the same problem Thor did; no showing of his actual powers and just assuming everyone knows all about him. I really think the whole USO section should have been tossed in favor of him training with his squad and finding the limits of his enhanced body. Just because he was suddenly muscular doesn't mean he can instantly fight and jump and all the other things he did chasing down the Doctor's killer. That takes training. Plus why was he chosen as Captain America? That role would be for an actual war hero or a famous actor. It would have made more sense if the director wanted to do the USO tour to have Rogers save those soldiers and then sent home for war bonds before realizing they needed him for Hydra.

At the end of the movie I really don't see Steve Rogers as anything special other than theoretically a highly trained fighter on the order of Batman. He is above the ordinary but not a super-soldier. At least the movie did not really show this well and just assumed we took it on faith after the few fist fights that show he has a little something special and mentioning he can't get drunk. With so little shown the filmmakers can just make up powers as needed if they write themselves into a corner or want to show something cool.

It showed a man could be a sleep and supposedly frozen for almost 70 years without aging which is pretty special to me.

 

That was just a plot contrivance to get Steve Rogers to current time for The Avengers movie and it was the same trick used in the last live-action Captain America movie plus countless cartoon versions. No different than Jack Bauer being able to have a heart attack, get shot, get in a major car accident and then continue on as if nothing had happened. Standard hero never dies or is injured for more than a minute type of stuff. You do realize that Hollywood cryogenic freezing prevents aging in normal humans like in Demolition Man, The Space Seed, Futurama, and every other movie version of someone being frozen in a tube or in the ice?

I see a big diffference, but whatever.

 

Perhaps you missed the part where he bent the steel railing with his hands (in the compound) ? Or how he threw some of the soldiers like rag dolls into the air with single hand ? Heck, he kicked a soldier into the air with little effort. Batman can't do any of this. In addition he could run much faster than any human being. This was shown quite clearly when he ran after the car mid-way through the film. Batman can't do any of this either.

The film showed plenty of evidence that he was a super-human. Not sure what movie you were watching. The guy is not Superman. He isn't Spiderman either. Spiderman can lift 10 tons. Steve Rogers is not in that power class. However he is super strong to a point where he can physically throw humans around like rag dolls and bend steel bars. In addition he has heightened regenerative abilities. This was also mentioned in the film. So he is a super-human. I'm not sure what feats you expected him to perform ? Throw cars around ? Heat vision ?

The film in which this supposed super-soldier was sent on a USO tour instead of using his abilities to fight or lead commando operations. The one where only The Red Skull stated (but not fully shown) Steve Rogers could defeat the entire lab's worth of security. The regeneration was only mentioned back-handed in the statement about him not being able to get drunk. At best there were bits and pieces of heightened abilities beyond a well-trained normal human and those tricks are performed by "normal" humans in over the top action movies as needed. Pick any big action movie with Arnie/Stallone/etc. or any martial arts movie and you will see the same bits and pieces of super-human feats but they aren't super-human in those movies' universe. The movie needed to work harder showing the difference between Rogers and his commandos, that's all.

I don't recall any action movie with Arnie/Stallone (with the exception of Terminator) depicting them running at super human speeds. I also don't recall any action movie where the hero could bend steel bars. In these same movies you'll never see Arnie or Stallone throw a guy several feat in the air with a single hand like a paper weight. You'll never see it.

The guy is the peak of human evolution. He isn't Superman. He has an above average build and can do things that no other human being can do. You will never see Arnie (with the exception of Terminator) or Stallone do anything as superhuman as was depicted in this film. Three things :

1) Steel railing...got bent the other way. No action film, however preposterous, has depicted someone doing this because it's just not possible in the context of those films.
2) Throwing human beings into the air like rag dolls. With one hand no less.
3) Running fast enough to catch a car. He also was able to jump extreme distances. No action hero (as a normal human) has been shown to do this.

That is it in a nutshell. No need to try to rationalize things further. The guy was shown to be super-human, no matter how you cut it. In the context of THIS film, he is a super-human and was depicted as such.

Frankly I think it's silly that we're even debating CA's skills in the film. Watch the movie near the end in the camp where he throws guys around like rag dolls. You would have to blind not to notice this. In one scene it looks like he's throwing a guy clean off his feat by 4-5 meters into the air....with one hand ! That's crazy.

He kicks a guy clean off the ground by some distance.I don't know about you, but that is clear evidence that he is WELL above human power levels. I mean, in one scene he hoists a soldier right over his head and throws him out of an air lock. That might not be such a major feat since this is a super hero film but it's the way in which he does it. Just like the way he throws these people around like paper weights. The guy doesn't look like a body builder (he is clearly above average) but his strength and speed is several times greater than a human.

Bending steel bars....well, this is what we call super-human. It's plain as day.. If you were expecting him to throw around cars then you'll be disappointed because he can't do that. Not in his power level, unfortunately.
Edited by Vaughan Odendaal - 7/29/11 at 1:22pm

I agree that he was shown to be stronger-faster-better than an ordinary human. I also agree with the criticism that a training sequence should have been shown instead of the promotional campaign. Overall, it was enjoyable, but I liked Iron Man better.

I kinda understand why that's there, because they wanted some good reason for him to wear the costume.  But, I think I would rather have him fight Nazis.

 

Personally, I enjoyed the film (at least, what I saw of it.  I missed the end because I got a call from the people caring for my son saying that he had a bathroom accident and no change of clothes.)  You know you are getting an old school film when everyone is slugging everyone else in the face.  I liked the rather chaste but smoldering relationship between Rogers and Carter.  For me, Hayley Atwell was one of the few redeeming qualities of The Prisoner redux, and she's no less delicious here.

 

Chris Evans continues to impress me.  This is now the third movie I've seen him in (Johnny Storm in Fantastic Four and Lucas Lee in Scott Pilgrim) and there is no way I'd tie those three characters to the same actor.  He really embodies the character fully as a man who is fully devoted to serving his country and its citizens.  While it is popular to wink and nod at that, it is what Steve Rogers is.

 

I wish Joe Johnston wasn't the director for this film, as it's just dull and paint-by-numbers movie-making. Chris Evans has charisma to spare, and yet he is really lifeless in this film, and I blame Johnston's direction on Evans' performance. There are no surprises, no suspense. It's just 'there'. The script is boring. There are no dramatic decisions, just automaton-like plot point after plot point as the film rolled on.

I also wish they'd use film camera instead of digital video cameras because this film set in WWII was screaming for it. As it looked with super-clean non-film look, it was just too "video-like" and looked too "current". Bad choice, but I'm sure it was cheaper shooting on digital video.

I give it 2.5 stars, or a grade of C+.

Oh, you missed the good stuff at the end of the credits! Something to look forward to. I'm very glad he was played straight and true, no silly campiness.

Took my son to see this today and we really enjoyed it - it was just a fun film. I wasn't a Marvel person as a kid, but I'm familiar enough, and I'm also aware that Thor and Capt America were made, not necessarily to be blockbuster movies on their own, but as preludes to Avengers. My only real criticism is that they should have pitched Chris Evans voice up a notch when he was skinny. His deep voice seemed really unnatural to me when he started talking and it kind of killed the effect.

 

I didn't realize it until we saw the post credits scene, but my kid had no idea there was an Avengers film coming up. When he saw that trailer he got so excited. It was the first thing out of his mouth when we got home. He didn't express an interest in Thor so I didn't take him to see it but now I'll have to so he gets a better understanding on that cube.

It also showed how this kid who was desperate to do his part got sidelined, and how the fame was starting to go to his head to where he didn't mind. Finally getting overseas in front of the real soldiers was a major wakeup call. Now, they could have skipped that and had him immediately assigned overseas and it would have been alright, but I kind of liked how he got a taste of how even he could lose himself to the mystique of "Captain America."

Better late than never dept.

For various reasons, and despite my best efforts, I was never able to see the film in the theater or even rent the Blu Ray. So I finally saw it last night on VOD - streamed in HD via Amazon on my TiVo Premier. (Amazon gift cards are wonderful things. ) And I just had to say something about what a terrific film it is.

First reactions?

Wow!

I actually started jotting down notes as I was watching. Note that this is from a fan who bought Avengers #4 (Cap's first appearance) when it first hit the newstands, and has always had a soft spot for the character and the team.

Loved the following:

The framing story with the opening on the Aritic ice. It had echoes of both versions of the thing, with just a hint of Spielberg. Did somebody say "paint by numbers" filmmaking? What movie were they watching?
The cosmic cube (!)
The hundred subtle pointers to other films and characters, like evoking Thor through Yggdrasil
The dig at "Raiders" ("Hitler digs for trinkets in the desert")
Hydra as a Nazi organization
Not quite our world
(World's fair in 1942 instead of '39. NY skyline different, Uni-sphere from '64 instead of Perisphere & Trylon of '39)
The Original Human Torch as one of the exhibits
Howard Stark
The antique shop and the old lady as the front for the lab
Vita-Rays (actually a later to addition to the origin story - 50s Cap?)
Howard Stark
The original uniform, triangle shield, Hitler punch and the Cap #1 cover
The cheesy songs and dance numbers
Stan Lee's cameo
Cap's motorcycle
Cap assembling the Howling Commandos (Dum Dum Dugan, Gabe Jones, etc. - minus Nick Fury)
Bucky's death - kept the idea and the iconic image without the unlikely details
"*I'm* not kissin' ya."
Kinda pissed they gave the Red Skull Jack Northrop's Flying Wing, though
Cap's sacrifice and the last conversation with Peggy - it evokes Flight 93 without exploiting it.
The nod to "The Rocketeer" when Steve puts the picture of Peggy on the control panel of the plane
(So *that's* why she's a brunette!)
The kids playing on the street looked like Jack Kirby's Newsboy Legion
SHIELD Agent 13 - who looked like Cap's lost WWII love - makes a sideways cameo at the SHIELD facility - "All agents - Code 13"
(Plus she was played by Amanda Righatti from "The Mentalist" who looks real good in a '40s style hairdo and WAC outfit.)



Next up? "Thor"!

Regards,

Joe

This and Thor were two of my favorite films of the past year. I just watched this again last week and enjoyed it much more at home the second time, than in the theater where my only choice was dark, muddy 3D.

My best friend said almost the same thing - saw both in the theater, loved them both, can't decide which was better. I'm really looking forward to Thor now. (And The Avengers, of course.)

Regards,

Joe