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| Captain America: The First Avenger |
Captain America: The First Avenger
A Film Review by David Gordon
Time is one of the most wonderful concepts that, as man, we have and can use at our leisurely expense. There is thought that things get better with time, like wine. Or, responding to an email immediately after you have been fueled with any kind of emotion like telling your boss to kiss off after she tells you, you need to be more mature and remember that there is a time and a place to say things. See, if you just wait till the next day, you won’t send that emotionally fueled email. You will have time to reflect. Time to save your job.
Wait, where was I? Oh yes, time. And time is exactly what I needed to write this review after watching Captain America: The First Avenger. Because, if you were reading this, this Saturday afternoon, you probably would have been reading a gushing review calling this movie the best comic book movie of all time. It hit on all the sweet spots of what makes a great superhero movie. Comedy, action, suspense, romance, wait… I’m getting off track. This is what I was trying to avoid using time…
Don’t get me wrong. Cap does all that and then some. It was indeed a good movie. But, with a little reflection, I can see the faults the movie has. Maybe faults are too harsh of a word, but things I’m definitely nit picking on.
We all know and love the story of Captain America, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans). The little loser who kept getting back up every time he was knocked down. Even certain death in fighting a war did not keep Steve down. Time and time again, he kept trying to enlist in the army. He felt a certain duty and obligation to serve his country. So, from enlisting post to enlisting post, he kept trying only to be rejected again and again. He was too small, too sick, and frail to make a good soldier and no doctor wanted to sign what would, in essence, be his death card. But, finally the right person, at the right time, sees him and help him.
The story dives straight into a very pulpy and satisfying time piece showing off characters, costumes and music. The sense of wonderment for the future still exists in the characters. The splendor of science and magic seem like a very new concept idea to these characters (which seems lost in modern day comic book movies) and the actors do a great job selling it.
As for the nit picking, I was slightly disappointed with certain aspects of the movie. For instance, the moment when puny Steve turns into Captain America there was no amazement on his part. He seemed like it was natural from the start. He was just granted super strength, speed, agility, height, etc and the only thing he says is that he feels “taller”.
I was also disappointed by the real lack of interaction between Red Skull (Hugo Weaving) and Captain America. They did a really good job building up the character of Cap and Red Skull. It seems like they would have wanted to showcase them together more. Their true only fight scene takes place in a plane that is flipping upside down. Not a lot of room for excitement (not to mention the lame way the Red Skull is defeated).
I was really, really disappointed with the final ‘scene’ (if that is what you want to call it). Marvel had been doing a great job of adding a final scene at the ending credits building up to the Avengers movie coming out next year. Well, this time, we were treated to an Avengers trailer. Not a movie scene but a spliced together trailer. If they wanted, they could have used the entire ending sequence where Cap wakes up in modern time (this is really not a spoiler, is it?) and used that as the ending sequence and him walking into a room with the other Avengers. I’m not sure how I would have done it, but the way it was done is most definitely NOT how I would have handled it.
Other than that, I still really like this movie.
* * * * ½ out of 5
And it’s really pretty.
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