Movie: Captain America

[woodwardiocom]

Overall, I'd call Captain America the second-best superhero movie I've seen this year, under First Class, slightly better than Thor, and quite a bit better than Green Lantern. It's not in my top 5 superhero films, but might sneak into the lower double-digits. Our Hero is suitably solid, earnest, brave, and forthright. (And almost adorkable when he tries to talk to women.) The emphasis of his motives is on disliking bullies and protecting others, not superpatriotism, which is a valid and workable interpretation of the character. (Captain America, as a character, has only gotten harder to write for over the decades as "loving American values" has gone from nostalgic to corny to naive to hypocritical.)

The review in the Boston Globe points out a weakness in that the funny lines are mostly given to other characters, leaving Cap a bit stolid and dull. This is true, and I'm not sure I could have done better. When Evans does get a joke he handles it well, but when the unnamed child actor who gets thrown in the river is using Cap as a straight man, it throws the rhythm off.

The special effects are staggering. Skinny Steve Rogers is 99% convincing, and the Red Skull effect is not only seamless, he actually looks like a comic book panel come to life. Weaving does an excellent job, though Skull didn't really get to be evil (i.e., racist and genocidal) enough. In the comics he's the villain other villains despise. (Loki once put him in a room with Magneto, Doctor Doom, and the Mandarin, and tried to get them to team up. Imagine how well that went. (Y'know, it's a little weird to realize that all five of those villains have appeared in major motion pictures recently. Geek is the new black.))

So, Captain America is pulpy fun, and recommended.

Comments

[longstrider.livejournal.com]

*squints* Was the Mandarin in Batman Begins? I'm blanking. I remember where all the others were.

[woodwardiocom.livejournal.com]

The Mandarin was the Afghani villain in Iron Man. He's the most changed of the five; the original was a Yellow Peril bad guy of the most theatrical kind.

[whswhs.livejournal.com]

I thought that making it a period film, with deliberate evocation of World War II war movies and pulp fiction, helped sell the unironic treatment of Captain America.

[thespian.livejournal.com]

Was this before or after the very slight rewriting in the early 70s that gave Magneto more depth (think of himself as a hero and Charles as the deluded one, etc).

[notthebuddha.livejournal.com]

"Acts of Vengeance", 1989-1990; Loki seems to totally miss the point he's trying to team up gypsies and Jews with one of the top ten Nazis.

[thespian.livejournal.com]

Hmm. But it would fit the Nordic Loki of the Prose Edda to a *T*.

[tk7602.livejournal.com]

I think that having Cap be a bit unfunny is a good thing. I always see him as earnest and focused on his cause. I sort of liked that he was a bit... dull isn't the right word, but something close to that.

I also really liked that he was a pretty balanced hero. He tried to do right by people, but if it came down to it, he'd throw you out of a plane. He tried to be a Good Guy but not to the point of being Superman-like.

I definitely place it in my top tier of Super Movies to date.