CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER
August 1st 2011 20:15
Category: Movies
Based on the Captain America character created by Joe Simon & Jack Kirby
Director: Joe Johnston
Screenplay by: Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely
Producer: Kevin Feige
Starring: Chris Evans (Capt America/Steve Rogers), Hugo Weaving (Johann Schmidt/Red Skull), Toby Jones (Dr Arnim Zola), Stanley Tucci (Dr Abraham Erskine), Hayley Atwell (Peggy Carter), Tommy Lee Jones (Colonel Chester Phillips), Samuel L Jackson (Nick Fury), Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes), Dominic Cooper (Howard Stark), Neal McDonough (Timothy ‘Dum Dum’ Dugan), Derek Luke (Gabe Jones), Kenneth Choi (Jim Morita), JJ Feild (James Montgomery Farnsworth) & Bruno Ricci (Jacques Demier)
Produced by: Paramount & Marvel Entertainment
Running Time: 125 minutes Rating: M
It would have been so easy for this particular movie to just descend into a real cheese fest given that previous efforts to do a Captain America flick did just that. Some would say that the very character is a walking cheese fest made large by his very existence, that he epitomises something that is anachronistic and possibly even not quite politically correct. Certainly the character has undergone various changes and deviations throughout his career as one of the stalwarts of the Marvel Comic empire, thankfully though with this movie they’ve elected to go with getting the character back to his roots so to speak, to the very core of his origin that made him a little bit more than just some guy in tights like other costumed characters.
Strangely though the story of the First Avenger doesn’t begin how you’d naturally expect it to…unless you were a major aficionado of the whole Captain America phenomena. Events start somewhere in the vicinity of the Arctic Circle where it seems a decidedly unusual discovery has just been made by undetermined individuals who seem to be working for an unknown organisation. They’ve been notified of this by the crew of a Russian tanker who actually called in the sighting of something out of the ordinary. When the audience finally catches a glimpse of just what exactly it is that the ‘explorers’ are discussing it looks like something straight out of a B grade fifties science fiction flick…The Thing anyone…
Later we learn precisely what this vessel is and its origins are but for the moment we are treated to two intrepid individuals descending into its bowels. What will they find amongst the frozen frosty deeps…well they come across something round and bearing a single white star on its surface, a sort of shield like device that should be familiar to fans of the good captain. What can it all mean? What is the shield doing in the bowels of some kind of strange vessel somewhere in the remote back end of the world, a rather frozen back end I hasten to add. In fact watching these opening scenes sent a chill down my spine…it’s winter where I am and the sight of endless ice stretching out to the horizon naturally seemed to enhance the chill I was already feeling due to the season or perhaps the cinema had the air conditioning on cool…
Events then reverse back to the days of the Second World War; it’s the early nineteen forties, Hitler and his goose-stepping minions have all but marched across the whole of the European landmass and secured vast swathes of territory and resources for the Third Reich. Stalingrad and El Alamein are still a ways off in the near future and thus Nazi Germany is confident that it can defeat the allies. Enter Johann Schmidt, leader of the Hydra organisation, a Nazi research and development organisation that has more in common with a cult than an institute for developing weapons of serious mass destruction. Schmidt who is also known as the Red Skull is after an artefact known as the Tesseract, a glowing cube that is said to be some kind of power source for those who have the ‘courage’ to harness its potential.
Whilst Schmidt is up to typical evil shenanigans in Norway looking for the Tesseract the film takes us stateside to the Big Apple and Steve Rogers attempts to enlist in the army. A guy who isn’t exactly the ideal individual for a soldier he nonetheless is extremely earnest in his desire to enlist…not because he wants to kill Nazis but because he feels it’s the right thing to do at the time. He is a man who has a distinct moral code and ethos that in spite of the numerous travails that the world and life throws at him still remains true to that core. It is this quality that in a brief moment in the exposition, Modern Marvels of Tomorrow, that attracts the attention of Dr Abraham Erskine, a former German scientist who has invented a serum that can turn a mouse into a titan. This is the legendary Super Soldier Serum; it is a serum though that has been already tested on one other man prior to Steve Rogers…Johann Schmidt.
As anyone can see the serum is in essence a major mcguffin in story terms but unlike the comic in this flick the serum has an extra dimension to its capabilities. Originally the serum transformed Steve Rogers into Captain America; a four stone weakling became a chiselled square jawed hero instantaneously and that was essentially it as far as effects go. But here in the flick there is another side effect – it enhances the nature of the individual as well as their physical capabilities, thus a man who is compassionate, virtuous and courageous will have these aspects of his psyche enhanced. Whereas someone who is venal, self centred and psychotic will have these characteristic amplified – thus in essence the use of the serum by the two main characters shows us an almost Jekyll and Hyde situation, the two being the opposite sides of the coin.
And the two mean as well as showing the two sides of the human psyche are also embodiments of the two dichotomous forces that make up so much of the main action in superhero blockbusters; good and evil. Steve Rogers though even though he is the champion of good in this drama though manages to maintain the core that brought him to the attention of the super soldier project conducted by the Strategic Scientific Reserve (SSR) and Dr Erskine. Even when his best friend Bucky Barnes dies tragically on a mission in the Alps he doesn’t succumb to despair or hatred, he grieves certainly but he shoulders it and moves on to try and bring Hydra and is leader to justice.
When the dust settled on things I was, to use a line from Darth Vader, impressed, most impressed. Captain America The First Avenger has all the things that make an entertaining movie; action, special effects, a good storyline that stays true to the characters origins as well as moments of humour that gel quite nicely with the drama. And at the end of the day it’s a film that the family can go and enjoy on a weekend, well worth trying to catch at your local cinema. I watched in normal format though because frankly real men live 3D they don’t need to see it on a silver screen…
Director: Joe Johnston
Screenplay by: Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely
Producer: Kevin Feige
Starring: Chris Evans (Capt America/Steve Rogers), Hugo Weaving (Johann Schmidt/Red Skull), Toby Jones (Dr Arnim Zola), Stanley Tucci (Dr Abraham Erskine), Hayley Atwell (Peggy Carter), Tommy Lee Jones (Colonel Chester Phillips), Samuel L Jackson (Nick Fury), Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes), Dominic Cooper (Howard Stark), Neal McDonough (Timothy ‘Dum Dum’ Dugan), Derek Luke (Gabe Jones), Kenneth Choi (Jim Morita), JJ Feild (James Montgomery Farnsworth) & Bruno Ricci (Jacques Demier)
Running Time: 125 minutes Rating: M
It would have been so easy for this particular movie to just descend into a real cheese fest given that previous efforts to do a Captain America flick did just that. Some would say that the very character is a walking cheese fest made large by his very existence, that he epitomises something that is anachronistic and possibly even not quite politically correct. Certainly the character has undergone various changes and deviations throughout his career as one of the stalwarts of the Marvel Comic empire, thankfully though with this movie they’ve elected to go with getting the character back to his roots so to speak, to the very core of his origin that made him a little bit more than just some guy in tights like other costumed characters.
Later we learn precisely what this vessel is and its origins are but for the moment we are treated to two intrepid individuals descending into its bowels. What will they find amongst the frozen frosty deeps…well they come across something round and bearing a single white star on its surface, a sort of shield like device that should be familiar to fans of the good captain. What can it all mean? What is the shield doing in the bowels of some kind of strange vessel somewhere in the remote back end of the world, a rather frozen back end I hasten to add. In fact watching these opening scenes sent a chill down my spine…it’s winter where I am and the sight of endless ice stretching out to the horizon naturally seemed to enhance the chill I was already feeling due to the season or perhaps the cinema had the air conditioning on cool…
Events then reverse back to the days of the Second World War; it’s the early nineteen forties, Hitler and his goose-stepping minions have all but marched across the whole of the European landmass and secured vast swathes of territory and resources for the Third Reich. Stalingrad and El Alamein are still a ways off in the near future and thus Nazi Germany is confident that it can defeat the allies. Enter Johann Schmidt, leader of the Hydra organisation, a Nazi research and development organisation that has more in common with a cult than an institute for developing weapons of serious mass destruction. Schmidt who is also known as the Red Skull is after an artefact known as the Tesseract, a glowing cube that is said to be some kind of power source for those who have the ‘courage’ to harness its potential.
Whilst Schmidt is up to typical evil shenanigans in Norway looking for the Tesseract the film takes us stateside to the Big Apple and Steve Rogers attempts to enlist in the army. A guy who isn’t exactly the ideal individual for a soldier he nonetheless is extremely earnest in his desire to enlist…not because he wants to kill Nazis but because he feels it’s the right thing to do at the time. He is a man who has a distinct moral code and ethos that in spite of the numerous travails that the world and life throws at him still remains true to that core. It is this quality that in a brief moment in the exposition, Modern Marvels of Tomorrow, that attracts the attention of Dr Abraham Erskine, a former German scientist who has invented a serum that can turn a mouse into a titan. This is the legendary Super Soldier Serum; it is a serum though that has been already tested on one other man prior to Steve Rogers…Johann Schmidt.
As anyone can see the serum is in essence a major mcguffin in story terms but unlike the comic in this flick the serum has an extra dimension to its capabilities. Originally the serum transformed Steve Rogers into Captain America; a four stone weakling became a chiselled square jawed hero instantaneously and that was essentially it as far as effects go. But here in the flick there is another side effect – it enhances the nature of the individual as well as their physical capabilities, thus a man who is compassionate, virtuous and courageous will have these aspects of his psyche enhanced. Whereas someone who is venal, self centred and psychotic will have these characteristic amplified – thus in essence the use of the serum by the two main characters shows us an almost Jekyll and Hyde situation, the two being the opposite sides of the coin.
And the two mean as well as showing the two sides of the human psyche are also embodiments of the two dichotomous forces that make up so much of the main action in superhero blockbusters; good and evil. Steve Rogers though even though he is the champion of good in this drama though manages to maintain the core that brought him to the attention of the super soldier project conducted by the Strategic Scientific Reserve (SSR) and Dr Erskine. Even when his best friend Bucky Barnes dies tragically on a mission in the Alps he doesn’t succumb to despair or hatred, he grieves certainly but he shoulders it and moves on to try and bring Hydra and is leader to justice.
When the dust settled on things I was, to use a line from Darth Vader, impressed, most impressed. Captain America The First Avenger has all the things that make an entertaining movie; action, special effects, a good storyline that stays true to the characters origins as well as moments of humour that gel quite nicely with the drama. And at the end of the day it’s a film that the family can go and enjoy on a weekend, well worth trying to catch at your local cinema. I watched in normal format though because frankly real men live 3D they don’t need to see it on a silver screen…
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