Captain America: the First Avenger

Part one of my birthday double feature and final solo piece before next Summer’s upcoming The Avengers. When I was a kid, I used to love the Captain’s 1966 cartoon the most because he had the most guest superheroes teaming up with him. As a character he was pretty cool since he didn’t have powers (Spider-Man) or special gear (Iron Man); you could say Captain America is Marvel’s equivalent of Batman, he just got a wonder-drug boost and his moral compass is more in sync with Superman: patriotic while apolitical.

Next to the Punisher, he has been a problematic superhero to bring to life. Two recent attempts in the last 30 years were mediocre (a cheesy TV series in the late Seventies) or downright awful (an unreleasable 1990 film starring J D Salinger’s son). Nowadays, Marvel’s properties are in more adept hands and thanks to director Joe Johnston, the score from 1979 on is (by my reckoning) now: Marvel 10-12, DC 5-10. Feel free to ask me how I break this down.

Captain is told as a prolonged flashback. After the government discovers the hero’s frozen body in the Arctic Circle (he may be the only beneficiary of climate change), the story jumps back to NYC circa 1943. Thousands of young men are volunteering to fight in Europe and the Pacific. Steve Rogers, a ‘typical’ kid from Brooklyn wants to do his part fighting. Too bad he’s the proverbial 98-pound weakling sharing a 4F designation with Frank Sinatra. Rogers’ numerous attempts to pass medical examiniations attracts the attention of Dr. Erskine (the impeccable Tucci) who thinks he is the perfect specimen for the Super-Soldier serum. Erskine believes the recipient’s character matters more than his physical attributes. The trailer shows the transformation succeeding and what ensues, namely how instrumental Captain America was in winning WWII. You will pleasantly discover how misleading the commercials were.

Purists will be appeased with how well the writers/director tied up the character’s backstory and legacy. They even managed to bring over elements from Thor and Iron Man. History fanatics are going to wince a few times, the desegregated US Army was my favorite inaccuracy. The emphasis on Hydra and not Nazi Germany being the key foe was done for two reasons: it sets up an enemy for the upcoming super-team movie to face (traditionally Marvel’s Hydra had its roots with Nazi exiles like the real-life organizations ODESSA and die Spinne) The other is more practical: Nazi symbols, namely the swastika, are illegal in Germany which would hurt the movie’s foreign distribution. The Red Skull might scare small children though. His frightening appearance isn’t a mask which is how original creators Jack “King” Kirby and Joe Simon originally had it explained.

I did enjoy it more than I expected because I’m a bigger DC fan but I do know the essentials regarding the Marvel universe. Just don’t ask me about what has been happening over the last 20 years of continuity. Unlike the Hulk, Captain America works best without modernization. A big piece of his personality comes from being an anachronism; a person with Forties’ mores living in the ‘modern’ era. Admittedly this is a moving target as each decade progresses and it really got rolling by the Eighties in my opinion. Sadly, we will have to wait for this possible characterization next Summer.

Worth Seeing? Affirmative. We didn’t bother on 3-D since Alamo had moved other features to those theaters. It didn’t detract from the action or plot, maybe a couple shield throwing segments would’ve made me jump or twitch. Captain is more than a loud Summer movie filled with explosions and grudgingly funny lines, Tommy Lee Jones as Col. Phillips has the best zingers.

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One Response to Captain America: the First Avenger

  1. Jon K says:

    I’m definitely going to see this one. The only problem is that I’ll be repressing a snicker while trying to stifle memories of the lyric “When Captain America throws his mighty SHIEEEEEEEEEELD!”

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