In this summer of blockbuster sequels and comic book adaptations it might be difficult to sell a film like Captain America to the movie - going public, but there are a number of reasons why they should not skip over this tale of The First Avenger.
The story gave the audience the necessary nuts and bolts of the good Captain's origins to draw them in without overwhelming them in miniscule details that could derail it. Director Joe Johnston effectively mixed solid action sequences along with properly timed bits of humor to give the film an almost "Indiana Jones -esque" quality. But what set Captain America apart from those other lackluster sequels or comic book films was the performance of Chris Evans as the title character. When the audience is first introduced to Captain America, he is a skinny kid from Brooklyn named Steve Rogers who has been rejected by the Army four times due to his poor health and other medical problems. One got the sense that Steve had been picked on most of his life, but that did not stop him from standing up to bullies or taking on challenges that stronger men shied away from. He was the prototypical underdog and if Johnston had just jumped straight into showing Captain America cracking skulls and kicking Nazi butt without showing the audience who he was before, the film would have lacked the depth to story and character that it exhibited throughout (a trait sadly missing in the bulk of films released this summer). The humanity and heart that Evans endowed Steve with at the beginning not only made him the perfect subject for the Army's Super Soldier program, but also gave the audience a hero that they could relate to on an emotional level.
It was easy to stand up and cheer for Captain America for it was the first summer blockbuster of 2011 to deliver the goods (and make sure you stick around after the credits for a special surprise, you'll be glad you did).
Grade: B
I haven't seen the movie yet, but as a reader of the comic from as far back as '74, I can claim a deep and profound love for this character. As a 'Gen-Xer', I have long realized that the only things that (at times)define us as a generation are (1)not knowing what we want for/from the world, but (2) knowing only that we don't share our parents' dreams.
ReplyDeleteCap represents both a link to my childhood, and to a time pre-dating the 'Boomers' and harkening back to the Greatest Generation. He is, though fictional, what we all wish we could be; not in physical prowess (though this is true as well), but in that he continues to stand for something greater than himself.
If this link can be navigated, it explains a lot:
http://www.sharenator.com/Captain_America_Quote/