Captain America: The First Avenger
So, back when they were starting out this whole Avengers dealie with that Iron Man movie everybody went to see, I was a little worried about the future. I mean, Iron Man is a pretty easy sell: he's a slick douchebag by day who fights crime in a suite made of technology porn. Sold.
But then we have to do The Hulk, which really isn't so bad since everyone at least already kind of knows this guy. And even though there's been some dumb shit associated with him put up on movie screens in recent memory, he is recognizable and his film came out close enough to Iron Man to maybe sell a few movie tickets, free ride style.
Years pass. Thor is next and it is going to have a rainbow bridge and a dude who flies by throwing his hammer and holding on. Is he going to spin his hammer really fast and use it as a dimensional gateway? Fuck, he might! He's magic! He's got wings on his helmet and pals around with a big fat guy whose super powers are apparently belly laughs and gruffling turkey legs. The future of this franchise is in danger because the odds of this movie sucking are good. Mighty good.
After him comes Captain America who promises to throw his shield at people like a fearsome boomerang and punch a guy with a red skull for a face...in the face...but not before that dastardly villain makes a thrilling escape in his whirly-bird rocketship! Cap's going to have little wings on his helmet that look like he could use them to flutter gently to the ground from high atop ridiculousness, if he were actually inclined to do that. Shit, this movie might suck, too. There's just too much stupid stuff related to some of these characters and no amount of Samuel L. Jackson is going to distract from that.
Which is why it came as a great relief to find out that Thor kept a lid on the goofiest aspects of the character and world while giving us a reasonable enough explanation of why the things they left in exist. The movie acknowledges that we already know who Thor is and that we know he is the god of thunder, but then distances itself from that interpretation of him (wisely, I think) by making him an awesome superman from an advanced world. In this version, magic is technology is magic, misunderstood by the ancient Teutons who saw the Asgardian aliens in the distant past all zapping dudes and freezing each other and jotted all that down into what became their (and our) mythology.
Captain America goes one step further by embracing the campy nature of a guy in blue pajamas before moving on to him being awesome. Yes, he wears a dumb costume and prances around with tiny wings on his head. Yes, he lets people call him Captain America, but he only does it because he takes a job shilling war bonds with chorus girls after his barely-begun military career falls through. Via a montage of can canning and fake Hitler punching, we see Cap build a popular character out of a government run marketing pitch. Hell, we even see kids buying up Captain America comic books, which means that, unlike Thor, his mythology wasn't the result of a misunderstanding by primitives, it was invented to appeal to them.
After that, he finally gets to realize his potential as a super soldier, so the action ramps up and before long he's jumping his motorcycle in front of a tank that explodes behind him in slow motion, and he hangs there like he's modelling for a splash page. It's pretty fun to watch and, for me at least, finally assured me that this franchise is no longer in critical danger of sucking.
5 comments:
There is one .. semi... flaw inherent in the flick, though.. and it came out most strongly when talking to a good, but non-comic book friend:
With the way the plot's structured? The entire cast, save for Cap, and possibly the vilianous cast, is kinda meaningless. Which, sadly, includes Dum Dum's glorious Duganstache. By the time the ending is clear to him, he's left wondering why you invest anything in any of the earlier characters.
Which.. is kinda valid. I mean the obvious point is that's the fodder for the tragic aspects of his Man out of Time schtick... but.. that's also the stuff that really belongs IN Captain America, as opposed to The Avengers... unless they're still considering solo sequels, as well as the franchise?
Still.. was a damn enjoyable movie.
April and I were having a similar conversation about this and what a shame it is that there isn't much support from the supporting cast. Stanley Tucci and Tommy Lee Jones are fun to watch and get a fair amount of screen time, but yeah, they hardly matter to what's going on here.
If anything, they distract from Bucky and Carter who seem like the logical choices for a strong link to the past if they're going to bother including them.
Also, I really liked when Cap saw the two bombs with Chicago and Boston written on them, but didn't really react until he saw the one for New York. I get that it's personal and all that, but he's not Captain New York, you know.
The bombs that turn out NOT to be bombs but bizarre propeller jets!
I think you're pretty much dead on regarding the cat who should get more time.. But.. that brings me back to wondering if there's plans for a line of Cap movies AS well as Avengers.. because.. if so, then this is.. sorta okay. That said.. Tucci was simply great.
It's kinda a testament to how fundamentally decent the movie is that these aren't bigger flaws.. and how nearly perfect Evans and the script decide to portray Cap.
While I do not give two shits about Captain America, I did want to know how they’d bridge the time gap between Cap fightin’ Nazis and Iron Man’s present day adventures. I am so very happy that they went with “He took a 70 year long nap after shilling war bonds.”
I understand Captain America to be a foil to Tony Stark’s greatness, in the same way that Cyclops is in the X-Men to make Wolverine even cooler by comparison. We need douche bag heroes (Captain America / Cyclops) to make awesome heroes awesomer. I’m quite happy that Cap does some stupid shit, sells some war bonds, and then takes a widdle nap until we need him to stand in his pajamas next to Tony Stark.
Really, if The Avengers is just Tony Stark making fun of Captain America for two and a half hours, while Thor drinks mead in the background and Hulk is written out, I would be entirely pleased.
Actually, I’d be content with just Robert Downey Jr. making fun of Chris Evans. I’d pay good money to see that. Because, really, fuck Captain America in his stupid pajama wearing, shield bashing asshole. And fuck Chris Evans in his Gucci cologne scented bum.
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