WARNING
THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS.
IF YOU WISH TO AVOID SPOILERS THEN DON'T READ THE BITS WRITTEN IN RED.
OTHER THAN THIS BIT, OBVIOUSLY.
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED
Since the birthing of the internet the world has been forced to accept the nerd contingent as something that should be respected rather than ridiculed. There are more films directly aimed at nerds, TV shows aimed at and depicting nerds as well as an all round acceptance that comic books are a legitimate form of literature and not just something little kids enjoy. I am all for this. I am a nerd and indeed have really enjoyed the wealth of material that has been cast my way over the past decade but with that being said, the amount of comic book movies being released in such quick succession this year has started to exhaust me of the genre. This wasn't at all helped by the life scarring appearance of The Green Lantern, which nearly caused me to skip both X-Men First Class and Captain America: The First Avenger out of fear that I would have to suffer a similar torment again. Thankfully I opted to face my fear and piss into Marvels wind both times, granting me the experience of two decent films.
Captain America is the final instalment in Marvels often awkward grand scheme to bring comic book continuity to the movie world. We've had both Iron Man movies, one of which was good but lacked a third act and the other simply being a absurd mess with almost zero charm. There was The Hulk which got some things right but most things wrong and has the unfortunate association with 2003's Hulk. Then recently we saw Thor which was surprisingly good for what it was, but fell short in the grander scheme of things. All of this left me with low expectations for Captain America, expectations that were not only met but surpassed by the majority of the piece. It's by far the best of the Avengers set up films thus far.
The story is simple. Steve Rogers wants to join the US army so he can go and stop the Nazi's. He is however too short and scrawny to be considered for battle so is drafted into a genetic experiment program that provides him with superhuman strength and agility. Once the process is complete he becomes Captain America and runs off to beat up bad guys. At face value it's a story that lacks any kind of surprise factor, but in actuality what it does do is service the film and its bigger picture in a way that allows the films themes and characters to thrive much more than is usual in a comic book film.
The film as a whole is completely devoid of irony, something which almost every comic book movie of the past decade has had a shit ton of. Rogers is a good guy by definition and personification, he's not a reluctant, depressed, overburdened or near psychotic hero like many of the popular fare, he is just a good guy who wants to stop bullies. Now I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of cinema goers would reject the character for this seeing as it goes against the norm', but I found it refreshing not to have to suffer with the character at any point and simply sit back and route for him without any further thought. Going in I expected the portrayal of an 'ideal American' dressed in an American flag to be irritating, but the unforced depiction and the dialled back patriotism allowed me to see past my prejudices and enjoy the character for what he is.
The lack of irony also aided the script in many ways. Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely's script is a no bull shit, to the point affair that revels in its characters, situations and primacies. There's no cheese, fat or filler contained within this tightly constructed script allowing it to stand back and support its actors and director rather than call attention to itself.
The writers also appear to understand their homeland more than most. At the point in the film just after Rogers is granted his powers, the character is forced into becoming a pro-war poster boy for the army rather than being sent out to aid his fellow countrymen in battle. I have no doubt at all that if the American military created a super human, all they would want to do in reality is advertise and boast about it rather than use it. It's such a true development in fact that many American reviewers have pointed out their discomfort in relation to the sequence, a discomfort born, no doubt, out of seeing this aspect of American culture being displayed so truthfully and not in any kind of good light. Its like having someone show a man a tape of how many times he masturbates in a year, everyone knows it happens but seeing it from an objective perspective only heightens their intent to keep that kind of stuff hidden away from others. As a Brit, I found this section of the film both funny and relieving, the relief coming from the knowledge that there are some Americans out there who know just how wrong their countries 'high and mighty' attitude can be at times.
The cast of Captain America is pretty much flawless. Chris Evans (the actor from Scott Pilgrim, not the ginger Radio 2 presenter) is pitch perfect as an action hero. Hayley Atwell's role as the love interest is also played well and adds a lot of drive to the story as well as adding much need glamour to a predominately male cast. Hugo Weaving shows up to once again prove that he knows how to play a dastardly villain to near perfection as Johann Schmidt, a man so evil that Hitler himself threw him out of the Nazi regime for being too evil. Then finally theres Tommy Lee Jones's who's usual bone dry comedic schtick never fails to entertain me.
I also feel I must applaud the score of the film. The often overlooked talent of composer Alan Silvestri is something which I can't understand. Most of todays films are scored by the talented likes of Hans Zimmer and Danny Elfman, but very few of the bigger budget films have looked to Silvertri for their scoring needs. Has everybody forgotten that this man wrote the theme for Back To The Future? The theme that makes hairs stand on the back of your neck and leads you into wanting to watch that film again for the thousandth time? His work in Captain America is text book perfect, each composition adds depth and background to the scenes without calling attention to itself. If I were to be choosing a composer for my film and I could afford him, Silvestri would be at the top of my list and I honestly don't understand why he's relegated to films like G.I. Joe, Hannah Montana: The Movie and Night at the Museum. It's such a waste of wonderful talent.
Now before Captain America bows it's load as a result of all of this overly enthusiastic cock sucking, I must point out that Captain America does fail on a couple of accounts.
Firstly, Captain America is set in 1942, during the penultimate moments of World War Two. As a result I have to treat the film as a period piece, something which it failed to do in my eyes. As I have said in previous reviews, comic book movies are allowed a lot of artistic licence when it comes to portraying a period in history. But that licence only allows a film to go so far. Most of the films depiction of the 40's is totally accurate, but every now and then something happens that discredits the hard work being done. For example, why did they have to include a sequence where a hovering car is displayed? I know it's a Stark Enterprise invention but I don't remember that kind of tech' existing in Iron Man, which was set in todays times. Also the use of the mythical magical inventions brought over from the Thor continuity look so out of place in the time setting that all it did was to take me out of the time period and add a level of disbelief so large that by the films end, I couldn't see past it. Rule number one in any film is to make your world believable. Even a fantasy epic like The Lord Of The Rings managed to convey a level of reality in order for audiences to accept what they were watching. With that example in mind there should be no excuse for a film that is set in our real world history not to be a believable place. When all is said and done Captain America might as well be set in outer space for all of the liberty's it takes.
My final irritant with the film is a smaller, more nit picky one. There are a couple of action sequences that require Captain America to jump long distances or hop on car rooftops. These moments are clearly heavily reliant on stunt work being performed on wires, but here it looks so incredibly fake. Even if a character has super human abilities and can defy gravity, the force gravity puts on an object is always very apparent and no effort has been put into adding this force to these particular stunts. These few moments in Captain America are so absurd looking that in the long run it damages some of the films biggest set pieces, which is a shame because if they simply didn't include these moments the entire film would have benefited from it. The lesson here is sometimes less is more.
Overall I really enjoyed Captain America: The First Avenger, especially considering all it really is is a two hour long advert for next years Avengers. The films pacing is brisk and to the point, the overall feel is refreshing and light hearted and where the film does suffer from a heavy dose of unbelievability, the end result is a two hour escape into a world that I would happily visit again. It has also pumped me up to the point where Joss Whedon's Avengers movie seems way to far away. I may be exhausted when it comes to superhero movies this year, but if that film were to come out tomorrow, I'd be the first in line to see it.
Captain America: The First Avenger gets...
3.5 out of 5
