Movie Review: Captain America

By Michael Vass | July 23, 2011

These days there are so many movies that are so much less than what is portrayed in the movie trailers. It happens so often that I tend to forget that movies can be so much more of an experience. That is what Captain America is, a film that goes beyond the rudimentary level of the trailers.

I have said that I had many fears about the Captain America movie. The way that the costumes and settings were not authentic. That the lead actor, Chris Evans, who may be best known as Johhny Storm (the Human Torch) in the Fantastic Four flops was not up to the job. Of course there was the biggest fear, that the film would not do justice to the essence of America that this character represents.

All valid fears. All answered and happily in a positive manner.

There is a “not quite 1940″ feel to every aspect of the film. From the very begining the film sets that tone. But it is consistent, and paints a surreal picture of WWII, which in turn works for the film. That’s mostly because they stick to what they created. Only in the modern scenes do we depart from that hazy image of the past.

There is plenty of CGI in the film. But unlike most films these days the CGI is not the star of the film. The action sequences are not a huge celebration of the ability of a computer program. The CGI is in fact more of a background, an enhancement on what is really driving the movie, the story.

That’s the really great thing in this film. Huge swaths of the back story and related characters of Captain America, and Marvel Comics depicting WWII, are integrated into the film. “Dum Dum” Duggan, Gabrielle (the Black guy), even the back story of the Red Skull are in part integrated into the film. Given there is ample alterations, but not to the fundemental cores of anything, just dramtic license enough to keep the film moving forward.

The team in charge of the early images of Steve Rogers (Captain America) need to take a bow. The look is realistic and you believe that Chris Evans could look like this. Which makes his transformation so much more dramatic and acceptable.

The passion and beliefs of Captain America/Steve Rogers is a critical item. In a nation that considers people in the Tea Party raving lunatics because they use the 1st Amendment and hold politicians accountable, there was a real fear that dedication of Steve Rogers would be “revisioned” to fit some movie studio executives ideals, or worse the currently popular holier-than-thou liberal attitudes that fill Hollywood. Thankfully that is not the case.

There is a downfall to the film. It lags in points. The story is not riveting, and often is predictable. The love story is blatant and unfulfilling. There are gaps of logic, and more than a few leaps of faith.

Even so, the film does something I have not seen in years, almost decades. The theater was packed. But it wasn’t the 3D that brought in the audience. It was the allure of a big name hormone pumping starlet. It wasn’t even a promise of overkill in a bigger and constant manner. This film drew in people from ages 18 – 70. Because this was about America. This was about our ideals, on the big screen, shown in admiration and celebration.

That alone will likely reduce the success of the film in Europe and other nations that we saved in WWII, and currently want to bash every aspect of America today.

Think about it. When was the last time that you saw a film, where there were the difference between the youngest viewer and the oldest exceeded the speed limit on a highway? And I don’t mean grandparents being dragged to a movie by their grandchilden. Nor do I mean 1 or 2 older audience members. I mean 20% of the audience, on dates and with their grown friends.

Think about this, at the end of the film I even heard clapping. Not a lot, which is no surprise since audiences today rarely do that. But it shows how well the film engrossed the viewer and motivated them.

Perhaps the best performance was by Hugo Weaving. As the Red Skull he captured the twisted and maniacal essense that was a Nazi (to my understanding of such a warped being). He gave a credible, if not flawed and demented, presence to the character. It made him seem more menacing, more dark, more evil than you imagine such a character would be. It’s not an Oscar worthy performance, but it was the best in the film.

Chris Evans also deserves credit. The film is pinned to his believability and acting. He stepped up. It’s quite arguably the best performance of his entire career. He gives Steve Rogers compassion, and akwardness, and humility, while evoking strength and command when needed. He kept an innocence about the character that remained even in the last scenes of the film. I expected Evans to be over the top, and hamfist the role – I will state clearly that I was wrong in that belief.

A notable, but honestly mostly useless character is Col. Chester Phillips (Tommy Lee Jones). He takes the filler support role and gives some good one-lines. The best may have been his “He’s still skinny”, though “I’m not going to kiss you” also led to audible laughs across the therater.

Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter is the usual good to look at girl. But this character has a position of some power, and more importantly a presence. She is no waif. Proven best when she helps Captain America pick his sheild. And she lives up to the looking good part in that red dress of hers. Not a bit character, but her scenes don’t kill the mood or detract from the story.

Bucky Barnes is supposed to be the younger sidekick of Captain America. One of the largest “revisions” of the film is placed onto this character. Bucky is aged to be a peer of Steve Rogers. He is played by Sebastian Stan, who gives him no great importance. While we see that Rogers and Barnes are old friends, the scenes between the 2 do not feel as if this is a conversation among life-long friends. Still, he does an average job, and Bucky has relatively few scenes.

Dominic Cooper is rather good doing an imitation of Robert Downey Jr, for his role as Howard Stark. There is no question that he rolled his similarity in looks, into a mimicry of Downey. It works because we know this is Tony Starks dad, and therefore doesn’t have to be the same. Still the imitiation shows a bit of a lack of imagination for something new. Howard Stark is Iron Man with a bit of Howard Huges thrown in – all in ways youve seen in other films.

Dum Dum Dugan, played by Neal McDonough, and Gabe Jones, played by Derek Luke, are adequate. They have few scenes and little is asked of them. They give enough flavor to their roles as to not be stale, and to keep comic book fans happy. Beyond that they are pretty useless.

This is a good film and should give Harry Potter a run for his money. It’s family friendly, but not adult unfriendly. Having no knowledge of comic books and character histories is not a hinderence, and for fans there is plently to applaud (they kept the rebirth of Catain America almost completely intact).

At 124 minutes it is longer than the average movie these days, but you won’t notice the extra time. It’s not in 3D so you won’t be ripped off for money that went to nothing special in the film. The bonus trailer, at the VERY end of the film credits, is a big dose of pre-marketing for the Avengers film coming next year, but nothing that if you miss it will ruin your day.

My final though is that I was wrong. I saw the trailers and was lead to think poorly of the film. Maybe that was to keep the hype levels down, maybe it was a bad marketing job. But the film is good, and in a year of films that are mildly better than refuse, its great. See it, enjoy it. Expect to see it sell fast as a DVD.

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