Monday, July 25, 2011

Captain America: The First Avenger

Holy fuck, I loved this movie...
...and despite it's title, it doesn't feel like an ad for another one. I like that.

Loved Little Steve Rogers...




Captain America is a very long standing Marvel comic book character, and though he's been on the screen before, it was never done like this.
This is the story of a 90 lb weakling who wants to make a difference - a man who was born a hero.
The first third... "Steve becomes a soldier" is perfect.
This is the key to good entertainment, kids - make me care before you bring out the special effects...
And they are special - really nice looking film.

Chris Evans' "young Steve Rogers" is a great performance. I suspect he had to limit his movement for the digital effects - he seemed controlled but so earnest ...wow, I didn't appreciate how rich these characters could be in full flesh and blood. I would have watched a whole movie about that little weakling - why? ..because he's a fuckin' great character.

In fact, the GRENADE is one of the best "character" moments I've ever seen in any movie. LOVE IT.


Joe Johnston is really good at that nice soft vision of the past - his WW2 is like Band of Brothers for kids. But the most noticeable element of this whole project is how much love went into it, for lack of a better word. These guys love this character as much as I do - as much as millions of kids for years and years have - it really shows.
Tommy Lee Jones is great - most I've enjoyed him in a long time. He seemed like he was having fun.
Hayley Atwell is lovely and reminds me of another Hayley I know...
Couple o' tear-jerkin' scenes, boy.
His line after the big event, so to speak - I don't care if you like superheroes or not - it's just great writing, and kudos to the writers they're borrowing from. Years of Cap stories inform this screenplay, with a lot of the Ultimates mixed in ...impressive synthesis storytelling.

Bucky's a surprise. I love the character but it's tough to pull off a kid beside a Super-Soldier. Fantastic interpretation of the "sidekick" role - more like two soldiers at war - just excellent. There's a brilliant montage towards the end - where everyone shines, and the inspiration of this hero is obvious.
Dum-Dum Duggan is great, and I suspect Neal McDonough is in there as the original Cap consideration.

Dominic Cooper's Howard Stark was another pleasant surprise, and what an impressive world the Marvel filmmakers have brought together. The idea of Tony's Dad way back might've sounded hokey but it's so charming. They're creating Marvel history up on the big screen. Out of a wonderfully comic-heavy childhood, this is stuff I'm really happy to see - invested storytelling.
Kinda sad to me that of the four "superhero flics" this summer, three were Marvel, and the other one - well, I wanted to like Green Lantern. He's a great character.

Then there's The RED SKULL.
He's Cap's Joker, and such a fun cat - I mean, Nazis are the perfect villain bar none, but a skull-headed one - c'mon? He's awesome - just look at any Cap comics - the Red Skull is always up to something fucked-up.
Hugo Weaving plays him as a genius weirdo - and on that note,  the Werner Herzog accent is a blast - subtle and hilarious.
 ...and though I'm not so much a fan of the rubber face, it was handled really well - that slipping eye...
But his design - Brilliant - absolutely nailed it.
Took about 30 years to see Cap and his nemesis duke it out properly on the big screen for this kid.
Worth the wait this was..


...and dead?
Ahhhh, ha ha ha ha haaaa....
The Red Skull never dies - he's the toughest bad guy in either of the big stables...

Captain America: The First Avenger is tight entertaining movie. The overall design is charming but totally epic - comic-booky, but cutting edge storytelling.
It has twice the heart of most of these "superhero" flics, amidst a perfectly paced World War II actioner - I'll watch it plenty, I suspect.
I went to see it again this afternoon.

It's too bad the GLUT of superhero flics seems to have killed this one.
It's really really good.


Well, turns out CAP made a fair bit - good, I'd love to see a part 2..
A.

1 comment:

Patrick said...

Hooray for little weaklings.. :) I'll go see it soon.