Captain America: The First Avenger – Review
General Patton has said that wars are fought with weapons but are won by men. Our goal is to create the greatest army in history. But every army begins with one man. He will be the first in a new breed of super-soldier. We are going to win this war because we have the best men. And they, personally, will escort Adolf Hitler to the gates of Hell. – Colonel Chester Phillips
Super hero movies have come a long way. What was once a niche market has now become mainstream. For the last several years Marvel has been putting out movies based on characters they still have the rights to. Most people have heard or read to some degree about Marvel’s master plan culminating with The Avengers. Well, if that’s where they’re headed then they definitely need Captain America and he makes his debut in Captain America: The First Avenger.
When I was young and growing up I was a loose follower of the various super heroes. I read the occasional comic book but most of what I got came from watching cartoons or from listening to my older brother who is still a comic book addict. Captain America was always intriguing to me because of his involvement with World War II. This wasn’t your typical super hero who would take down random bad guys who spring up around town. This was Captain America who would storm the beaches of Normandy and fight nazis. So when I first heard that Marvel was going to make a new Captain America movie I was pretty excited as I imagined a more gritty type of super hero movie, a marvel meets Saving Private Ryan type of movie.
I quite enjoyed the beginning of the film. I think the entire prologue was done extremely well with depicting Chris Evans as the scrawny little kid and what life was like for him. It also did a good job setting up the whole WWII setting. The problem was that the further into the movie you got the more things slid downhill. It was never bad, but there were just a lot of things that could have been done differently.
They should have picked things that would have been more movie friendly. Things don’t always translate perfectly from a comic book or cartoon to a movie. Red Skull in general seemed like a poor choice for an initial villain. The giant red head probably works fine on paper but I think Marvel really should have picked a villain that looked more plausible/real and less like a cartoon. I just think the whole setting of WWII sets up this wonderful suspension of disbelief but this is all shattered when you have some guy with a glowing red head flying some futuristic airship. Then the quick scenes showing all the various war machines also served to kill the setting. There were plenty of real WWII machines that they could have claimed Red Skull was behind but instead they have to put out these fantastical contraptions that just look ridiculous.
I’m sure many people disagree with me on this, but Marvel needs to take from the comic books what would work well in a film.
The ending was also disappointing but probably unavoidable. With Marvel working up to having these big Avengers films, the film needed to end with Captain America in the present time. This necessitated cutting ties with people from the 40’s. So you take this woman who he is developing a relationship with, and obviously has feelings for, and she just gets instantly squeezed out of his life. I don’t think the film did a good enough job depicting that loss. I know that Marvel obviously wants to keep the narrative moving forward, but the way it was done just seemed very unfortunate. Plus, all the people who worked with Captain America in the 40’s just thought he died. It’s such a terrible loss for everyone involved. I think in an ideal situation where Captain America would get more time before the release of the Avengers, we might have been able to maybe see a Captain America trilogy where his story could be more properly told. Sure the ending would be the same because he would still need to be brought up for the Avengers, but his story wouldn’t have to feel so rushed.
Super hero movies these days are often hit or miss. Some can be really good while others can be really bad. Captain America is definitely entertaining but probably falls in the middle of the pack. He will definitely be a good addition to Marvel’s repertoire.
