Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

We've moved well past the era of the known, popular superheroes and are now delving into new ones that the public may not be so familiar with. This summer we got Thor and Green Lantern, two comic heroes that are not as well known to the general public. Now Captain America, who everyone knows by name, but many don't know the story. You can count me as part of that group, as I had no knowledge of the mythology surrounding Captain America, the first junkie.

I'm being cruel. Captain America establishes the character of Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) as a 90-pound weakling, a kid who keeps getting beat-up despite his courage, and who keeps enlisting in the army despite his multiple rejections. His plucky attitude catches the eye of eccentric mad-scientist Stanly Tucci, affecting a wonderfully overdone German accent, who convinces him to undergo a (dangerous) new test that will make him a super soldier. Tommy Lee Jones provides a gruff colonel character, and Hayley Atwell puts her clothed assets and wonderfully red lips on display.

The experimental test goes well, and we receive Captain America, the idealized American hero who will not bat an eye in the face of evil and has the courage and resolve to sacrifice himself for his country (an early scene with a grenade is the filmmaker's way of practically punching you in the face with what the Captain will do later). But on the flip side is the villain, Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving, returning to the evildoer's chair after 8 years), who finds a cosmic blue cube thingy and then harnesses its energy into crazy super weapons that vaporize its targets. His scenes with Dr. Zola (Toby Jones) are Grade A pulp fun, as he develops his own breed of soldiers to usurp even Hitler. You know he's a bad guy when the SS's commanders come investigating, and he murders them.

The movie has a beautiful look to it, harkening back to that city of the future model we saw in a prior super hero film (wink wink, guess which one), and the production design's retro 40s outfitting is warm and welcoming. The goofy sets are great fun, and though they are primarily CGI, they are still wonderful to behold. It kind of fits this alternate take on our past anyways.

Roger's development as a character and hero is well done in this film, and is something we haven't seen in superhero films in awhile (though I can't speak for other offerings this summer, as I have yet to see them). His can do attitude and resolve in the face of adversity is admirable, and we spend a great deal of the first hour with Evans in his 90-pound CGI body. (I have to give the artists big kudos here, I thought they simply grafted Evans' face onto a skinny person. Instead, they actually reconstructed Evans' body, a truly remarkable feat).

But once Rogers becomes Captain America, and Schmidt pulls of his face to reveal he is the Red Skull, the movie lost me. No, I wasn't confused, I just suddenly wasn't emotionally invested anymore. The film establishes both the hero and villain quite well, and then suddenly begins rushing events as the Captain begins tracking down Red Skull, in a rather boring, though explosive, montage. It felt like the filmmakers realized they had to keep the film within a two-hour running time, and began condensing later events. The result is choppy and detached.

And there's no real relationship between Captain America and Red Skull. Oh sure, Skull has someone executed who matters to Captain America I guess (I shan't reveal who, but the character is gone before you know it). But they don't share a connection like Peter Parker and Norman Osborne, or a contest like the Joker and Batman. Besides threatening to blow-up America, Red Skull doesn't quite strike you as truly evil beyond his blasé plan to conquer the world, and he's hard to take serious in that silly red make-up. Hugo Weaving is way more terrifying as himself then spaghetti sauce face.

Ultimately its an enjoyable flick, but as far as the comic book film canon goes, it is below other superhero fare. This has all, of course, been building to Marvel's tentpole event of next summer, The Avenger, where we will see the Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America unite. I will of course see Thor to better prepare myself for this coming film. I do look forward to that film.

Final note: The biggest crossover in the Marvel films occurs here, with Dominic Cooper playing Howard Stark, father to Tony Stark/Iron Man. He plays a large role in the film, and is one of the pleasures of Marvel's big giant crossover fest.