"Captain America: The First Avenger" Review

Three Stars

Yup. Another superhero movie. It seems like there have been about 20 of them released this summer, but I think this is the last one, in case you're starting to get burned out by them. If I had to rank where "Captain America" stands, I'd probably put it behind "X-Men: First Class" as the second best of the summer, with a fair lead over "Thor" and finally "Green Lantern" in last place. "Captain America" and "Thor" are, of course, Marvel characters whose movies are setting up next summer's "The Avengers," which I personally can't wait to see (I'm a Joss Whedon fanboy, and he's heading the project). But the difference between these two films is that only "Captain America" really feels like it could stand on its own, that it wasn't made simply to set up "The Avengers."

The film starts in the present where S.H.I.E.L.D discovers some wreckage that houses a rather important piece of equipment used by Captain America. Then we quickly jump back to the early 1940s, where World War II is in full force, and a tiny Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) is continually rejected from army recruiters because of his diminutive size. But he is soon taken in by a military scientist who believes he can change the scrawny, 90-pound Rogers into an enormous, muscular superhuman with a special serum. At the same time, Nazi Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving) has come up with his own serum that fuels his desire to conquer the world, and has his own personal army. Rogers soon takes the persona of Captain America, and as a member of the U.S. Army, he helps lead the fight to stop Schmidt from global domination.

I liked the plot, and this was one of the few movies I've seen this summer where I felt none of the action scenes were over the top. Sure, there's a lot of CGI and fiery explosions, but everything felt justified, and the rhythm of movie wasn't messed up. Director Joe Johnston paces the film very well, as it doesn't feel too long, and none of the action sequences feel like overkill (maybe a bit excessive, but nothing as excessive as "Transformers"). The script is also fairly well written. I can't recall cringing or rolling my eyes at any of the lines, and most superhero movies can't pass that test. There was a great balance between the serious and the lighthearted, and at no point did the story itself seem to try to do too much and become corny. One thing that I think helped is that Captain America's costume was an actual physical costume and not a painfully unnecessary CGI body suit (I'm looking at you, "Green Lantern"). But Johann Schmidt, whose serum turns him into the hideous Red Skull, ends up with a completely CG head, which, while beautifully rendered, could have been just as easily created using prosthetics, thus not wasting much of Weaving's performance (and Weaving is masterful when it comes to playing villains).

Yet as much I love watching Hugo Weaving, his character was the one thing that dragged down the movie for me. Johann Schmidt was entirely one-dimensional, and those types of villains simply aren't interesting. The brilliance behind "The Dark Knight" came from the Joker, and the seeming inability to understand his madness. You don't know why he aspires to create chaos, or what's caused him to lose any sense of morality. And because of that, he's a fascinating, complex villain and the driving force behind what made that movie so great. Johann Schmidt? He wants world domination, and he'll kill anyone who tries to stop him. I've heard that one before, and I've heard it a lot. I know this Captain America, and the metaphor of good versus evil couldn't be any clearer, but simple good versus evil is boring. Magneto is a great villain because he has compelling motivations for waging war against non-mutants. The Green Goblin is similar to the Joker, and another example of a great villain. Johann Schmidt? Not so much.

On the acting front, Chris Evans and Hugo Weaving both have a great presence on the screen. A scene-stealing Tommy Lee Jones plays the hard-nosed Colonel Chester Philips, Hayley Atwell plays Peggy Carter, a British ally and love interest for Rogers, and Dominic Carter does a fine job as Howard Stark, the father of Tony Stark/Iron Man. Everyone puts in a fine performance (and Weaving's would have been even better if they left his face alone), and Evans really fills the part of Captain America, not just Steve Rogers. Tommy Lee Jones is simply brilliant as always, and Dominic Carter really seems to mimic a lot of the mannerisms of Robert Downey Jr. (though he tones down Downey Jr.'s quirkiness quite a bit). I would have liked to see the romance between Rogers and Carter played up a tiny bit more, but Atwell and Evans have good chemistry, and although a romance is inevitable in a superhero movie, this one's done better than most.

Overall, I quite liked "Captain America." I'll reiterate that it didn't feel like it was made simply to move forward with the planned Avengers film, like "Thor" unfortunately did. It didn't feel too fantastical (though Schmidt's army and his base in the Alps were a bit silly), and had a pretty good script with a great cast acting it all out. It runs about two hours, and ending's pretty solid. It isn't overdone with some sort of never-ending epic battle that either takes too long or doesn't match with the rest of the movie, as final showdowns can sometimes do.

A few other notes: I didn't see it in 3D, and you don't need to either. I'm really starting to agree with Roger Ebert that 3D does nothing for your movie, unless you really go all out with it and the 3D truly matches the tone of the film (even "Avatar," which I saw in IMAX 3D was quite impressived with, was still just as good in 2D when I recently watched it in on a regular TV). The music, composed by veteran Alan Silvestri, was pretty good throughout, and though I felt it was at times a bit much, I think Silvestri simply wanted to write a rousing and patriotic-sounding score worthy of a hero like Captain America. And don't forget to stick around after the credits....

Until next time, Orange Hat Guy