Turns out Chris Evans was an inspired choice to play the star-spangled Captain America after all.
But the latest superhero film from the Hollywood assembly line uses up Evans’ aw shucks appeal by the halfway point en route to yet another feature-length plug for next year’s “The Avengers.”
Dear Hollywood, if we all agree to pony up for “The Avengers” now will you stop invading all these superhero films?
“Captain America: The First Avenger” tells a wonderful origin story then rushes through a series of interchangeable action scenes hardly worthy of the good Captain.
“The First Avenger” maxes out the CGI tool kit to render Evans as Steve Rogers, a scrawny kid from Brooklyn itching to fight those evil Nazis. But the 98-lb. if he’s lucky weakling isn’t fit for military service. A friendly German scientist (Stanley Tucci) sees something noble in the kid all the same, and he chooses him to participate in a secret experiment designed to make an army of super soldiers to battle Hitler’s goons.
The serum transforms the spindly Steve into a walking slab of muscles, but the government inexplicably uses him to sell war bonds in USO-style performances, not fight Nazis. That Evans works the crowd in a note-perfect replica of the comic book Captain America outfit is a sly nod to fanboys who insist the movie versions of famous superheroes replicate the print costumes.
But when Steve’s old pal Bucky (Sebastian Stan) gets captured, Steve picks up his costume metal shield and stages an improbable rescue.
“Captain America’s” first half bubbles with 1940s nostalgia and all the Uncle Sam decency Evans can muster. His Steve Rogers couldn’t outbox his own shadow, but there’s not a lick of quit in him. He’s both heroic and hapless, a droll combination.
He also gets a feisty romantic foil in Hayley Atwell, a va-va-voom British agent overseeing Steve’s transformation. Tommy Lee Jones appears every few scenes to bark out lines straight out of his craggy DNA, and it’s just the kind of abrasive tone needed to lend this old-fashioned romp some texture.
So why isn’t Cap’s arch nemesis the Red Skull (Hugo Weaving) the lip-smacking villain we expected?
Weaving, who made the mysterious man behind the mask in “V for Vendetta” into a character of substance, can’t do much with his flaming red noggin. He kills a random member of his troupe at one point, a tired technique to show us how bad the baddie is in a given film. But there’s nothing special about him. He’s super strong but prefers not to confront Captain America directly, and his master scheme to attack the U.S. mainland feels like a plot sketch stolen from a Bond movie.
Magnificent computer trickery renders the buff Evans into a scrawny twerp, but once that super serum takes hold his Captain America becomes dull. The same can be said of the script, which up until that point crackled with wit and sweetly drawn characters.
Director Joe Johnson (“The Rocketeer,” “The Wolfman”) delivers a few crisp action moments, but there’s no “wow” set piece begging you to pony up for another ticket. And the action often feels rushed, spasms of violence devoid of the bigger picture, a second World War with enormous stakes in play.
“Captain America: The First Avenger” is chock full of red, white and blue goodness as we get to know the man behind the blue suit and shield, but once he charges into battle it’s just another action epic.
(Photo: Chris Evans plays Captain America in CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER, from Paramount Pictures and Marvel Entertainment. Photo credit: Jay Maidment / Marvel Studios. All Rights Reserved.)
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I mostly share these feelings. In addition, I was unimpressed by the emphasis on the Red Skull as opposed to Hitler’s own Reich. The fact that there is little here to stimulate an interest in true historical events in the minds of contemporary American youngsters is a true negative. However, I really appreciated the character of Captain America himself as a sincerely humble, yet truly powerful, individual. He’s just a dar good guy, and I hope young audiences give him a chance.
Bottom line: What ‘Cap’ did well, ‘Battle Los Angeles’ did better (besides the shaky-cam).
Does anyone else get the feeling that all this Hype for the Avenger movie is going to be more impressive than the actual movie itself. They have been hyping the movie and doing lead ins for over 4 years now and when the actual film comes out it is going to fizzle like Green Lantern did.
There’s a ton of hype here, Aleric, and you’re point is well founded. A film like “The Avengers,” with its huge cast and scope, doesn’t need all this attention. It’ll only serve to leave audiences underwhelmed even if it’s mostly successful.
Of the three comic book films I have seen, thsi by far has been the best. And it is attributal to Evans. He comes off as Cap not because of the physical part, but the way he played him. Ernest and full of heart, but humble. I tell you when (spoiler alert?) at the end his place was going down his conversation with Peggy made me choke up. The best movie I have seen all year!
Opps meant plane not place