I love Captain America, and I'm a Canadian. There is a place in this world for a super patriotic superhero, and this is it. You just have to love Steve Rogers as a character. He's someone we all aspire to be: the grand hero who is still true to himself, the great leader who is never wrong, the good soldier who will take a bullet for his country. This is actually not the first Captain America movie Marvel has made. In 1990, another movie was made that was intended to mark Marvel's introduction into the movie business to compete with DC's hugely popular Batman movie. The result was a disaster. It was met with numerous delays which resulted in the theatrical run being cancelled and the film going straight to video I have actually seen that movie, and the production values are on par with movies from the late 60's and the plot is a mess. Here's the trailer: judge for yourself.
I always wanted a great Captain America movie. I saw the whole thing in my mind's eye and I wanted Marvel to create what I wanted. But my skepticism set in when I heard some questionable casting decisions. I wanted this movie to defy my expectations, more so than any other Marvel movie. Did I get my wish? Well....
The casting decision I spoke about was the casting of Chris Evans as Captain America. Evans was known to marvel fans for playing Johnny Storm/The Human Torch in the awful Fantastic Four movies. I did not like Evans in those movies at all. He tried way too hard to be funny and got on my nerves constantly. Hearing he was going to be Cap was terrible news. Thankfully, I was completely wrong. Evans owned this role as well as Chris Hemsworth and Robert Downey Jr. owned their respective roles. He is heroic and powerful, yet humble. Captain America is a simple man at heart, and Rogers perfectly captured that. I still remember when we saw him for the first time in the costume. The moment sent chills down my spine, because he was here. Captain America was real. He was there in front of me, living via this movie screen. Evans was so good that I forget he was playing a character. He was Steve Rogers. Sadly, I had the opposite reaction to another character, who I felt was a perfect choice going into. When I heard this movie was going into production I felt there was only one man who could play the evil Red Skull: Hugo Weaving. Much to my surprise, I got my wish. I walked into this movie waiting for Weaving to blow my mind with his performance, and that didn't happen. His performance was bland, but he was given nothing to work with. Red Skull as a whole was kind of underdeveloped, which is a real shame. He had the potential to be great villain, but it fell flat. I would say Red Skull as a whole was the movie's biggest problem. He looked fantastic, but he was underdeveloped as a villain. I never felt he was as hateful as Obidiah was in Iron Man. Yes, he is a Nazi, but that is really the only thing he was going for him as a villain. But even with a weak villain,
this movie shines in other ways. The best strength, excluding Evans' performance is the way this movie is put together. It's set in World War II, and the style of the movie reflects the times and culture of that era. It reminds me of the 40's adventure serials in many ways, which makes it feel very exciting and nostalgic. Director Joe Johnston had already made The Rocketeer, another love letter to that era. I loved the relationship between Steve and Peggy Carter. Let me explain the way this goes (SPOILERS) Steve and Peggy had been growing closer together throughout the entire movie. In the end, Steve is flying the airship over the ocean and knowns he has to crash the ship to destroy the weapons on board, but losing his own life in the process. Hearing Peggy beg him not to do this is heartbreaking, because I loved the chemistry between them. They make plans for a date when he gets back, to go dancing. They know he is not coming back, but they don't want their last conversation to be depressing. They wanted to end everything on hope. Steve is frozen in the ice and revived in modern times. He runs through New York City in confusion, and Nick Fury asks him what the problem is. His answer? "I had a date tonight." Now that is sad. I was ready to leave the theatre depressed, but luckily there was a trailer for The Avengers after the credits and I left full of anticipation. It has been confirmed Peggy Carter is still alive in 2012 in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so I look forward to their eventual reunion. And that's all I got from Captain America. It's a good movie, but suffers from the lack of a good villain. But fear not. Our next review is the last part of Marvels' Cinematic Universe Phase 1, and also happens to be the finale of Marvel Marathon. And oh boy, are we going out with a bang. The Avengers is next!
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