Captain America: The First Avenger
There was certainly a lot of hype about this movie, more then the last 4 Marvel movies combined as far as I noticed (seconded only by the upcoming Avengers movie.) Every time we went out to see one of them the reaction I kept hearing, "Oh yeah it was great/good/okay/ sucked leprous nutts, but what I'm really waiting to see is what they do with Cap!" Well last Friday I got to see what they did with Cap, and seeing if all this hype has been worth it. I will try to avoid some of the big spoilers but be warned, there may be some.
The movie follows a pretty clear three act structure. The first act introduces Steve Rogers and his struggle to help out his country. It gives a few defining examples of how he was actually worth giving this incredible opportunity to, and not simply "lets see if we can give the twig muscles." While he is patriotic and brave, he isn't foolhardy nor is he played up as being naive. He has ideals and he seems to know that upholding those ideals is an uphill battle. He really wants to prove himself, not out of a sense of pride, but out of duty. This movie handles the "sike-hitler" scene much much better then the old Captain America movie (didn't know about that one, that link will provide everything you need to know.)
The second act is actually a really clever way to get all the cheesy obligatory things about Captain America out of the way... like... his name... or his costume... without going into too much detail he goes on a PR campaign per the orders of a Senator.This... makes sense. It is campy and silly, but it makes reality hit even harder once it is over, when he stops entertaining civilians and convincing them to buy war bonds and enlist, and goes over seas and meets soldiers, soldiers that don't give a shit about some blue spandex wearing mascot. After getting very much booed offstage he learns that there is a situation where some soldiers are trapped. He mounts a one man rescue mission and meets The Red Skull for the first time. He rescues the prisoners and for the first time, earns the full respect of soldiers. This act was all about proving himself to not just be a symbol, but by being a real hero.
The last act is the climax (obviously.) After getting Hydra (the Red Skull's organization) on the run. Hydra mounts a huge offence against... well... everyone.Cap suits up goes in for one long mission that I am only going to say it proves what a complete bad ass he really is, and why he is Marvel's iconic hero, in their world filled with super heroes.
Looking at the movie as a whole, the acting ranged from decent to great. Christopher Evans proved himself to be able to play a hero... something I didn't think he did in any other movie I've seen him in *cough...cough.* Tommy Lee Jones had a larger part then I thought he would and was of course awesome. Captain's love interest was interesting. They stayed far away from making her cliche. She was actually a bad ass, not overly done like Black Widow was in Iron Man 2, but just a strong determined character who just happened to be in love with the lead role. Most notably was the fact that she was not rescued by Cap. She was never captured, she never had a gun pointed at her head, or her arm grabbed that inexplicably rendered her helpless. The one time she was pushed out of the way of incoming car is because she was trying to get a clear shot at the driver.
Buckey was an interesting twist, played as the guy who used to protect Steve to the guy that follows his orders. You can tell there is a little jealousy there, but despite that, there is still a lot more respect on not only how far his friend has come but for the man who he had always been.
Hugo Weaving... do I have to say anything about this? Is there a doubt in anyone's head that this man can play a bad ass villain. Granted this villain is pretty one dimensional when all is said and done, but he makes it WORK. He turns that single sided nature of Red Skull and does it justice, not by trying to add more dimension where there shouldn't be, but by playing someone who you can believe is THAT focused, THAT obsessed and THAT dangerous. He isn't Magneto, there is never a point where he hints at being sympathetic, or a troubled past. You can't even say he is being crazy and evil for the sake of being crazy and evil like the Joker. He isn't dedicated to the cause of being evil, he is dedicated to his naked ambition. He will do anything, anything to achieve that, and there isn't a doubt raised that there was ever a line he hesitated crossing.
The special effects were great, as well as the fight scenes. If you are going to see the movie JUST for the action, you won't be disappointed. Between the 2nd and third act there is a "montage of action scenes" that just shows that he was bad ass in the war. It is pretty cool but the whole things amounts to "we need awesome scenes to put into the trailer." Still they looked nice.
In summery, to answer the question I proposed earlier, I must say resoundingly yes. It isn't quite a war movie, and it isn't quite a super hero movie. It is a movie about a man who became not only the hero that heros enspire to be, but just the good person that people enspire to be.
