Don’t be mislead that “Captain America: The First Avenger” is a period piece war movie. It’s got a sepia tone and World War II era costumes, but the film is done up with as much CGI flair as any other superhero blockbuster. That said, this campy, Americana kicker that’s more sci-fi than old Hollywood is still a good time at the movies.
It goes to show that even if your character is just as goofy as a Norse God and if your film has nearly as many blatant product placement moments for yet another franchise a year in the future, a movie can still have quality if it feels like more than an advertisement.
Let’s leave all the Avengers mumbo jumbo aside. The real movie starts not with a crashed and frozen spaceship in modern day but with the vicious Nazi Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving) stealing an ancient artifact that will do more for the war than the Ark of the Covenant did. Mutated with powers that make him believe he’s above God, he wants to separate from the Fuehrer and take over the world himself. The only person to stop him is a scrawny kid from Brooklyn, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans). No enlisting center will accept him given his size and medical problems, but he’s granted a special opportunity by a German scientist, Dr. Erskine (Stanley Tucci). Erskine will transform Steve into a hulking super soldier with the hope that he’ll maintain a good and strong heart. And thus Captain America is born.
A lesser movie would’ve thrown Cap right onto the battlefield, but this one finds its best scene by first putting him on tour and in the movies, making him a national celebrity and spawning his own line of, ironically, comic books. It’s a clever way for Steve to don his bright and horribly impractical outfit and for the film to acknowledge that this is all campy fun.
And even the elaborate action set pieces seem tailored to the film’s slightly ironic tone. The Captain can leap to physics defying heights, even for a superhero, and the war torn montage as the Allies storm their way across Europe looks and plays more like a trailer than an actual movie.
At least the CGI actually looks like something though. The Nazi storm troopers look like they belong more on the Death Star than in the Third Reich, and all the film’s gizmos are futuristic rather than steam-punked, but the film sure knows how to use them in creating genuinely memorable flashes of action.
And yet camp and good looks are really all “Captain America” has going for it. Character development is scant, with Steve showing us nothing more about himself than that he was bullied and deserves a fighting chance. He proves to be a dry leading man in the face of tart and witty performances by the busty and full-lipped love interest played by Hayley Atwell, the cut-the-crap general played by Tommy Lee Jones and most notably Tucci, who is given severely too little screen time. And of course Hugo Weaving makes a great villain, having fun as a Nazi after so many other exotic bad guy roles.
“Captain America” also doesn’t leave too much time for growth or change in the character based on how he would deal with the new powers (and rockin’ bod), opting instead for a bit more exposition about the Avengers and cameos by Stan Lee, Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury and Dominic Cooper as the father of Iron Man, Howard Stark (who actually has a sizable role in this film).
The movie’s been directed by Joe Johnston, and critics have cited a particular film, “The Rocketeer” (unseen by me), as a comparison between the two film’s themes and visual styles. But bare in mind that Johnston has very little style. A look at his filmography will show he is perhaps the most eclectic director-for-hire working today. “Captain America” feels very much like a Marvel film, one that will fit nicely into the canon and will continue to take no risks when they attempt a sequel.
3 stars
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