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CAPTAIN AMERICA
THE FIRST AVENGER
‘Captain America’ captures the pride of a nation, the power of confidence and the pages of a comic book, but even so there are some cracks in the red and white paint of this weird and wobbly Marvel vehicle that shields it from any real impact...
When compared to other Marvel origins stories and characters, ‘Captain America’ is quite different... His backstory is necessary for the eventual evolution of the character and the setting is equally important to properly ignite the character and the “universe” he comes from. It definitely wants to capture the vibe and spirit of the source material, which was released in a time where patriotism and heroism and hope were very crucial things.
Like the character of Steve Rogers and the mindset of those who created him, ‘Captain America’ is a little prettier, a little glossier and a little less gritty than what war actually is. Everything about this superhero flick feels a tad superficial and quite a few things rings false to me. Somehow it also feels like - while Cap did need a different approach than others - the overall style of the film seems fitted for something else than what started the MCU. ‘Captain America’ does feel more like the actual pages of a comic book thrown onto the screen than ‘Iron Man’, for example. But it also seems like it has a harder time adapting to the screen than ‘Iron Man’ did.
You could say that ‘Iron Man’ feels like it’s based on a comic book... ‘Captain America’ feels like it’s based in a comic book. There isn’t the same sense of weight to the latter and it feels more flimsy and funny looking. And together with the more fantastical elements like the cube making people dead and a skull being oddly red, it sometimes comes of as rather cartoonish. There’s definitely a b-movie vibe to this and the cheese is equally shared between the movie often pandering patriotism at you and Red Skull melting people with his blue laser gun... it’s all just a bit... much.
I did actually find the first 45 minutes or so to be extremely well handled and I loved the little hints to our hero and villain throughout; like Cap using the taxi door reminiscing of the shield he will use later on as well as the several references to Red Skull before we actually see him (the face being a bit “off” at one point, the blood on the metal skull, the red paint portrait painting and so on). I enjoyed myself so much in this subtle thematic shadow game that I felt underwhelmed once “the lights came on” and everything was out in the open. It looked fake... it seemed dumb... and it appeared less exciting, unfortunately.
But overall there are things to enjoy throughout, like some fun dialogue that bounces back and forth between the characters, some decent jokes as well as some pretty exciting and well executed action scenes that elevates the entertainment level towards the end of the film. The Russo brothers came along afterwards and put most comic book action scenes to shame, of course, but on its own ‘The First Avenger’ does quite well.
This is a movie I can have fun with and while it’s mostly on the surface of things I find quite a lot of interest in the far in between moments of genuine weight and heft, which does give even the lesser scenes more depth, even when most work best as simple entertainment. ‘Captain America’ does its duty as basic origin story but could have gotten more down and dirty with it. But I guess you have to go through boot camp before you can go to actual war...
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THE FIRST AVENGER
‘Captain America’ captures the pride of a nation, the power of confidence and the pages of a comic book, but even so there are some cracks in the red and white paint of this weird and wobbly Marvel vehicle that shields it from any real impact...
When compared to other Marvel origins stories and characters, ‘Captain America’ is quite different... His backstory is necessary for the eventual evolution of the character and the setting is equally important to properly ignite the character and the “universe” he comes from. It definitely wants to capture the vibe and spirit of the source material, which was released in a time where patriotism and heroism and hope were very crucial things.
Like the character of Steve Rogers and the mindset of those who created him, ‘Captain America’ is a little prettier, a little glossier and a little less gritty than what war actually is. Everything about this superhero flick feels a tad superficial and quite a few things rings false to me. Somehow it also feels like - while Cap did need a different approach than others - the overall style of the film seems fitted for something else than what started the MCU. ‘Captain America’ does feel more like the actual pages of a comic book thrown onto the screen than ‘Iron Man’, for example. But it also seems like it has a harder time adapting to the screen than ‘Iron Man’ did.
You could say that ‘Iron Man’ feels like it’s based on a comic book... ‘Captain America’ feels like it’s based in a comic book. There isn’t the same sense of weight to the latter and it feels more flimsy and funny looking. And together with the more fantastical elements like the cube making people dead and a skull being oddly red, it sometimes comes of as rather cartoonish. There’s definitely a b-movie vibe to this and the cheese is equally shared between the movie often pandering patriotism at you and Red Skull melting people with his blue laser gun... it’s all just a bit... much.
I did actually find the first 45 minutes or so to be extremely well handled and I loved the little hints to our hero and villain throughout; like Cap using the taxi door reminiscing of the shield he will use later on as well as the several references to Red Skull before we actually see him (the face being a bit “off” at one point, the blood on the metal skull, the red paint portrait painting and so on). I enjoyed myself so much in this subtle thematic shadow game that I felt underwhelmed once “the lights came on” and everything was out in the open. It looked fake... it seemed dumb... and it appeared less exciting, unfortunately.
But overall there are things to enjoy throughout, like some fun dialogue that bounces back and forth between the characters, some decent jokes as well as some pretty exciting and well executed action scenes that elevates the entertainment level towards the end of the film. The Russo brothers came along afterwards and put most comic book action scenes to shame, of course, but on its own ‘The First Avenger’ does quite well.
This is a movie I can have fun with and while it’s mostly on the surface of things I find quite a lot of interest in the far in between moments of genuine weight and heft, which does give even the lesser scenes more depth, even when most work best as simple entertainment. ‘Captain America’ does its duty as basic origin story but could have gotten more down and dirty with it. But I guess you have to go through boot camp before you can go to actual war...
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