I'll admit at the outset that I was really looking forward to Captain America: The First Avenger, but as subjective as the process of reviewing a film can be I sincerely believe that this is a movie that deserves all of the raves it's getting from critics and audiences. Marvel has hit another one out of the park yet again.
The film begins in the present day, with mysterious men, many of whom apparently work for the United States government, uncovering something apparently very significant buried under the ice of the North Pole.
The film's narrative then begins in earnest as it then shifts to Norway in 1942, where a troop of strangely outfitted and equipped Nazis led by Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving), break into an old man's house and make off with a strange glowing cube which Marvel Comics readers and viewers of Thor may recognize.
Meanwhile, 90-pound weakling Rogers (Chris Evans) has tried five times to enlist in the U.S. Army, going to the extent of applying in five different American cities and even falsifying his application, but due to a laundry-list of physical defects on top of his very slight stature, he has been turned down every single time. Steve's luck finally changes when, after he has been dragged by his best friend Bucky (Sebastian Stan) to a world expo, and while arguing with Bucky over his efforts to enlist, of which Bucky disapproves, he is heard by German scientist and defector Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci with a delightful accent).
Erskine picks Rogers for an experimental treatment which, if successful, will transform Rogers into the ultimate physical specimen, much to the chagrin of Colonel Chester Philips (Tommy Lee Jones in top form), who takes one look at Steve and thinks Erskine is joking. Erskine knows that the treatment amplifies everything about a man, and believes that it is Roger's inner qualities which make him an ideal candidate. British liaison Agent Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) can't help but notice some of that inner strength in Rogers as well.
The treatment works, and Steve grows to be twice his previous size, but due to a sudden and tragic development the experiment cannot be replicated and Steve is the only one of his kind.
The United States senator responsible for overseeing the Super Soldier program takes a keen interest in Steve, but instead of sending him off to fight, puts Steve in red, white and blue tights and sends him traveling across America to sell war bonds with a bevy of leggy chorus girls in tow.
When Cap's tour heads to Europe, however, the G.I.s on the front are less than impressed, but a daring rescue mission to save Bucky, whose unit has been decimated, changes things for Cap and he finds himself in the thick of the fight, taking on the Nazi's "deep science unit" known as HYDRA, which is led by none other than Schmidt, also known as the Red Skull.
The story of Steve Rogers, the skinny army reject with a lion's heart who is transformed into the ultimate he-man by a military experiment is one that comic-book geeks like me know backwards and forwards, but it is to the full credit of director Joe Johnston (Jurassic Park 3, The Rocketeer), screenwriters Christoper Markus and Stephen McFeely, star Chris Evans (Fantastic Four), and the rest of the cast and crew of this film, that it is made almost perfectly accessible to everyone else. Fortunately for us fanboys, however, there are enough references to the Marvel Universe to reward our devotion. I know I'll be going over the DVD of this more than once to see if I can spot all the Easter Eggs.
The decision to set this film in the Second World War rather than updating it was the first thing Marvel did right, and the second was to hire a director and a cast who nailed the tone perfectly. Though I felt trepidation at the casting of Evans as Cap, he allayed my fears with an earnest and ultimately involving performance. Though he anchors the film, he gets ample support from the other actors in the ensemble including Lee Jones, Tucci, Atwell, Dominic Cooper as Howard Stark, future dad of Tony Stark of the Iron Man films, Toby Jones as Arnim Zola, and Weaving. It was a pleasure seeing the Howling Commandos in action too, in particular Band of Brothers vet Neal McDonough as Dum Dum Dugan, wearing his trademark bowler hat and handlebar mustache.
What sets this movie apart from just about every other in the Marvel stable is its distinct period feel, which not even the recent X-Men: First Class, supposedly set in 1962, was able to adequately capture. The 1940s setting, complete with such improbable (and goofy) concepts as the "super soldier serum" and "vitarays" could have been the film's greatest stumbling block, but by embracing it wholeheartedly, Joe Johnston and the cast and crew have turned Captain America: The First Avenger into the kind of rip-roaring adventure yarn a lot of audiences haven't seen since the first couple of Indiana Jones movies.
There are a few sobering scenes and set pieces intended to remind the audience of the setting, like one with a depressed Cap sitting with Peggy Carter in a destroyed tavern somewhere in London after one of the bombings that routinely took place during the war, among others. For the most part, however, Johnston and company sidestep the potentially more sensitive aspects of staging the narrative during such a tumultuous period of human history through numerous storytelling tweaks that set Schmidt apart from Hitler and which actually reduce the bloodshed if not the actual body count. No one will ever mistake Johnston for Spielberg, to whom he pays due tribute in the course of the film, but he has a steady hand for directing action, and judging by the outstanding performances turned in by his actors, a genuine feel for effective storytelling in general.
Setting the film in the 1940s also created wonderful opportunities for art director Rick Heinrichs to really cut loose with the period look of the film. Particularly outstanding were the retro-futuristic designs of Hydra's facilities, weapons and vehicles. Interestingly enough, apparently Heinrichs and his crew drew upon the actual designs for unused Nazi prototypes.
Finally, the choice of setting and tone gave composer Alan Silvestri the chance to turn in some of his best work since Forrest Gump, or even the Back to the Future movies. Indeed, the music of this film makes just about every other Marvel music score, even the ones I've enjoyed, as well as comic-book movie music of the last twenty years sound absolutely generic. To my mind it's right up there with John Williams' original Superman fanfare, and the "Captain America March," that plays during the end credits feels distinctly like an homage to the venerable Mr. Williams.
The visual effects are fantastic, even though the seams show here and there, but the one that has everyone talking is the trick of turning six-foot-tall Chris Evans into the scrawny and tiny pre-serum Steve Rogers. The effect was reportedly achieved mainly by actually shrinking Evans' actual body using computer graphics as opposed to merely cutting and pasting his head onto a smaller man's body. It's a remarkable effect, one that is made all the more convincing by Evans' fine performance.
Ironically, perhaps the only truly jarring thing about this movie is its very reason for being, which is to set up next year's superhero ensemble piece The Avengers. The modern-day bookends do nothing to serve the story of the film itself and serve only to set up Joss Whedon's film.
Fortunately, in between all of this is a complete, stand-alone film with handsome visuals, compelling acting, dialogue and directing, and a somewhat poignant ending that comic book fans will recognize and non-comic book fans may appreciate just the same.
This movie is definitely worth seeing, though to get the best value for money it would be best to avoid 3-D, as I did. This is a movie for anyone who feels they don't make action movies like they used to anymore.
4.5/5
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