The Value Of Strength: A Review of CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER

Expected grade: 6/10

Actual grade: 7/10

(For a full explanation of my grading system, check out this post.)

I went into this movie knowing very little about CAPTAIN AMERICA other than what I had seen in trailers, and that he would be one of the Avengers in next summer's superhero orgy directed by Joss Whedon, so I didn't know entirely what to expect. I knew it took place in the same universe as IRON MAN and THOR, and I was therefore hopeful that it would be as good as the former, but fearful of it being as underwhelming as the latter. Turns out it fell somewhere between, probably more on par with IRON MAN's not-quite-as-good-but-still-decent sequel.

First, a run-down on what the film does best:

RETRO THROWBACKS: Perhaps the best part of this film is its old-school nostalgia. It verges on campiness a few times (especially in an unexpected yet inspired musical montage about halfway through), but never becomes a joke. The over-the-top German accents, the mad scientists, the mountain fortress, the war propaganda; they all lend themselves to a good old-fashioned atmosphere. That antiquity oddly makes the film feel fresh -- it's different from the typical ultra-modern gloss put on most blockbusters these days. X-MEN: FIRST CLASS achieved a similar retro throwback. Coincidence that they were the two best superhero films this summer? Me thinks not.

A LOVE INTEREST THAT DOESN'T MAKE ME WANT TO PUNCH SOMETHING: One of my biggest complaints about THOR was its waste of Natalie Portman and the utter lack of any truth in her relationship with the superhero. Hayley Atwell, while not showing off any Oscars on her mantel, plays a far more likable love interest as the inexplicably British Peggy Carter. She's feisty, she's smart, she breaks the rules, she can throw a good punch, and she shows interest in the hero before he becomes a hero instead of just swooning like a fourteen-year-old over his abs (here's looking at you, Natalie). She does do a little swooning after his transformation, but who wouldn't? The point is, those abs are just an added bonus for her on top of a guy she already likes. Mind you, she's still the love interest in a superhero movie, and therefore doesn't really have a complex identity outside of her relationship with the hero. But if Natalie Portman in THOR and Blake Lively in GREEN LANTERN are her competition this summer, she's leaps and bounds ahead of both of them. Of course, she and Captain America still come in a distant second to the most believable superhero romance of the summer. I'm referring, of course, to Professor X and Magneto.

CHRIS EVANS: Apart from apparently being chiseled from solid marble, Chris Evans brings life and believability to Steve Rogers, aka Captain America. Seriously, the swelling score and dramatic reveal of his new-and-improved body plays like an absurd advertisement for celebrity trainers. But there's more to this character than just brawn, surpassing the pure Playgirl beefcake-ness that was Chris Hemsworth as Thor. It helps that when we first get to know Steve Rogers, he's a puny runt of a guy who can't win. This character is much more readily likable and relatable than Thor, who is a cocky, whiny "god" from the moment we meet him. It's hard to root for that character. In his more vulnerable, weaker state, we can't help but root for Steve Rogers -- Epitome of the Underdog. Chris Evans' greatest achievement is maintaining that vulnerability and weakness even once he's acting with his full-on Olympian physique. You can feel that he never left that underdog behind, and that sensibility is what makes him such a good hero. As it's said in the movie: Only the weak can know the true value of strength. It's fun watching Chris Evans ala Steve Rogers play with his newfound strengths and quickly become more confident in them. Which leads me to...

A run-down on where the film is lacking:

AN INTERESTING SUPERHERO: As I said, Steve Rogers is a great character, and Chris Evans played him almost to perfection. But once he becomes Captain America and masters his powers, there's very little else about him that is interesting. This is not a fault of Evans or even the movie, just a fact about the character. There is nothing dark or complex about Captain America. He's a goody-goody American hero. He fights the forces of Evil and stands for what is Right and Just. He's never tempted by the dark side. He's not an orphan. He has no kryptonite. He's just a big, strong dude. I definitely thought the last third of the film suffered because of this. Once we got to the straight-forward Captain America against Evil action plot, it became less interesting.

CONFUSINGLY VAGUE SUPERPOWERS: Maybe this is just because I'm not familiar with the source material, but what exactly are Captain America's powers? He got bigger and stronger, and...? What else? Not much that I can tell. He has a mysteriously and unexplainably magic shield of some kind...? And somehow instantly knows how to throw a knife with precise aim into an enemy's back, how to drive a motorcycle like Evel Kneivel, and has the combat training to lead large amounts of troops into battle...? I kind of felt like he was plugged into the Matrix and got all of this information downloaded into his brain during his transformation. I'm not really sure... Again, more of a fault with the source material on this one.

LACK OF CONTINUITY WITH THE OTHER AVENGERS FILMS: Okay, this kind of drove me crazy. If you're going to market this film as "the first avenger" film, at least have it be consistent with the rest of the films that already exist in this universe. This film took place in the 1940s, and yet they were already developing flying cars and the Nazis had high-tech submarines and planes that don't even exist now? Where is all of that technology in Iron Man or Thor or Hulk? Those films all seemed completely grounded in the reality of today (apart from the specific "thing" each movie was about, like the arc reactor or the gamma radiation or what have you). Yet this film conjured up a half-real, half-fantastical setting that doesn't exist in the other films in the franchise. Furthermore, it is revealed that Captain America and Howard Stark (Iron Man's father) were close colleagues and friends during the war, and that Captain America's exploits inspired a generation of children to run around with garbage can lids painted like his shield -- yet he's never even alluded to in any of the other films? Where did his legacy go? Did people completely forget he existed? This is a relatively minor thing, but if you're going to market all of these movies as taking place in the same universe, at least be consistent.

THE ENDING: Obviously don't read this section, if you don't want to know, but......... Seriously? That was it? He was "asleep" for 70 years?? That felt like a huge cop-out to me and a too-easy way to tie Captain America into the Avengers franchise. There was literally zero explanation as to why he spontaneously decided to lapse into a decades-long magical coma. And if Howard Stark could find that tiny cube at the bottom of the ocean, why could they not find the smoldering wreckage of the giant freaking plane that Captain America crashed in? That felt really contrived and kind of pissed me off. It made me feel like everything I had just watched was merely a millions-of-dollars feature-length trailer for THE AVENGERS. As if I (or anyone else on the planet) am not going to see it. I'm already sold. Stop shoving it down my throat. There was seriously a title card after the credits that said "CAPTAIN AMERICA will return in THE AVENGERS." Yes. Thank you. We get it.

...End of rant.

There are other things about this film I didn't have time to touch on, such as the superb supporting performances by Hugo Weaving, Stanley Tucci, Tommy Lee Jones, Toby Jones and Dominic Cooper, and the creepy visual effects of Chris Evans' life-sized head on the body of a man who weighs 90 pounds. But rest assured that if you like comic book movies, this is a good one to see. While not as good as the outstanding X-MEN: FIRST CLASS, it definitely comes in above THOR and GREEN LANTERN for me. It's worth seeing, especially if you want to see THE AVENGERS. Have you heard of that? Yeah, it's this little movie coming out next year with Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, the Hulk, Hawkeye, and Black Widow. Crazy, right?

All right, I swear I'm done ranting about The Avengers now. No really. Can you tell it bothers me a little? Not that I haven't enjoyed most of the individual movies -- I just think they're pushing this cross-marketing a little bit too hard. I wish they would let these films stand on their own merits rather than playing them off as advertisements for another movie. Because Steve Rogers is strong enough to stand on his own two feet.