Not Quite The Definitive Film About The Sentinel of Liberty....

“Captain America” has been one Marvel character that has been so overlooked, underused and definitely misused. I think this is already the 5^th comic book adaptation this year and the 3^rd one released that featured a major Marvel comic character. “Captain America The First Avenger” has been released with little to no major promos and it feels like a movie that follows a formula that has been used by many other comic book movies so many times before. To appreciate Joe Johnston’s (director of “The Rocketeer“) version of Cap, one needs to accept that this is a mere part of the upcoming “Avengers” film in 2012, and not to be seen as the definitive “Captain America” movie. It is a film with a lot of retro sensibilities that feels like a comedic ensemble that takes great joy in setting up the character against a World War II setting; which is quite fun to watch, and the filmmakers did make a decent popcorn summer film. But honestly, the film plays more like a cartoon and serves up a lot of fan service, with little effort spent in applying a realistic drama around the character. Note to Hollywood: do not try to be a page-per-page comic book when adapting a comic book into a movie screen.

Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) is a frail young man with a great desire to do what is morally right and enlist in the U.S. army to do his part in stopping the Nazi menace. He wants to follow the footsteps of both of his parents, but he has repeatedly been rejected by the army because of his health that even his best friend Bucky (Sebastian Stan) feels that he should just stay at home. One day, Rogers finally gets noticed by a Dr. Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci) and selects him as a candidate for a serum that he had developed which may transform many into super-soldiers. Much to Colonel Philips‘ (Tommy Lee Jones) disagreement, and the concern of Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), Steve Rogers may have become the first super-soldier to face the forces of Hydra led by the nefarious Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving), also known as the Red Skull.

                    

                    

                    

Johnston’s film appears to carry strong references to Marvel’s Ultimate version of the character in terms of appearance and portrayal, as it deviates from most of the original 1940’s story. However, the script by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely uses a certain sense of nostalgic appeal that seemed to reflect the feel of a 50’s or 60’s World War II movie. The film starts off quite well, as it tries to establish the Steve Rogers persona as a man wanting to do what it is right. The film also feels and plays like a classic war movie but in between, Johnston serves up a lot of the pleasant fan service that makes the film part of the group of films to launch the upcoming “Avengers” movie.

It takes references of Hitler’s obsession of the occult into the search for an item believed to have its origins from Norse mythology (also nods to the cosmic cube), the power source had nods to “Iron Man 2” (references to Howard Stark), and classic characters such as “Dum Dum Dugan”, Peggy Carter and Gabriel Jones, Arnim Zola, and nods to the “Howling Commandos” are seen throughout the film. The classic triangular shield even makes an appearance before the more popular shield used in current continuity. The film does a lot of tributes and homage ( there is also a small hint to the “Winter Soldier“), I also thought that the way it played on the angle that the actual comic was created to motivate the fighting man in world war II was clever, albeit it was a little unnecessary.

                   

                   

                   

I am not sure, I guess along the way, the film forgets to incorporate the drama, suspense and sense of urgency that would’ve made the film much more compelling. It rather treats everything at a brisk pace in an attempt to cover as many bases to the character as possible and keeps to a light-hearted tone. I know this was its intentioned but it loses a needed sense of narrative impact to establish the drama as to how the Red Skull and Captain America are exact opposites, and treats everything in a cartoonish manner; it makes everything rather predictable. The film felt like there was hardly any struggle at all and felt very underwhelming. In some scenes which were obvious missteps, Cap was shown in action, intended to resemble news footages, but in turn they all felt like scenes from a video game. The action scenes are very watered down and goes around a style that lacks emotional content in the scenes. There was just no real sense of urgency around the scenes; they were all pretty standard fare, as we’ve seen many times before and they felt incoherent. The visual effects were alright, but it just didn’t have the right energy and momentum to truly interest me.

                        

                       

Surprisingly, Chris Evans makes for a decent Steve Rogers; I knew he had the physique, and the role didn’t require much acting talent but I was pleasantly surprised to see him ‘look the part’ of Steve Rogers. I also liked the CGI work done to make him look frail in the film’s first act. Hugo Weaving was so underused as the Red Skull; the film further proves that to have a great hero, he has to have a great nemesis; and this time Cap’s greatest enemy is reduced to the staples of what Hollywood sees in a comic book villain which made him boring. Atwell makes for a very charming Peggy Carter and Tommy Lee Jones made for a great with his straight-faced humor. I was a little disappointed with the film’s missed opportunity to play on the “Howling Commandos” angle and I rather thought that Stan’s Bucky Barnes were a small device to satisfy fans and was very underdeveloped.

“Captain America the First Avenger” may be the most credible film about Marvel’s super-soldier (after 1990’s film with Matt Salinger) but it is still a far cry from becoming the definitive Captain America movie. It spends too much time trying to serve up fan service and promos for the upcoming Avengers movie than trying to actually build on the Marvel comics character for the big screen. The plot and the execution was very lacking and hollow; while there was decent action, it didn't have anything behind each punch and shield throw.  I guess I cannot really complain about that, as it is another crossover flick to promote 2012's “The Avengers” and if you look at it from this viewpoint then it would be a decent film. I really liked the final scene where the film showed a man displaced in time as it showed a lot of care. “Captain America the First Avenger” had enough good parts to make up a decent whole as it feels very traditional and is all about the heroism of the ‘little guy‘. Much like “Thor”, it is easy to like but plays it hard to really impress.

Timid Recommendation, RENTAL is more advisable. [3+ Out of 5 Stars]