BEFORE: Capping off the trilogy of "Avengers" prequels, I'm definitely in my wheelhouse. Better yet, I'm excited to watch these, and I'm happy to be excited about movies again. There were some real low points in late Feb. and early March -
For purposes of organization, there are some films that can serve two purposes - this would count as both a superhero movie and a war movie, for example. I tend to use such films to transition between two topics, or link two chains. While I'm not using this film for such a purpose, I recently added a couple films to the list that bridge some gaps - so as a result I've got a (more or less) continuous chain planned that's about 150 movies long - so it could be another 5 months until I'm not sure what to watch.
Linking tonight once again provided by Samuel L. Jackson -
THE PLOT: After being deemed unfit for military service, Steve Rogers volunteers for a top secret research project that turns him into Captain America, a superhero dedicated to defending the USA's ideals.
AFTER: The story here is familiar to any true comic-book fan - an experiment turns a 90-pound weakling into a super-soldier, who gets frozen after WW2, and thawed out in modern times. Of course in the comic books he was thawed out in 1964 - but due to the weird way that comic-book time works (like in soap operas, the characters don't age) so even in today's Marvel comics, Captain America was thawed out "a few years ago". This enables the filmmakers to allow Capt. America to sleep for 70 years (instead of the original 18) and become a walking anachronistic symbol. There's an added bonus here, with global warming contributing to Cap's thawing out.
Most of this film takes place during World War II, of course, and the movie does a fair job of explaining WHY Steve Rogers was selected for the Super-Soldier program - in addition to being the one who would show the greatest improvement in muscle mass, it's shown here that he developed a friendship with the head scientist on the project, Dr. Erskine. Additionally, he shows that he's got the heart of a soldier, the willingness to sacrifice himself, and a head for military strategy.
The World War 2 scenes start with a reference to Norse mythology, so that helped carry the story over from "Thor". This links up with the other recent Marvel films in another way, by including scenes after the credits roll (I always watch to the very end, just in case). If you watch the final, post-credit scenes from "The Incredible Hulk", "Iron Man 2", "Thor" and this one, you'll really be prepared for the formation of the team in the "Avengers" film. Trailers for the film are JUST starting to air on TV, and the film opens in a month, so I feel really good about my timing.
At first the army doesn't know what to do with Captain America, so they send him on tour to raise money via war bonds - so it's sort of like the reverse of "Flags of Our Fathers", where the soldiers from Iwo Jima were used for the same purpose. Eventually Cap realizes that his unique talents are best used in the field, and the battle scenes alone were worth the price of the DVD.
I liked the look of Cap's costume here, they borrowed from another Marvel line called "The Ultimates", with Cap wearing an army helmet, goggles, and a sort of pocketed flak vest. It looks cool, and helps set the tone for the period. However, I'm not sure about the decision to age James "Bucky" Barnes from Cap's teen sidekick to a full adult, and to make them pre-war friends. Perhaps the filmmakers were nervous about showing a teenager fighting in a war? Still, it's not true to the comic.
Also sacrificed was Nick Fury's WW2 service - in the Marvel comics, he led the Howling Commandos, and became another link between the 1940's and modern times thanks to something called the Infinity Formula. I guess someone felt that would make Capt. America less special if he wasn't the only one to make it to the modern day. So Cap leads the infamous group of ragtag soldiers, OK, I guess that can work too.
Starring Chris Evans (last seen in "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World"), Haley Atwell, Tommy Lee Jones (last seen in "The Missing"), Hugo Weaving (last heard in "Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole"), Stanley Tucci (last seen in "The Lovely Bones"), Toby Jones (last heard in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1"), Sebastian Stan, Dominic Cooper, Neal McDonough (last seen in "Minority Report").
RATING: 9 out of 10 syringes
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