With Guardians of the Galaxy's recent release, I though now would be as good a time as any to give my thoughts on the first Marvel film. Not 'first' in the date it was released, but first in that it takes place early on... Unless you count Thor... Screw it, I'm reviewing First Avenger, released in 2011, directed by Joe Johnston and starring Chris Evans.
The first film in the new wave of Marvel films starring America's most overt icon brought the legend to the silver screen in such a way that people who had never even heard of the guy were able to take him seriously as a superhero. Which, with an outfit like his, is no mean feat.
The brilliant thing is that they accomplished this in spite of so many things working against it. It's one thing to take a character like Iron Man and the Hulk, both of whom have origin stories of a fairly grim and dramatic tone, and make them work in a world that demands a grittier, darker and 'relatable' brand of superhero. It is quite another to take a character that stands as a moral centre in their universe, one that doesn't waver in their convictions, and make a compelling story while remaining true to the essence of that character.
Man of Steel, on an unrelated note, didn't do either of those. In my mind.
Captain America was not a character I was overly familiar with, going into this film. I'd seen him in an episode of X-Men: Evolution (a highly underrated show from my childhood) and done a quick Wiki search to see what his powers were; that was really about it. I'd seen Chris Evans in both Fantastic Four films, thought he was fine in them (though I confess that they themselves were not), and had managed to miss the outcry over the choice to cast him as Steve Rogers. I had also seen the trailer and thought it looked pretty good.
This is the extent of my knowledge of the film when I first watched it. And on first viewing, my thoughts were: I like the hero's story, but the climax and the villain stuff was kind of bland. To an extent, I hold to that - but I've seen the film several times since, and have gone over in much more detail what I did and didn't like about the film.
The film itself is about a small, skinny man named Steve Rogers, who has what can only be described as a heart of gold in World War II, and desperately wants to enlist in the American army to help in the war effort - but, due to his stature and a number of medical conditions, he is rejected on each application. He is found by a German scientist employed by the Allied forces, who selects him for the super-soldier programme, which transforms him from scrawny misfit to star-spangled-man with a plan. He becomes a propaganda tool, soldier and eventually hero as he battles against the forces of HYDRA, a splinter organisation from the Nazi science department. Said organisation is headed by the Red Skull, who was subject to an incomplete version of the same formula used to create the Captain, and suffered side effects turning his skin red and stuffs.
The things that worked in this film have been stated by critics much better at this than I. Chris Evans owns the role of Captain America - I'm honestly amazed to find how many people, including critics I respect deeply for there insight into films, were so skeptical about this casting decision. The CGI used on him to make him seem so skinny is nothing short of fantastic, if I didn't know I'd have no clue which was the real Chris Evans.
The rest of the cast does an excellent job, too - unsurprising, with names like Tommy Lee-Jones and Hugo Weaving appearing in that list, though the rest are also great. Hayley Atwell plays Peggy Carter, Steve Rogers' love interest, and manages to walk a fine line of seeming tough and independent while also being feminine and very much of that era. The chemistry between her and Evans is also good, and the romance, though perhaps not as developed as it could have been, is a believable and ultimately touching one. Dominic Cooper plays the father of Iron Man, Howard Stark, and you really see something of a resemblance between him and Robert Downey Jr. - though never to the extent that Howard seems uncharacteristically modern. He is also somewhat less abrasive than Tony Stark, and his friendship with the captain certainly adds to the dichotomy of Steve and Tony in The Avengers.
Sebastian Stan plays Bucky, Steve Rogers' best friend and one of the Howling Commandos later in the film. He does a fine job, though I think it would have been good if he had more screen time, particularly given the title of the sequel. Stanley Tucci plays Dr Erskine, the man behind the super soldier serum, and he is naturally very good in the role of a man who was forced into using his talents for evil causes and is now trying to make amends - in as much of an effort to save his home country as to fight it.
Tommy Lee-Jones plays Tommy Lee-Jones, which is good because Tommy Lee-Jones is awesome. Hugo Weaving plays the villain, the Red Skull, and is excellent in the role.
Yeah, I know I said I wasn't wild about the villain stuff. Let me explain.
Hugo Weaving is most assuredly not the problem here. He's wonderfully hammy in the role, and it's very befitting of a villain in this film. The problem is that I'm just not a big fan of what the villains are doing. It's your classic 'use science to take over the world'.
Actually, it's more 'use sciency-magic to make science to destroy the world and then rule over the ashes'.
The thing is, it works in what the film is going for. Captain America: The First Avenger is a period piece, for sure, but it's also a very clear black and white, good vs evil story. This works, because we know that Steve is being brought to a modern world (a world we have already seen through the lens of four other films) which has a number of shades of grey, flawed heroes and (occasionally) somewhat sympathetic villains. The film is very much looking at the past as a simpler time, a better time where doing the right thing - while not always easy - was fairly straightforward, and would breed a character like Steve Rogers - one who would fight as hard as he needed to do the right thing. So, having a simple villain with dastardly plans the hero must thwart isn't just acceptable. It's pretty much a necessity.
The problem is that, outside of Weaving's performance, I just don't find it interesting. And even his performance isn't enough to make villain scenes altogether enjoyable. I found it bland, and was always waiting to return to Cap and crew's story. And it's not as if you can't make that sort of thing interesting - look at the original Star Wars as an example of pure villainy made entertaining. But the first section with the villains is them developing the weapons from a glowing cube (the Tesseract) and killing a few German officials with the same weapons; then we have Red Skull complaining about Captain America ruining his plans (in a scene that reminded me of Lord Zedd, oddly enough), then we have him gloating over his apparent victory. The best villain scenes have the heroes in them as well - but on their own, they aren't enough to hold my attention.
I also have a bit of a problem with the climax of the film. Aside from the obvious flaws pointed out by HISHE, I found it (like the villain plot) to be very stock and generic, almost like the final boss fight of a very underwhelming video game. Part of the problem is that it's neither the biggest nor the most intense fight in the film, and this leaves a somewhat anti-climactic taste in the mouth. Given the Red Skull's ultimate fate at the hands of the Tesseract, it seems like a wasted opportunity not to have a villain with a superiority complex being destroyed trying to wield something that he doesn't realise is beyond his power. Instead, he picks it up seemingly by accident, and he disappears.
However, this leads into a positive point of the film: The rest of the action is very good. The shield throwing business is a unique element of this iconic hero in much the same as as Spider-Man's web-slinging or Batman's batarangs, and to see it done well in the film is a real treat. While I would have liked maybe a longer sequence with Captain America and his Howling Commandos (only given their name in the sequel, but that's a minor thing), what we do get is highly enjoyable and feels like an excellent mix of the firefights in war films and the hyper-realistic fight sequences of the superhero film.
Then there's the score. I absolutely love it. Alan Silvestri (known for the iconic Back to the Future soundtrack among others) brings a very heroic tone to this film (highly befitting of this universe's first superhero), with a grand orchestral score and a trumpet fanfare that brings to mind an image of triumph. In other words, it fits, and it sounds great. If you can get it on your phone/i-pod/someotherstrangeportablemusicplayingdevicenoonehasheardof, listen to that score whenever you're on your way to something terrifying (exams, interviews, gatherings with in-laws etc) and you'll feel ready to take on the world. Possibly.
The story is mixed; in some areas it excels - Steve Rogers is written very well, as are most of the characters, and the plot of the first two acts is fairly solid. In other areas, like the villain plot and bits of the final act, are a bit shakey.
And that brings us to the end: Steve Rogers awakening in the present day to find the world as he knew it changed, with Samuel L. Jackson - the only cast member from the other films to make an appearance in this one - explaining the situation to him. It's a sad and brief moment, which I think is a fairly fitting way to end the film about a man who was always prepared to give up his life for the good of others, and ends up losing it in a manner he would never have predicted.
Although the film is titled the First Avenger. So yeah, after-credits scene showing early footage from The Avengers. Some people didn't like it, I thought it was neat. Any Avengers footage I could get at that point was good stuff, in my mind, and it kind of told us that everything was set for the next film, we just had to wait some months to see it.
Overall, Captain America: The First Avenger is a worthy addition to the Marvel franchise, and of the first wave of these films, it is probably my second favourite (if you don't count Avengers: Assemble in that list, the it's my third favourite). It introduced an extremely likable and moral hero - something almost unheard of on the big screen for a number of years - provided an engaging, if occasionally uneven, story, and set us up for what would be one of the biggest events in comic book film history.
Man of Steel, on an unrelated note, didn't do either of those. In my mind.
Captain America was not a character I was overly familiar with, going into this film. I'd seen him in an episode of X-Men: Evolution (a highly underrated show from my childhood) and done a quick Wiki search to see what his powers were; that was really about it. I'd seen Chris Evans in both Fantastic Four films, thought he was fine in them (though I confess that they themselves were not), and had managed to miss the outcry over the choice to cast him as Steve Rogers. I had also seen the trailer and thought it looked pretty good.
This is the extent of my knowledge of the film when I first watched it. And on first viewing, my thoughts were: I like the hero's story, but the climax and the villain stuff was kind of bland. To an extent, I hold to that - but I've seen the film several times since, and have gone over in much more detail what I did and didn't like about the film.
The film itself is about a small, skinny man named Steve Rogers, who has what can only be described as a heart of gold in World War II, and desperately wants to enlist in the American army to help in the war effort - but, due to his stature and a number of medical conditions, he is rejected on each application. He is found by a German scientist employed by the Allied forces, who selects him for the super-soldier programme, which transforms him from scrawny misfit to star-spangled-man with a plan. He becomes a propaganda tool, soldier and eventually hero as he battles against the forces of HYDRA, a splinter organisation from the Nazi science department. Said organisation is headed by the Red Skull, who was subject to an incomplete version of the same formula used to create the Captain, and suffered side effects turning his skin red and stuffs.
The things that worked in this film have been stated by critics much better at this than I. Chris Evans owns the role of Captain America - I'm honestly amazed to find how many people, including critics I respect deeply for there insight into films, were so skeptical about this casting decision. The CGI used on him to make him seem so skinny is nothing short of fantastic, if I didn't know I'd have no clue which was the real Chris Evans.
The rest of the cast does an excellent job, too - unsurprising, with names like Tommy Lee-Jones and Hugo Weaving appearing in that list, though the rest are also great. Hayley Atwell plays Peggy Carter, Steve Rogers' love interest, and manages to walk a fine line of seeming tough and independent while also being feminine and very much of that era. The chemistry between her and Evans is also good, and the romance, though perhaps not as developed as it could have been, is a believable and ultimately touching one. Dominic Cooper plays the father of Iron Man, Howard Stark, and you really see something of a resemblance between him and Robert Downey Jr. - though never to the extent that Howard seems uncharacteristically modern. He is also somewhat less abrasive than Tony Stark, and his friendship with the captain certainly adds to the dichotomy of Steve and Tony in The Avengers.
Sebastian Stan plays Bucky, Steve Rogers' best friend and one of the Howling Commandos later in the film. He does a fine job, though I think it would have been good if he had more screen time, particularly given the title of the sequel. Stanley Tucci plays Dr Erskine, the man behind the super soldier serum, and he is naturally very good in the role of a man who was forced into using his talents for evil causes and is now trying to make amends - in as much of an effort to save his home country as to fight it.
Tommy Lee-Jones plays Tommy Lee-Jones, which is good because Tommy Lee-Jones is awesome. Hugo Weaving plays the villain, the Red Skull, and is excellent in the role.
Yeah, I know I said I wasn't wild about the villain stuff. Let me explain.
Hugo Weaving is most assuredly not the problem here. He's wonderfully hammy in the role, and it's very befitting of a villain in this film. The problem is that I'm just not a big fan of what the villains are doing. It's your classic 'use science to take over the world'.
Actually, it's more 'use sciency-magic to make science to destroy the world and then rule over the ashes'.
The thing is, it works in what the film is going for. Captain America: The First Avenger is a period piece, for sure, but it's also a very clear black and white, good vs evil story. This works, because we know that Steve is being brought to a modern world (a world we have already seen through the lens of four other films) which has a number of shades of grey, flawed heroes and (occasionally) somewhat sympathetic villains. The film is very much looking at the past as a simpler time, a better time where doing the right thing - while not always easy - was fairly straightforward, and would breed a character like Steve Rogers - one who would fight as hard as he needed to do the right thing. So, having a simple villain with dastardly plans the hero must thwart isn't just acceptable. It's pretty much a necessity.
The problem is that, outside of Weaving's performance, I just don't find it interesting. And even his performance isn't enough to make villain scenes altogether enjoyable. I found it bland, and was always waiting to return to Cap and crew's story. And it's not as if you can't make that sort of thing interesting - look at the original Star Wars as an example of pure villainy made entertaining. But the first section with the villains is them developing the weapons from a glowing cube (the Tesseract) and killing a few German officials with the same weapons; then we have Red Skull complaining about Captain America ruining his plans (in a scene that reminded me of Lord Zedd, oddly enough), then we have him gloating over his apparent victory. The best villain scenes have the heroes in them as well - but on their own, they aren't enough to hold my attention.
I also have a bit of a problem with the climax of the film. Aside from the obvious flaws pointed out by HISHE, I found it (like the villain plot) to be very stock and generic, almost like the final boss fight of a very underwhelming video game. Part of the problem is that it's neither the biggest nor the most intense fight in the film, and this leaves a somewhat anti-climactic taste in the mouth. Given the Red Skull's ultimate fate at the hands of the Tesseract, it seems like a wasted opportunity not to have a villain with a superiority complex being destroyed trying to wield something that he doesn't realise is beyond his power. Instead, he picks it up seemingly by accident, and he disappears.
However, this leads into a positive point of the film: The rest of the action is very good. The shield throwing business is a unique element of this iconic hero in much the same as as Spider-Man's web-slinging or Batman's batarangs, and to see it done well in the film is a real treat. While I would have liked maybe a longer sequence with Captain America and his Howling Commandos (only given their name in the sequel, but that's a minor thing), what we do get is highly enjoyable and feels like an excellent mix of the firefights in war films and the hyper-realistic fight sequences of the superhero film.
Then there's the score. I absolutely love it. Alan Silvestri (known for the iconic Back to the Future soundtrack among others) brings a very heroic tone to this film (highly befitting of this universe's first superhero), with a grand orchestral score and a trumpet fanfare that brings to mind an image of triumph. In other words, it fits, and it sounds great. If you can get it on your phone/i-pod/someotherstrangeportablemusicplayingdevicenoonehasheardof, listen to that score whenever you're on your way to something terrifying (exams, interviews, gatherings with in-laws etc) and you'll feel ready to take on the world. Possibly.
The story is mixed; in some areas it excels - Steve Rogers is written very well, as are most of the characters, and the plot of the first two acts is fairly solid. In other areas, like the villain plot and bits of the final act, are a bit shakey.
And that brings us to the end: Steve Rogers awakening in the present day to find the world as he knew it changed, with Samuel L. Jackson - the only cast member from the other films to make an appearance in this one - explaining the situation to him. It's a sad and brief moment, which I think is a fairly fitting way to end the film about a man who was always prepared to give up his life for the good of others, and ends up losing it in a manner he would never have predicted.
Although the film is titled the First Avenger. So yeah, after-credits scene showing early footage from The Avengers. Some people didn't like it, I thought it was neat. Any Avengers footage I could get at that point was good stuff, in my mind, and it kind of told us that everything was set for the next film, we just had to wait some months to see it.
Overall, Captain America: The First Avenger is a worthy addition to the Marvel franchise, and of the first wave of these films, it is probably my second favourite (if you don't count Avengers: Assemble in that list, the it's my third favourite). It introduced an extremely likable and moral hero - something almost unheard of on the big screen for a number of years - provided an engaging, if occasionally uneven, story, and set us up for what would be one of the biggest events in comic book film history.
