Captain America: The First Avenger
Falling in line with the other “Avengers” movies, “Captain America: The First Avenger” is another example of the winning Marvel Formula. The Formula: solid, likeable characters, an abundance of dialogue, a blossoming romance and a little action spread throughout. The original “Iron Man” established the standard and all the others (“Thor” “The Incredible Hulk”) have followed suit. “Captain America” delivers nearly all of these elements with ease; however, the film falls flat in the action portion of the equation. Considering this is an Action Movie, this is a touch of a problem.
Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) is a skinny weakling that looks like the poor kid that gets sand kicked in his face in the old Charles Atlas comic book adverts. Although he is frail and meek, Rogers wants only to fight for his country. It is the early 1940s and America is at war with the Nazis but poor Rogers keeps getting the 4-F stamp every time he tries to enlist. Not qualified.
Rogers’s patriotic determination catches the eye of a Dr. Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci) who is charge of a Top Secret experiment that will create the ultimate super solider by using a mysterious serum and a hefty dose of Vita-rays. Rogers is the lucky one and, of course, Captain America is born. While Hitler and the Nazis are formidable foes, they are not the real threat to humanity. The villain here is the vile Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving), who heads the deep science division of the Third Reich know as HYDRA. Johann also goes by the name Red Skull because he has a bare, red skull that makes him look like a crimson version of Jim Carrey’s “The Mask,” giant teeth and all. Captain American leads a motley band of rag-tag soldiers as they try to defeat the evil Red Skull and save the world until next summer when he’ll have to do it all again in “The Avengers”.
Chris Evans is the perfect Cap. There are a couple of moments when the fervid machismo borders on parody but he rides the line and delivers a rousing performance. The film is filled with a superb supporting cast and both Tucci and a tired looking Tommy Lee Jones each takes turns gnawing on all the scenery around them. This film has huge doses of comedy coursing through its veins. British actress Hayley Atwell is a fresh face that plays the lovely love interest for our Mr. Rogers and she does it wonderfully. This is the rare superhero film that spends time better with its characters and their interactions that it does on the battlefield.
Director Joe Johnston (“Jurassic Park III,” “The Rocketeer”) has always been second tier director whose work comes across like cut-rate Speilberg. But he can usually stage an action sequence. The HYDRA villains never seem to pose any actually threat and our heroes spend the entire film mowing them down without even breaking a sweat. With no tension, the movie loses steam and the final moments are heedless. It is very possible that these moments seem lackadaisical because of the sheer amount of costumed crusaders that have been feed to us this summer and it would be impossible to watch ANY superhero movie now and not get at least a slight sense of déjà vu. “The Avengers” will be released on May 4, 2012 and I, for one can use the rest.