Captain America: The First Avenger

Vlad Piranha

I'll confess that this is the film I've waited a year to see. Of all of the Marvel movies, this was the one I looked forward to the most. It's definitely fitting that it was released a full two months after Thor, because it's superior in pretty much every way and would be a tough act to follow.

I'm sure you all know the basics of the storyline. The nutshell of the film is handled very well in the trailers. Steve Rogers was a weak and lanky young man who wanted to fight in the second World War just like all of his friends, but was deemed too physically unfit to serve. His persistence in getting admitted into the Army catches the attention of the directors of a classified super-soldier program. They realize what a capable fighting man he'd become if given the body of the ultimate athelete and what a leader he'd be, not to mention what a fitting candidate Rogers is. With a successful test, hopes are high that Steve will help usher in a new era of soldiers that can turn the tide of the war in the Allies' favor. This goal is especially important since the Nazi's also have their own secretive science division dedicated to creating new weapons and technologies that will bring Europe, and the rest of the world soon after, to its knees. This group, Hydra, is led by Johann Schmidt, a man nicknamed 'The Red Skull'. His fascist zeal and obsession with the occult has created a frightening reputation for Hydra that even the Nazi's inner circle fears. It becomes apparent to all observers in the war that the Red Skull and Hyrda will soon turn rogue and use their unworldly new weapons on their former masters in the Reich and assume their place. Rogers, now embracing his nickname in the propaganda posters, assumes the identity of Captain America. Unless he and the Allies' science division can intervene before its too late, the free world may face a new threat far more powerful and terrifying than Hitler and his Reich.

The beauty of the film is how it took a potentially very campy storyline from the original comics that had very little real plot and developed it into an entertaining film. The real trick was balancing between the sort of corny propaganda that the comic was originally conceived as and the more character driven place that Cap has ended up today. Many of the clips shown in the first trailer looked very cliche at a quick glance, but held more actual depth in the film. I assumed the Howard Stark role would be a quick cameo where a name would be thrown around to get a few chuckles from the comic savvy members of the audience. It turns out that he is an important character in the storyline and truly did find himself involved in starting up SHIELD, just as Nick Fury said in Iron Man 2. Unlike so many Star Wars prequel tidbits, these pieces of plot are not so much obscure references for the sake of geek humor as they are threads that help tie all of the films together. While they're not necessary to enjoy films like this on their own, they're becoming more important as all of the films have different tones to them and are all leading up to the same event, next summer's Avengers film.

These types of movies suffer without compelling villains. Iron Man faltered in the its conclusion and The Green Lantern completely lacked a good one altogether. My favorite part of Captain America is Hugo Weaving's portrayal of the Red Skull. While Thor's villain was well done due to a sense of emotional depth and the audience's pity for him, the Skull is reminiscient of the Joker as he's so much fun to watch because he's so maniacally evil. There is no need to reveal the reasoning behind his lust for absolute power, he's a Nazi. The real world has already given us examples of how someone like this can exist and carry on. We simply understand him as a psychopath and enjoy the show. The first scene where he comes face to face with Steve Rogers is in a factory burning and collapsing all around them. Regardless of the imminent danger, he takes the time to relish meeting his mortal foe, strut in front of his enemy whom he refers to as 'Captain' (which is done in such a wonderfully hammed-up way) and explain how he's the greatest of the übermensch. Either someone like that is a complete joke in a film like this or the entire reason to see it. Weaving gives us the latter. I enjoyed the hell out of this film for what it was, a good audience-pleasing action film with enough comic authenticity to it to please fans as well. It's an A- for me, definitely. Oh yeah, stay past the credits. You should know this by now.