STARRING: Chris Evans, Hayley Atwell, Hugo
Weaving, Sebastian Stan, Toby Jones, Samuel L. Jackson, Dominic Cooper, Tommy
Lee Jones, Stanley Tucci, Neal McDonough
2011, 121 Minutes, Directed by:
Joe Johnston
Being
the fourth superhero offering of
the summer, Captain America
arrives in theaters without the
benefit of a fresh launch, stuck
trying to assemble thrills in a
costumed crusader farmland already
picked clean . . .
The upside here is a distinctly
retro adventure that feels like
a funny book page-turner, playing
up its WWII setting with obvious
joy and care for the character’s
origins. The downside is the influence
of modern technology, shining up
a 1940’s hero with glossy 2011 technology,
making the picture resemble more
of a video game than an epic realization
of jumbo comic book details.
A 90-pound weakling determined to
join the military during WWII, Steve
Rogers (Chris Evans) has been repeatedly
rejected, watching as his friends
march off to defend their country.
When a German doctor (Stanley Tucci)
recognizes the courage within the
puny man, he convinces Steve to
partake in a special transformation
program designed to generate super
soldiers.
Accepting the experiment,
Steve comes out a radically changed
man, filled with strength and ready
for battle. However, it’s a long
road to the front lines, with the
newly dominant soldier sent down
a different path of wartime inspiration,
soon motivated into duty when the
villainous German leader of HYDRA,
Red Skull (Hugo Weaving), takes
possession of a special power source
known as the Cosmic Cube, threatening
to destroy the entire world. Aided
by Peggy Carter (Haley Atwell),
Col. Chester Phillips (Tommy Lee
Jones), and a special shield designed
by Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper),
Steve becomes “Captain America,”
ready to take on evil.
The director of
Captain America
is Joe Johnston, who already submerged
himself in Nazis and WWII with 1991’s
vibrant comic book adventure,
The Rocketeer. On the surface, Johnston
seems like the ideal man for the
job, already revealing a steady
hand with gee willikers Americana
and feats of exaggerated heroism.
However, Captain America is a
far more complex character and world
to bring to life, especially in
a sensitive modern era, where a
man dressed up as an American flag
isn’t going to be as warmly greeted
as he once was.
The delicate balancing act between
patriotism and pathos is handled
with care by the screenwriters,
who devise a clever way to transform
Steve from a wimp to the titular
character, playing up the superman
as the face of the war effort, shoved
out into the world as a cartoon
figure of hope, rapidly morphing
into the real deal.
"A man dressed up as an American flag isn’t as warmly greeted as he
once was!"
The picture
is skillful with acts of exposition,
doing a bang up job getting the
characters into position. Though
it takes some time to establish
Steve’s origin story, once Captain
America selects a shield and a functional
costume, Johnston achieves a sparkling
tone of flashy action, displaying
the starred champion leaping, punching,
and flinging his iconic shield around,
taking out HYDRA goons armed with
deadly blue lasers. The film is
a blast when it finally spotlights
Steve’s derring-do, permitting Johnston
a chance to isolate the Captain
America basics everyone wants to
see.
Unfortunately, Johnston hasn’t mounted
a feature of realistic minutiae,
relishing the WWII recreation possibilities.
Instead, Captain America is a
glossy production deluged with green screen
work and CGI beautification, robbing
the film of natural wonders. The
visual work here ranges from interesting
(Evans’s head is pasted on a double’s
scrawny body for the pre-Cap version
of Steve, creating a distracting
bobblehead effect) to misguided
(Red Skull looks creepy enough,
but the digital touch ups smooth
out the character’s twisted appearance)
to lousy (backgrounds rarely convince).
This is a production that cries
out for substantial practical effects
and vast locations, not extensive
computer creations that keep this
colorful universe disappointingly
one-dimensional - a problem aggravated
by the movie’s dreadful 3D conversion.
Also of concern is Evans, who appears
to have chosen “heavily sedated”
as his acting motivation for Steve.
This being his second superhero
effort (having played Johnny Storm
in two crummy
Fantastic Four movies),
one would expect a certain genre
gusto emerging from extensive practice.
No such luck. Lacking charisma,
the actor plays his dual character
with a vanilla glaze, worried more
about external appearance than emotional
complexity.
Also on the dreary side
is Atwell, perfectly zombified as
the love interest and all-around
tough gal. It’s difficult to root
for this pair when both actors seem
like they just awoke from a nap.
More fun is Jones, growly and bitter
as the military man in charge, and
Weaving, fitting himself for a Werner
Herzog accent to play the skinless
cartoon menace and Hitler one-upper.
Captain America has numerous
highlights and carries a jovial tone
of valor that develops a rah-rah
America atmosphere without overkill.
Still, the promise of the material
is not fulfilled in any substantial
way. Actually, the movie feels more
like a prequel to next summer’s
Avengers superhero convention,
with Steve’s story not offered its
own identity like his costumed
brothers and sisters have been
gifted. Still, there’s promise here
that will immediately be built upon,
hopefully in a more organic manner
that sustains the fantasy but
retains some needed texture.
Being
the fourth superhero offering of
the summer, Captain America
arrives in theaters without the
benefit of a fresh launch, stuck
trying to assemble thrills in a
costumed crusader farmland already
picked clean . . .