Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Review: Captain America

TRAILER


Like most reviews, I feel it is appropriate to begin this one with my personal background going into this movie.


I like the Marvel comic book universe. I tend to eschew actually purchasing comic books, but I know the universe better then the average guy, and I love and understand many of the characters better then most people.
Spiderman, Ironman, Thor... I like'm. The Hulk? I like him a lot.
But Captain America? I love this character. All the character we ask from Superman, but the limits of humanity shackling him in the real world.
Because he is a character that originated in WWII, Captain America aka Steve Rogers can easily, and many times accurately, be viewed as a character of propaganda machinations. In the past, he probably was a shill for the US government. 

Today? Not at all. After being recovered from a cyrogenic sleep that essentially hit pause on his life, Captain America returns to this world 80 years later. Steve Rogers is still the same man he was, but the world around him changed during his Rip Van Winkle period. 
But that all comes later.
The movie is from way back then. from the days of yore. 

This movie is spectacular. Performers who nailed their roles (looking at you, Chris Evans, Hugo Weaving, Hayley Atwell, Stanley Tucci and Tommy Lee Jones). Screen writing that resonates and retains its comic book origins. Character development for Rogers that satisfies. Clean spoken and without a gratuitous female presence. A great intro, and even better ending to the film. (STAY THROUGH THE CREDITS)


What I was really pleased by was the levity with which this film takes itself. As opposed to the Sisyphean gravity born by the recent Batman movies, Captain America is rippling with levity. They have even addressed the past of this series, by incorporating the propaganda nature of the Captain as part of the growth process for Steve Rogers. 
As pointed out by KnightWing: (who should also hence forth be known as knack-for-words)
"Captain America: The First Avenger harkens back to classic adventure films that are rarely—if ever—made today. It feels more Indiana Jones than Saving Private Ryan, to its credit."


To make it simple, I loved this movie and will be both keeping the poster up in the living room and buying the DVD. 
7/10. 

3 comments:

Aaron Ross said...

Whew. For a second there I thought you were going to start talking about the negative moral implications of Captain America on our generation.

*props*

Gino said...

i was, and still am, tempted to break my rule about movies made after comic super heros.

but i can not. something inside me wont allow it to happen.
glad you liked this most tempting of offerings.

RobertDWood said...

KW, the capt is a shining beacon of morality upon the summer landscape :D

Gino, just wait till the Avengers rolls around next summer. You can't resist a super hero team up movie!