Starring Chris Evans, Hayley Atwell, Hugo Weaving, Tommy Lee Jones, Stanley Tucci, Dominic Cooper, Toby Jones, Sebastian Stan, Neal McDonough, Derek Luke
Written by Christopher Markus & Steven McFeeley
Directed by Joe Johnston
Synopsis: During World War II, scrawny aspiring soldier Steve Rogers is given a serum that turns him into a super soldier, who must then take down a secret science division of the Nazi Party.
Visuals and Audio: As Marvel's first period piece, The First Avenger is their first film to try to take on a stylized look. The film's aesthetic is a mix of classic 40s propaganda, and 50s sci-fi. While this mixture might seem odd, it's actually a really solid method of allowing this to be a war film without losing its comic book heritage. The villains take on the more advanced 50s aesthetic: sleek, rounded blacks and grays, bulky laser weapons and uniforms that hide any sense of individuality so they may as well be robots. Meanwhile, the American soldiers exist more or less as one would expect them to. They wear dirty tattered uniforms, drive period accurate-ish vehicles, and don't take too much of a role in anachronism. Still, this film's depiction of World War II owes much more to the films that were released in the first few decades following the war, and none of the gritty realism introduced in the late 80s and 90s is to be found. Even so, this allows the film to be a "fun" war film, something that could have been released in the early 80s. The visuals, along with the music and delightfully dated sound effects, have an old school charm to them that helps this film to stand out.
The only technical downside is that the film is filled with B-level CGI. There are countless shots where the characters look like they were cut and pasted onto computer generated backgrounds that were several years out of date by the time this film was released. A better alternative would have been to go full 80s and use miniatures and matte paintings, with CGI simply smoothing the seams out. While it may not have looked more realistic, it would have been more endearing and nostalgic. Instead, it saps some of the charm that the music, production design and sound added. Still, the effect of Chris Evans head on a scrawnier man's body holds up as impressive. It's hard to see the seams of where Evans ends and the double begins, although the proportions seem very off.
Cast: Chris Evans had an incredibly difficult job ahead of him. Making a totally goody-two-shoes character interesting is a major challenge, one which Christopher Reeve is nearly alone in accomplishing. Still, Evans joins him at the podium. He succeeds where others have failed by finding what it is inside Steve Rogers that makes him so morally strong. Rogers isn't simply good because he's the hero, he's good because he's spent his whole life as a weakling. After years of having no agency in his life, and no way to fight the bullies who have plagued him, he has a real appreciation for what the powerless go through, and a real desire to help them, whether or not he has the physical capabilities. We are able to relate to him because of how much this makes sense to us, and we can attach to him and root for him throughout, even without those humanizing gray areas.
Though it's fully Evans (and Rogers) movie, the supporting cast actually adds a lot of enjoyment. Hugo Weaving's Red Skull, is a fun and fitting antagonist, albeit not particularly nuanced. The character lacks moral gray areas, much like the hero of the film, and instead mustache twirls as much as a man without a face is capable of. He is evil through and through without the slightest drop of compassion; fitting for the head of research of the Nazi's. Hayley Atwell's Peggy Carter is also an excellent character, and the film's main example of modernization. Despite being set in the forties, Peggy Carter manages to overcome the era's sexism to have some real agency and drive, commanding the respect of those around her. Though Atwell's performance as an intelligence officer is top notch, she struggles (as does Evans) with the romantic subplot. Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter share a chemistry with each other, but rather than let that drive the romance, the film tries to up the drama by forcing roadblocks between the two characters. Though it's more of a writing issue, the two leads struggle to prevent their characters from seeming immature as a result of it. Tommy Lee Jones, Stanley Tucci and Toby Jones spice up the ensemble cast. Their characters have no depth, but they are fun to watch and keep the viewers interested. The one weak point in the cast is Sebastian Stan as Steve Rogers' best friend Bucky Barnes. Though he'll go on to be a major character in the MCU, and a better actor, theres very little charisma or interest to Bucky here. He's a plot device mean to motivate Cap more than he's a character, and gives little indication of the great drama he'll be a part of in the Captain America sequels
Writing: The screenplay for The First Avenger suffers from a similar issue to many of these early MCU films: They start stronger than they finish. The first half of the film is very interesting. Spending nearly a third of the film with Rogers before he becomes Captain America allows us to connect with him, and seeing him in this pathetic state makes his pure selflessness easier to swallow. The sequences leading up to Rogers first major superhero act: liberating a POW camp, are fun, character driven, and follow a fully satisfying three act structure. However, after that sequence passes the storyline begins to falter. Steve has already had his full arc at this point. He started out unable to help those who couldn't defend themselves, and through embracing the fact that his good heart was what made him a hero, he acquired the ability to do the good he wanted to do. However, after all of this is still nearly an hour of screen time. What's left at this point is just a good guy and his friends fighting a bad guy and his henchman. The character driven scenes are instead relegated to the Steve/Peggy romance arc, which has already been mentioned as being botched. Though the audience wants to see these two characters together from their very first shared scene, the screenplay feels the need to delay their getting together, seemingly in hopes that it'll make the moment they do more satisfying. Rather than build up their courtship through natural scenes of emotional intimacy, they force in misunderstandings to keep them apart. Steve thinking Peggy is with Howard Stark because they get fondue together, or a nurse surprising Steve with a kiss right when Peggy walks by are not plot developments that feel genuine or interesting. They are blatant emotional manipulation, and they hurt the characters without adding any emotional weight to the moment they do get together. It's simply too obvious to the audience that there's no good reason these characters aren't together, and the resolution falls flat as a result. This is made more obvious by the fact that the rest of the film around them has no real drive towards the conclusion. Captain America simply fights the Red Skull's men in many different scenarios, and then suddenly it's the final showdown. There's very little emotional weight behind it, and as such the film's resolution lacks punch.
Directing: Joe Johnston is an old-school style filmmaker, and was really the perfect choice for this film. Cutting his teeth in the Visual Effects Department of Raiders of the Lost Ark and the original Star Wars trilogy, Johnston has a long history of bringing that old school feel to his films. Though his filmography as a director is light on true classics, he manages to bring a real separate flavor to The First Avenger. Even when the writing fails to give the film dramatic weight, Johnston is able to keep the film light and entertaining, with a sense of adventure and fun that puts the film tonally in line with Indiana Jones as much as with Iron Man. Though he struggles to make the romantic plot work, Johnston shines in the film's action beats, giving them a quick paced thrill that doesn't emotionally tax the audience. A few moments of his "Gee-wiz" sentiment can prompt eye rolls early on, but Captain America: The First Avenger never asks its audience to believe that it is real, it embraces its falsehood and simply asks the audience to enjoy the fireworks. Through these elements, Johnston easily cements himself as the second strongest force in this film, behind only Evans.
Verdict: Many elements in Captain America: The First Avenger toe the line of greatness, but the film unfortunately tells too much of its story too early. As such, where it should be hurtling to a stirring and epic conclusion, it instead is forced to use cheap narrative tricks to shamble to the two hour mark. If the film had expanded its first half into being the entire story arc, with the POW camp liberation serving as the film's climax, it could have served as a great origin story. As is, the movie is still loads of fun. It's got a great style, and Steve Rogers/Captain America is cemented instantly as being very much in the conversation as the Marvel Universe's strongest character. It's absolutely worth a watch, especially for those who miss the 1980s style of action and adventure. It's just frustrating to see the film being brought down through easily avoidable narrative threads.
Grade: 6.9
No comments:
Post a Comment