Superheroes trade in wish-fulfillment. In this case, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), who persists in fighting even though he's been 4F'd, gets his chance to become the hero he aspires to be. His adventures set him against the Red Skull and an arsenal of fantastic weapons. The latest Marvel Avengers movie takes us back to the comic-book 1940s, when men were enhanced by superscience and women were allowed on the battlefield without helmets.1

The film handles its lead very well, giving Steve Rogers heroic qualities—but no heroic abilities—long before he becomes the titular Captain. He's a little guy with health issues who wants to help, and won't give up. The dazzle of special effects and action sequences that follow work in a large part because we're behind the central character.

The rest of the cast turn in entertaining performances. We're talking about acting here, not character. While the script develops Steve Rogers, in a comic-book sort of way, and invests Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) and Colonel Phillips (Tommy Lee Jones) with a measure of credibility, the film rarely develops its characters. They have at most the two dimensions of the source material, and suitable actors have been given the task of making them breathe a little.

The film's villain, alas, has bigger problems than simply a lack of development. In the original comics, the Red Skull worked for Adolf Hitler (heil, he was even trained by Hilter). This makes him an amalgam of Nazi mastermind and comic-book villain2 and therefore the ideal adversary for a superhero war movie. Unfortunately, the movie changes his role, for no really good reason. Now, the Skull heads Hydra, a Nazi science division that has broken free from the Nazis (because the Nazis tolerated dissent, and would easily permit this to happen)—yet somehow maintains a large number of followers, full funding, and so forth. The change effectively means that fhe film's version of World War II had a third party, in addition to the Allies and Axis, and it means that we have a film about Captain America, set during World War II, where he doesn't fight Nazis.

Even more damaging to the film are the ill-advised prologue and epilogue.

I understand and appreciate the effort these films have put into continuity. It generally serves the franchise, and imitates a strong point of the original Marvel Comics. In this case, however, the prologue and epilogue, designed to set up next year's Avengers film, work against the story. The prologue adds an unnecessary layer of confusion to a film already stacking Captain America, the Howling Commandos, the Red Skull, the cosmic cube, a Bucky (of sorts), nods to Iron Man, Thor, and even the Human Torch, and the obligatory Stan Lee cameo. In addition, the beginning features significant amounts of backstory. The filmmakers did a surprisingly good job– but then unbalanced the cinematic jenga-stack at the start of the game with the opening.

The epilogue, while interesting, belongs, if anywhere, after the credits, in place of the brief Avengers trailer that currently awaits anyone who stays after thirteen or so hours of rolling cast, effects people, gaffers, best boys, grips, caterers and second unit crewmembers.

*WARNING: SORT-OF SPOILERS:

As it stands it undercuts the drama of the final heroic sacrifice, and undoes the conclusion.

END SORT-OF SPOILERS.*



They're making a series, yes, but they shouldn't forget that they're also making a movie, and that movie should stand on its own.

Separate of these complaints, the film holds up reasonably well. A clear narrative thread takes us through Cap's career. The story jumps spaces of time, permitting other 1940s sequels to be made.3 The writers also did a remarkable job of handling the demands piled on their script. Captain America features a protracted origin story, World War II, dozens of comic-book tributes, Easter eggs, and shout-outs, yet they have been handled organically, for the most part, so that people who don't notice or understand them won't be distracted. I tested the tie-ins and shout-outs on a film-goer who had no relevant background; she never realized they were there. The film also affectionately sends up and celebrates the conventions of comics and related media. At one point, we see the opening panels of Captain America's first comic-book adventure, duplicated more or less as depicted in 1941. At another, the film nicely satirizes 1940s propaganda without ridiculing the war effort itself.

The effects used to make the pre-promoted Chris Evans scrawny look great, and overall, the film gives us strong visuals. Johnstone and his designers have a sense of both the 40s and of comics4, and they do a better job of balancing these with the set and props than the writers do with their version of science and technology. There's also the matter of the Expo. It looks like a period World's Fair, but I'm left wondering who funded it. Don't say "Howard Stark"-- he would be investing in the war effort, not showing off. Point in fact, an exposition scheduled for Los Angeles in 1942 was cancelled because, you know, they had rather larger concerns at the time.

We have a movie for comic-book fans that will appeal to a larger audience, but we don't have a Batman Begins or an Iron Man. View Captain America as an old-time war movie with a superhero lead, and you'll probably enjoy it.

Just don't think too hard.



Notes

1. I'll accept special agent Peggy in a 1940s battle as a soldier (not, say, a driver or medic or even a pilot-- the Brits had a few female pilots who flew under combat conditions). This is a very special team. Why, however, doesn't she have to wear a helmet? The colonel was worried she'd muss her hair?

2. The Nazis, of course, could be remarkably like comic-book villains.

3. I propose Captain America: The Second Adventure. You heard it hear first.

4. gnarl reminds me that the same director invested The Rocketeer with a similar comic/historic sensibility.



Credits

Directed by Joe Johnstone

Written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeeley, featuring characters created by Jack Kirby and Joe Simon.

Chris Evans as Steve Rogers / Captain America
Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter
Sebastian Stan as James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes
Tommy Lee Jones as Colonel Chester Phillips
Hugo Weaving as Johann Schmidt / Red Skull
Dominic Cooper as Howard Stark
Richard Armitage as Heinz Kruger
Stanley Tucci as Dr. Abraham Erskine
Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury
Toby Jones as Dr. Arnim Zola
Neal McDonough as Timothy "Dum Dum" Dugan
Derek Luke as Gabe Jones
Kenneth Choi as Jim Morita
JJ Feild as James Montgomery Falsworth
Bruno Ricci as Jacques Dernier
Lex Shrapnel as Gilmore Hodge
Michael Brandon as Senator Brandt
Martin Sherman as Brandt's Aide
Natalie Dormer as Pvt. Lorraine
Marek Oravec as Jan
Stan Lee as General Cameo