A Dork(ification)’s Movie Review: Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

You knew this was coming...

A weak young man determined to join the Army gets a chance…and a universe changes forever.

I have this on Blu-ray.

Starring:

Chris Evans…from some other failed Marvel franchise attempt, and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.

Hayley Atwell…from nothing I’ve seen.

Sebastian Stan…from Once Upon a Time and…Hot Tub Time Machine?

Hugo Weaving…from The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and some flick about little people – and a ring.

Toby Jones…from Ever After and an episode of Doctor Who.

Tommy Lee Jones…from The Fugitive and Black Moon Rising.

Dominic Cooper…from From Hell and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.

Neal McDonough…from Star Trek: First Contact and an episode of Quantum Leap.

Derek Luke…also from nothing I’ve seen.

and

Stanley Tucci…from Big Night, Road to Perdition, and far too many other fine films to mention here.

Notes of Interest:

1) Captain America: The First Avenger was released on July 22, 2011…one week after Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, one week before Cowboys and Aliens, two weeks before Rise of the Planet of the Apes, three weeks before Final Destination 5 and The Help, and four weeks before Conan the Barbarian, Fright Night, and Spy Kids: All the Time in the World.

2) It wound up being the twelfth top grossing film of the year, making more than The Help and less than Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

3) Captain America: The First Avenger‘s estimated budget was $140 million, and earned it back about two and a half weeks later (August 7^th).

4) When this film was released:

Chris Evans was 30

Hayley Atwell was 29

Sebastian Stan was 28

Hugo Weaving was 51

Toby Jones was 43

Tommy Lee Jones was 64

Dominic Cooper was 33

Neal McDonough was 45

Derek Luke was 37

Stanley Tucci was 50

and

Director Joe Johnston was 61

5) The composer of this soundtrack was Alan Silvestri…who also composed the music for Back to the Future (1985). It’s one of those things that you wouldn’t notice if you didn’t know, yet can’t help but notice once you do. Also, the music for “Star Spangled Man” was written by Alan Menken – same composer for Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (1991).

6) Guess what? Riftrax has a take on this film.

WTF? Moment: Okay. Let’s talk about the draw of this film…

…actually, there are several.

First there’s Red Skull’s real name. Some of the younger people I work with thought it was funny that I share the villain’s surname.

Then there’s the fact that my boss kinda-sorta looks like Arnim Zola.

Next is the Skull’s car. I want this car. The only other car I’ve ever seen in a film that I’ve wanted this badly is Sylvester Stallone’s ride from Cobra. Hat’s off to Lead Vehicle Designer Daniel Simon. Schmidt’s got a damn fine car.

Then there’s the special effect of “Skinny-Steve”. Holy crap. Adorkette and I watched the Blu-ray recently and she asked me “How’d they make him so big?”

Speaking of special effects, I really like Red Skull’s make-up. Say what you will about The Mask. I don’t care.

How about Bucky’s slow build-up to become Winter Soldier?

Let’s not forget Stark’s shield presentation. Relays indeed…

And the scene where Zola separates the bridge and the gap between Cap and Skull widens? Brilliance.

Then there’s the vessel Skull uses to leave the exploding Hydra Base. Tell me that doesn’t look like the FF’s Pogo-plane.

How about that Raiders of the Lost Ark reference?

Then there are the “Marvel Moments”.

Marvel Studios does a great job in every movie they make to give each character a “Marvel Moment” - a scene that defines them Such as…

…when Steve jumps onto the grenade.

…when Bucky looks through the rifle sight before pulling the trigger.

…when Johann’s standing on the bridge as it separates from Steve.

…when Arnim’s face appears in the lens.

Finally, there’s the fact that Marvel Studios considers this film to be the beginning of the Marvel Movie Universe. The Timely Movie Universe however…

WTF? Moment #2: ...speaking of which: That’s bold. Damn bold.

If you don’t know what I’m referring to, or haven’t grasped the multi-layered significance of seeing Professor Horton’s creation in the film, check out Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades Of The World’s Greatest Comics by Les Daniels.

I’ll wait.

WTF? Moment #3: Another cool little egg is the schematic Zola grabs as he’s leaving the exploding Hydra Base. It shows the camera-headed android body he has in the comics.

WTF? Moment #4: Now come the nitpicks. First is the Howling Commandos. These guys were great. I understand why they couldn’t get more screen time here, but darn it they need their own film. I’m glad they put a gap between Cap’s disappearance and the end of the war though. More Commandos Please.

WTF? Moment #5: I also didn’t know Peter’s Aunt May worked for the Army during World War II.

WTF? Moment #6: Where the heck was Coulson? I mean, I didn’t expect him to show up during the war and I understand why he wasn’t with the retrieval team in the Arctic, but couldn’t he have been one of the agents trying to stop Steve from leaving the building, or one of the agents holding the public back while Fury talked to Steve? My guess is that he was scouring the streets of New York filling holes in his card collection. That takes time…I should know.

WTF? Moment #7: As for flubs, I couldn’t find any. This film was well thought out, fast-paced, action-packed, had the required Stan Lee cameo…

…

There are several Marvel movies that do not have that sweet Stan Lee appearance - the Blade films, the Punisher films, the Ghost Rider films and Elektra. The lack of “Stan Lee-ness” in these films is easy to explain:

He didn’t create the characters.

Blade was created by Marv Wolfman, Punisher was created by Gerry Conway and Ross Andru, Ghost Rider (the Johnny Blaze version) by Gary Friedrich and Mike Ploog, and Elektra was created by Frank Miller.

There’s no question that Stan brought Cap into the Silver/Marvel Age of comics in Avengers #4 (March 1964), but he didn’t create the character. Captain America was created by Jack Kirby and Joe Simon back in Captain America Comics #1 (March, 1941).

So why is Stan in this film? Most likely because Stan’s first published work was a text-only story in Captain America #3 (May, 1941).

WTF? Moment #8: As for the Blu-ray, the first thing you see as the disc loads is light shining off of Cap’s shield. It is beautiful. If only that could be used as a screensaver…

I liked A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to Thor’s Hammer, but it’s not as good as the other One-Shots. Yeah, Coulson kicks some ass, but there’s nothing there to relate it to Cap – and that’s what’s wrong about it. The argument can be made that this is where Coulson was when Cap was found and revived, but in The Avengers Coulson tells Cap that he was there “watching him as he slept”. So to me, this means that Coulson’s events in Thor take place before Cap’s body was brought back to New York, and Coulson returned to New York prior to Steve waking up.

A Funny Thing Happened would have been better if Coulson was off somewhere else in New York (a collectible card shop perhaps?) and thieves came in for him to stop. The Roxxon touch was nice though…

I also liked the commentary by Joe Johnston, Shelly Johnson and Jeffrey Ford and the special feature nod to Joe Simon, but a separate commentary by Joe Simon would have been cooler.

WTF? Moment #9: About that guy standing next to Steve at the Army base when we meet Colonel Phillips…was he a transfer from Ft. Kent? Nah, that’d be too…Super…to believe.