Just a Kid from Brooklyn: Regarding Captain America - The First Avenger
My first memories of Captain America didn't involve a comic book or a cartoon (Unlike a fair amount of Marvel characters in the 90s, Cap didn't get his own show). It wasn't that godawful straight to video flick that came out in 1990 (Though I totally saw that as a kid and thought it was the worst thing I had ever seen). It was the old Data East arcade game Captain America and the Avengers that saw the Star-Spangled Avenger lead the team to take on the Red Skull who was hiding out on the Moon for some reason. Waaaaay back then, I thought Iron Man was a robot, nobody really liked The Vision, and Hawkeye just looked lame. But Captain America? A guy that proudly wore the stars and stripes? Who didn't have to rely on lasers, armor, or trick arrows but rather a shield like a charging star defending truth, justice, and the American Way? He was the guy that stood out, that I wanted to use my handful of quarters playing as, if only for a few minutes (Captain America and the Avengers is REALLY fucking hard, guys). I'll be any turtle you want if we team up with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade. I'll be any of the X-Men playing that arcade game. If we're playing Captain America and the Avengers, I'm Captain America; that is not open for discussion.
Of course, then I saw that aforementioned straight to video 1990 film and promptly stopped following the character for like five years.
What won me back over was that in a world of increasing cynicism, Steve Rogers is the guy that never stops believing in the Dream even when everyone else has written it off as dead. Growing up in a Great Depression-era New York City, Rogers lost both his parents at an early age and was forced to fend for himself on those mean streets. He turns down help from his best buddy Bucky Barnes because he doesn't want to be a burden, something he understands after a lifetime of taking care of his terminally ill mother. When he sees a situation pointed south, he can't help but intervene even if he's punching above his weight (and EVERYBODY is above his weight before he takes the Super Soldier serum) not because he has something to prove but because he knows it's the right thing to do. There is an uncompromised purity to the character which makes him fascinating in a changing world. And I've always loved that about him.
Of course, for the virtual entirety of Captain America: The First Avenger, the world is pretty well set. World War II is in full swing and the Axis war machine led by splinter faction of laser gun wielding super Nazis known as HYDRA and their commander the Red Skull are beating the Allied war effort at every turn. World War II was perhaps the last war without heavy shades of gray; there's good and there's bad and it's not very hard to tell the difference. A film centered on this character during this time period is going to feel like retro-kitsch in hopefully the best way possible, it's going to have those cornball moments that turn some people right off. Me, I ate all that up, smiled, and asked for seconds.
When Marvel Studios first announced they were building a cinematic universe towards The Avengers, the property I was the most excited to see them adapt was Captain America. Throw in the guy that directed the super-underappreciated The Rocketeer and I'm completely sold. Which isn't to say it's a perfect movie. Some moments feel like they're from Rocketeer-era early 90s filmmaking when it comes to humor beats and aesthetics. I'm of two minds about the propaganda musical number right in the middle; on the one hand we see a guy that's always lived out of the spotlight suddenly thrust into it but it does throw off the pacing a bit. Director Joe Johnston seems to have just discovered 3D and slow motion exists because there's a bunch of shots that are distractingly tailored for it (Cap throws his shield at the camera like three times...by 2011 was 3D even cool anymore?). And as fearsome as the Red Skull can be in the comics, he's hard to take seriously as a villain here.
Chris Evans gets the thankless task of having to sell us on Steve Rogers before he takes the serum; he has to have the virtue of the good Captain before the transformation without coming off as a self-righteous ass. He needs to make us believe he's the selfless leader that is still unafraid to lead men to their potential doom. He does all that and more here and I think he always gets lose in the shuffle compared to louder characters like Downey's Tony Stark or Hemsworth's Thor. And his chemistry with Sebastian Stan's Bucky Barnes and Hayley Atwell's Peggy Carter is palpable which makes the loss of Bucky and his sacrifice to save the day effectively ending any possibility of a happy ending with Peggy all that more heartbreaking.
Of course, then I saw that aforementioned straight to video 1990 film and promptly stopped following the character for like five years.
What won me back over was that in a world of increasing cynicism, Steve Rogers is the guy that never stops believing in the Dream even when everyone else has written it off as dead. Growing up in a Great Depression-era New York City, Rogers lost both his parents at an early age and was forced to fend for himself on those mean streets. He turns down help from his best buddy Bucky Barnes because he doesn't want to be a burden, something he understands after a lifetime of taking care of his terminally ill mother. When he sees a situation pointed south, he can't help but intervene even if he's punching above his weight (and EVERYBODY is above his weight before he takes the Super Soldier serum) not because he has something to prove but because he knows it's the right thing to do. There is an uncompromised purity to the character which makes him fascinating in a changing world. And I've always loved that about him.
When Marvel Studios first announced they were building a cinematic universe towards The Avengers, the property I was the most excited to see them adapt was Captain America. Throw in the guy that directed the super-underappreciated The Rocketeer and I'm completely sold. Which isn't to say it's a perfect movie. Some moments feel like they're from Rocketeer-era early 90s filmmaking when it comes to humor beats and aesthetics. I'm of two minds about the propaganda musical number right in the middle; on the one hand we see a guy that's always lived out of the spotlight suddenly thrust into it but it does throw off the pacing a bit. Director Joe Johnston seems to have just discovered 3D and slow motion exists because there's a bunch of shots that are distractingly tailored for it (Cap throws his shield at the camera like three times...by 2011 was 3D even cool anymore?). And as fearsome as the Red Skull can be in the comics, he's hard to take seriously as a villain here.
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| Nothing personal, you Nazi fuck. |
I walked out of the theater that July opening night with a big grin on my face. Captain America was back in the world and people all over were going to know exactly who he was. I always worry that characters like Cap or Superman are a little too vanilla for the mass market, too much of a Boy Scout but, then again, I've always been drawn to more archetypal characters. In the comic book world, the Avengers existed for several issues before it was decided that Captain America would come out of the ice in the present but they weren't really complete until he did. Spider-Man is the everyman of the Marvel Universe, Cap is it's moral compass. And now with Captain America in the fold, the MCU had found its true north.
