A 90-pound asthmatic weakling is offered the chance to take a super serum, and with biceps suddenly bulging becomes one of America's most iconic modern folklore heroes. No, this isn't Barry Bonds: The Movie. Sickly and frail Steve Rogers displays equal amounts of heroism both pre- and post-injection chamber, and one of American pop culture's most emblematic and idealistic purveyors of justice is done justice on the big screen.
Captain America offers a good story and balances narrative with action well, carried by a solid cast and a script that doesn't overreach into melodrama or indulge in too much forced humor. It doesn't patronize either fans of the comic hero or the non-fan moviegoer, and if you scroll down a bit you'll find another summer super-flick that could learn a glowing green ton about exposition and backstory from director Joe Johnston. It's a fun and satisfying two hours and manages to be the most direct structural setup for next year's The Avengers as well as one of the better Avenger prequels as a film on its own merits. The first hour of the film moves through its exposition and character development at a steady pace before the action in the second hour takes over, but it's not a jarring transition and both halves of the movie are engaging. Writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely were wise to keep the origin setting in WWII, though I always feel bad for all the people back then who had to live their lives in sepia tones.
The movie isn't without a significant yet nonfatal flaw. Go back a few years for a forgettable action movie with a standard villain that always comes to mind. In 1997's Air Force One, hijacker Gary Oldman gets fed up listening to the righteous pleas of his captives and finally erupts with "You who murdered a hundred thousand Iraqis to save a nickel on a gallon of gas are going to lecture me on the rules of war? DON'T." It didn't take much and the line isn't Shakespearean, but at least in that moment Ivan Korshunav isn't just a bad guy; he's suddenly a bad guy who has his reasons for why he has made his choices. We don't have to be instructed to sympathize with an antagonist or feel manipulated into liking some part of a vile person. But when even a vanilla action movie can manage to give us an antagonist we understand on his own terms, the story is better served; there's a couple more layers of conflict and motivations at play and it's still satisfying to see President Han Solo triumph.
This is where Captain America loses its way. I've read critics praise the movie for presenting its heroes and villains without irony. Certainly that's true; this thoroughly red-white-and-blue-saturated tale manages to keep the protagonist and antagonist starkly black and white but that's not necessarily a good thing. It's fine to have this particular hero with his unerringly noble compass guiding him because he's lived his life as the little guy who hates bullies, but a villain who lusts after nothing more than world domination because he's crazy and jonesing for some world domination could use a little irony to escape the shallow end of the antagonist pool.
However, there is amusing irony in the fact that a movie about America's greatest patriot hero contains far less bombastic flag-waving, grandstanding or jingoism than Iron Man 2.
Giant flag backdrop: Check. Patriotic explosions: Check. Flag-bikini models: Check. Jon Favreau overindulgence: Check.
*Not pictured: Captain America.
I never read or was interested much in Captain America the superhero until the Civil War line a few years ago that polarized the Marvel universe into pro- or anti-Superhuman Registration Act. He was just too straightforward, too unerringly emblematic and always seemed to lack the multiple layers of personality or conscience that attracted me to other titles. It's a little like how filmmaker Paul Schrader believes it's impossible to not bludgeon an audience with a Christ figure; he feels that once the crucifix imagery is invoked, the symbol and all of its connotations overwhelm the viewers' own interpretations and the character your film has built disappears. Similarly with Captain America, it's pretty tough to look at that costume and shield and not see the symbols instead of the character himself. He was a hero created to serve a specific purpose at that time in America's history, which was nicely alluded to by the film (his first issue in March 1941 literally depicts him knocking Hitler's lights out with a democracy-sized right cross). For me and many readers of my generation, he was a hard superhero to relate to. The geopolitics of the world in which I grew up are messier and have more gray areas than the colors Captain Rogers was born with 70 years ago.
Johnston's Captain America manages to consistently present Steve Rogers, with or without Vita-Rays. Given the trappings and myriad histories of this character, that's a pretty heroic accomplishment.
Absolutism and inflexibility and their dangers aside, even I can admit to feeling a little rah-rah for Cap once in a while. This summer's movie goes a long way to putting some substance behind the star.
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