Captain America: The First Avenger

Captain America: The First Avenger – During World War 2 Steve Rogers is desperate to fight for his country but he is small, weak, and sickly. He is picked to be the recipient of a super-serum that can transform him into the peak of human capability. The procedure is a success, but reveals the presence of Hydra – a power and evil sect within the Nazi party that, led by the deranged Red Skull, has acquired a previously mythical source of limitless power. With the superpowered Steve stuck playing propaganda tool ‘Captain America’, can he convince anyone that he is worthy of his new strength?

Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) – Director: Joe Johnston

By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30748989

Rating: 12

Running Length: 124 mins

Starring: Chris Evans, Hayley Atwell, Hugo Weaving

Genre: Comic Book, War

REVIEW: ‘CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER’

Origin movies have strengths and weaknesses. On the plus side, it is always satisfying to see someone come from nothing and rise up to become the already known superhero. But conversely the story will often not have room to develop the antagonist beyond a one-tone obstacle to be punched in order for the journey of the hero to be completed. This is something that many Marvel movies suffer from (with their acknowledged ‘villain’ problem’) and ‘Captain America: The First Avenger’ is a case in point.

This is a definite ‘three Act’ affair with some clunks at the joins. Rogers (Evans) is the perfect hero figure but the movie has no room to show anything of Roger’s family life or how he got to be so honourable: it’s taken as a given. All we need to see is his body catch up to his noble spirit borne from the fires of being beaten down for most of his life, (i.e. the first Act of the movie). A nuanced and softly spoken performance from Stanley Tucci as Dr. Erskine combined with disrespect from the bullish Colonel Phillips (Tommy Lee Jones being prime Tommy Lee Jones), gives Rogers his backdrop to prove himself. Once his physical transformation into the peak of humanity is complete the movie shifts into a side eye satire about the propaganda machine of war-time America. Whilst this makes for plenty of wry material (‘Bonds means bullets!’) ‘The First Avenger’ somewhat treads water for 40 minutes. Rogers isn’t learning to fight here or getting accustomed to his powers: there is no curve. As soon as he manages to get into a battle he immediately showcases superb skills and defeats all. We then have a bit of ‘getting the gang together’ before Act Three plonks us bodily into the battle finale.

And what of Nazi baddie, the Red Skull (Weaving)? Threatening, yes. Maniacal, yes. Effective make-up job, certainly! But a character? Not really. His scenes are sparsely interwoven to show simply that he’s typical comic book evil and serves little purpose other than to move the Skull along to getting punched by Rogers as the movie climaxes. Which is somewhat of a waste of an actor like Weaving and it is a shame that more time isn’t given to the dynamic between him and the excellent Toby Jones (Dr. Zola) as there are hints of fear from Jones that the Skull is going too far in his dastardly plans.

It may sound like we are really down on ‘Captain America: The First Avenger’ which isn’t true. It has great action scenes, some good comedy and sass, and a handful of very satisfying, ‘I’ll show you!’ moments. And Evans really is the perfect casting for such a stars-and-stripes all American hero figure as Rogers. He’s vulnerable yet powerful, determined yet doubtful, principled yet open to discussion.  But by making the movie only really interested in Steve’s journey (which isn’t really much of a journey as he is the same at the end as at the start) the other potentially interesting elements are hodgepodged around him, with none given the time they deserve and all combining to make the movie actually feel much longer than its relatively slim (for Marvel) 2 hours.

‘Captain America: The First Avenger’ is a decent origins movie which had to be done to establish the base elements. But compared to the movies that came later it doesn’t have enough stand alone ‘wow’ or ‘deep’ moments to make it stand out amongst a stable of other, better, movies to choose from.

CONTENT: IS ‘CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER’ SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN?

A church is under attack. A battering ram destroys part of the wall and some rubble lands on a young man, crushing him. Blood runs down his temple. This moment is quick and not dwelled upon. One character threatens another by stating that all the people in the village will die. He says of the ‘grandchildren’ that ‘I have no need for them to die’.  Later, the order to fire is given anyway and there is a series of loud gunshots before the scene quickly cuts. No other impacts are shown beyond one older man.

Steve Rogers is taken round the back of a cinema to be beaten up. He gets punched several times and stands no chance of winning but keeps getting up. He says, ‘I can do this all day’.

A man is disrespectful and sleazy to a woman. She responds by punching him hard in the face.

Steve undergoes a medical procedure. Shortly after there is a shoot out. A sympathetic character is shot several times. Blood impact marks are shown before the character collapses. There are no shouts of pain as they are caught by surprise. Steve is very upset but this moment is short. Other non-named characters are gunned down including an older lady who tries to shoot back first. During the later chase a child aged around 8 is taken hostage. The child is very scared and shouts ‘let me go!’ He is thrown into a body of water but shouts that he can swim. This whole part only lasts around a minute.

A suicide pill is taken and the character froths at the mouth and convulses for a few seconds before dying.

A character shows some new weapons to some senior people. They realise that he is planning to wipe out several large cities including their own. He fires weapons at them which emit blue energy beams. When they are hit they disintegrate in a blue flash. This is quick although the last one screams before he is shot.

Steve is trying to entertain a crowd who are hostile to him. One man turns and drops his trousers to ‘moon’ him and yells ‘sign this!’. We don’t see the naked body part. However, other men shout out ‘bring on the girls!’ as they are only interested in ogling the woman.

An escape attempt results in more people being disintegrated with blue energy beams. Later, one character pulls off their face which is revealed to be a mask. Underneath they are the Red Skull. Their head is entirely red and they have no nose or hair.

During an attack on a train a major character is hanging on for life out of the broken side carriage. The train is rushing along a high bridge in the mountains. Despite an attempt to rescue them, the character loses their group and plummets, screaming, out of view. Another character is devastated.

During an attack on a military base there are more blue disintegrations. One man is pulled and thrown from an aircraft and falls out of shot. Another is thrown out of their craft and apparently falls through propeller blades although the camera cuts and there is no blood.

A sacrifice is made when it is clear that drastic action is needed to save the day. Two established characters have an emotionally charged conversation over the radio before the signal cuts out. A sympathetic character is in tears.

CAN I SEE A CLIP?

VERDICT: IS ‘CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER’ FOR KIDS?

Whilst it may have flaws that keep it from being particularly memorable, ‘Captain America: The First Avenger’ is a solid origins tale that paints its story with a broad enough brush stroke that children are bound to enjoy its straight to the point tale of honour. Due to some violence and emotionally distressing scenes we would recommend that this movie is suitable for children aged 8 and older.

• Violence: 2/5 (one instance of a bloody gun wounds, war battles, energy bean disintegrations)
• Emotional Distress: 2/5 (character deaths are mourned and a sacrifice is tearful)
• Fear Factor: 2/5 (the removing of the ‘Red Skull’ flesh mask may scare)
• Sexual Content: 1/5 (some mild innuendo)
• Bad Language: 0/5
• Dialogue: 2/5 (threats, talk of destroying cities)
• Other Notes: Deals with themes of propaganda, war, nobility, honour, patriotism, fascism, camaraderie, and the value of intelligent use of power)

Words by Michael Record