Captain America: The First Avenger
Way back in the early 90’s, there was a film I saw as a kid that to me, was a classic adventure story. ‘The Rocketeer’ told the story of a stunt pilot who comes across a rocket jetpack. He flies around, battles the bad guys, rescues the dame and saves the world. Set in the 1930’s the movies visual style was very much film noir and a throw back to adventure films of the Golden Era. Directed by Joe Johnston, you can see why this man was the obvious choice to call the shots on the film version of “Captain America”.
The story centres on a young army soldier named Steve Rogers (Chris
Evans). Despite being young, he’s also short and frail – really short and
frail. There’s nothing to him, but what he lacks in size he makes up for in
courage. Steve tries again and again to be enlisted and represent his country
at the peak of WWII. Due to his underprivileged physical stature, he gets
knocked back more than once. But the strength of his character drives him to do
good and serve others, even if the army don’t want him. This is seen early on
in the movie, when Steve is attending the theatre. Some jerk-ass in the crowd
is speaking out offensively against the soldiers that occupy the screen during
a news story. Steven pulls him up on it, and the jerk turns to see who’s
telling him to shut up. Next thing he knows, Steve is in the alley having the
crap beaten out of him by a guy at least twice his size. With every punch that
knocks him to the ground, the pint sized battler just keeps getting up.
Steve’s wishes to fight for America against the tyranny of war are
granted, when he is chosen for a special experiment. The army want to create
the worlds first Super Soldier, who will take care of the “special missions”.
Because of the way Steve responded to several tests, he is seen as the one who
possess the character and qualities to become a Super Solider. Seeing this as
his only way to achieve his ambition to protect others, Steve willingly
volunteers for the experiment. The experiment is conducted in front of a large
gathering of the US Army’s brightest and best. The experiment works, injecting
Steve with muscle stimulants. He emerges harder, better, faster, stronger.
When the technology that turned Steve from dud into stud is stolen by
the Germans, the army decide to take him out of the action. Still wanting to
make himself useful in any way possible, Steve takes on his new role as
“Captain America”. He becomes the poster boy for the US army, and busies
himself by posing for photos and starring in off-Broadway musical numbers with
dancing girls. Surely not what he had in mind, but if it means he gets to serve
his country, than Steve will do his part.
But he can only perform as the “Publicity Puppet” for so long, and soon
enough Captain America wants a piece of the action. Going against the Colonel’s
orders, Captain America helps to break out his friend, as well as a hundred
other soldiers, from a German POW camp. His success in this grants him the
position of helping with the more special missions, that no normal soldier
could handle. Armed with a shield made of a rare metal, Captain America takes
down one base camp after another. This infuriates the villain of the story, a
man who calls himself ‘Red Skull’ who oddly enough, has a red skull under a
prosthetic version of the face of Hugo Weaving - played by Hugo Weaving ;)
Captain America is, in my opinion, the last piece of the puzzle in
putting together all the characters in preparation for “The Avengers”. To it’s
credit, the film doesn’t only play that part, as it does well to establish
Captain America as perhaps the most human of all the heroes we will see
fighting in the hero ensemble. He doesn’t have the self-obsessed nature of Tony
Stark, the “Act First – Think Later” approach of Thor, or the impulse-driven
fury of the Hulk. Captain America is a noble and fair hero who represents what
his country stands for; freedom, liberty and justice for all. Hence the name,
Captain America. Chris Evans equips himself well in the role, and has certainly
come a long way since “Not Another Teen Movie”
* TIE IN TO THE AVENGERS - in an empty gym, Captain America (dressed
down in pants and a t-shirt) works out. Looking frustrated and restless, he
smashes he fists into a punching bag, hitting it hard enough to force it off
it’s hooks and send it flying across the room. He may have been asleep for 70 years,
but he hasn’t lost his strength. Nick Fury walks into the room (appearing from
the shadows as usual) noticing that Captain America is having trouble sleeping.
The hero asks if Fury is there with a mission. Fury confirms that he is.
“Trying to put me back in the world?” Captain America asks. Fury looks at him
calmly and replies “Trying to save it”. END OF SCENE *
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