The only amazing thing about
Captain America is how utterly unremarkable it is. Sad to say, but it's that very creative staleness that's become par for the course for Marvel studios, whose last movie worthy of a genuine recommendation in my book,
Iron Man, was practically an accident. It seems that letting Ang Lee (and, eventually, Sam Raimi) run too far with their own instincts has inoculated the studio from ever again giving a director more than passing authority on their franchise material. God knows Kenneth Branagh couldn't do much with
Thor, and now Joe Johnson (of the underrated and moody horror homage
The Wolfman) is saddled with the mundanely rendered origin story of WWII hero Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), a strong-willed weakling from Brooklyn routinely refused from the draft, but whose persistence and guts see him recruited as part of a military super-soldier experiment that transforms him into the titular good guy. As far as boring blockbusters go,
Captain America is a cut above the rest, its superior mediocrity more the result of Johnson's expert direction and action staging than the capabilities of the cast, although those shouldn't be forgotten, either. Sadly, one of the best performances is attached to the shortest-lived character, while Evans fits the film like a glove: he's immensely likable, yet quickly dulls the senses. Leave it to Tommy Lee Jones to make an impression, with what amounts to a more smartassed take on Ed Tom from
No Country for Old Men. Despite the presence of many players, renegade Nazis, Toby Jones, and nothing less than the power of the Gods being at stake, the narrative loses most of its steam after Rogers' initial transformation. Lacking much in the way of character conflict or palpable drama (it's running on montage fumes by the halfway point), the film shrivels through unrealized media satire, undercooked romance, and an altogether undaunting antagonist (amazingly, given that the role is that of none other than Hugo Weaving), before ultimately sputtering to an unsatisfying stop and yet another reason to be sick of Samuel L. Jackson's eyepatch-adorned face. Good try, Joe, but I can't imagine anyone making worthwhile a script so phone-in and paint-by-numbers. The actual previews for other movies were more entertaining than this two-hour preview for
The Avengers. I may bow out of this genre entirely for the time being. Wake me up for
The Dark Knight Rises. Or
Hellboy III.
I, too, have a great deal of affection for Ang Lee's "Hulk." "Spider-Man 3," on the other hand, is a somewhat different story. I've seen that one twice. Once in the theatres and once on DVD. I kind of loved it the first time, and was ready to add it along with "Hulk" and "Superman Returns" to my list of undervalued superhero comic adaptations (a.k.a. the "At Least They Fucking Tried" list). The second time around, it's flaws were more noticeable to me, like the fact that the movie doesn't really do much to explore Peter's relationship with the symbiote (i.e. Peter's dark side). On the other hand, the "I forgive you" ending is perhaps the ballsiest thing I've seen a mega budget blockbuster do since Peter Jackson and company decided to spend twenty minutes or so on relationships, friendships, goodbyes, and general character development after Sauron was killed.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny how fanboys tend to bitch about things like the lack of character development in Spidey 3, and then go on to praise "Iron Man," which chucked the baby out with the bathwater, eliminating pretty much all of Obadiah Stane's backstory, not to mention Tony's battle with the bottle, for the sake of sticking to formula. When "Iron Man 2" began with Tony checking the impurities in his blood, I was at first naive enough to think they were finally flirting with "Demon in a Bottle" subject matter, only to find out it's just a problem with the suit that ends up resolved with a deus ex machina.
Nowadays, it's like they're not even trying. In theory, I'm too old to care. In theory, communism works (sorry). But I still want to like, no love, adaptations of comics about superheroes of my youth. I probably took Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns" too seriously, but after I read that back in the late '90s, I began to dream about the superhero adaptations I wanted to see, as opposed to what was being offered. Even the better ones still feel like they're holding back, or being held back. I was cautiously excited when Darren Aronofsky was announced as the director for "The Wolverine," a title that's so much better than "X-Men Origins." When they said he left because he didn't want to be away from his family for that long, I obviously didn't buy it. I don't even know why they'd bother hiring Aronofsky, anyway, when I'm sure Brett Ratner is available and more than willing to give the studios (and fanboys apparently) pretty much the basic package they clamour for.
My family and I just watched this movie last night and I thought it was pretty good. If moved well without boring you, the main characters were interesting and the action was up with all the other great special effects.
ReplyDeleteOne part though was kind of dumb...The Red Skull invented pulse energy weapons so how come nobody found them later? or did they need the main source to work?
I for one can wait on the reboot of spiderman...sorry, the way the studio treated the director and cast they do not deserve any money from me...I loved all 3 spidermans...and the fact they made almost 3 billion to the studio just shows you how stupid and greedy they are....
Thank you for this review! The drive home from the theater this weekend was as awkward as the movie was disappointing. My friends dog-piled me as I was seething about the film, I simply was not impressed or amused. I'm sick of the one dimensional characters that Marvel has been churning out I'm ready for a creative director and a writer with some depth. Children will enjoy the film but they also will enjoy The Smurfs movie.
ReplyDeleteThis guy liked Spider Man 3. 'nuff said. You are a pretentious hack.
ReplyDelete@MAG: As did between 1/2 and 2/3 of critics, IMDb users, and RT users. That's a lot of hacks. Do me a favor, two parts: (1a) Make a list of 10 newer movies (say, the last ten years, just to keep things simple) that are relatively well known and have a less than fantastic consensus regarding their actual quality. Then look up who liked them and disliked them. By the time you're done, I bet everyone will have fallen into "pretentious hack" status. (2b) Get over yourself.
ReplyDeleteInitially I left the movie thinking, "that was alright," but now, a few days later it's not sitting so well with me. What the heck was up with those dumb, uninformative montages of the red skull origin and captain America fighting with his gang? If you're not going to tell us the story, leave it out. And the cube? Am I supposed to believe it's the same one as the one we see across the universe sometime way after the 2nd WW? How's that happen? And if so, how's it give power to everything around, separated from it? Again, dumb! Red Skull? An F as villian. Action sequences? Blah. Captain America as strong and fast and smart--hardly presented (no, the chase scene in Brooklyn didn't exhibit convincing speed and strength for me beyond someone like batman). Now that I think about it in more detail, I'm beginning to hate it for all the squandered potential. Could have beenlime the first "bionic man" for the age that could truly present him realistically! Oops! And how about some more daring cinematography like giving us the view of cap inside the machine--think of the panic, the claustrophobia you would feel as a viewer! But no, no visuals like that. Wait for video!
ReplyDeleteGreat review! I agree with your rating. It was a pretty good film that had nice actions scenes, but not much more. Keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteThis movie had what is lacking in alot of super-hero movies lately: emotion. Like the kind where you really care about the characters. Everything was great, from the acting, to the look and feel of the movie. The costumes were spot on. The very ending was thrilling, and be sure to stay after the credits, because you won't want to miss it!
ReplyDelete