Captain America: Oh Captain My Captain!

I have been in Marvel Heaven this year, first Thor, then X-Men: First Class, now Captain America.
All three have been, in my opinion, rather marvellous (excuse the pun) and ideally cast and directed. At the helm of Captain America is the steady hand of Joe Johnston, the man responsible for the classics Honey I Shrunk The Kids and Jumanji, and more recently Benicio Del Toro's Wolfman (I have not seen it but Empire gives it 2* which isn't encouraging). With his last film getting such a poor reception it is good to see Johnston back on form, perhaps the more family friendly movie is really his genre, Jumanji remains one of my favourite all time movies and Captain America will definitely be sitting on my shelf at some point.


Intriguingly for the Marvel world Steve Rogers (our intrepid Captain) is played by the gorgeous Chris Evans, who fans of the genre would recognise as Johnny Storm of the Fantastic Four double released a few years ago. Now Fantastic Four were okay movies, not the greatest but then Marvel had less control back then, and in fact the best piece of casting and performance came from Mr Evans himself who was a cocky good looking action man. There is a marked difference between Johnny Storm and Captain America and it is a testament to Chris that you won't ever get the two mixed up, he has grown into a fine actor, personally I have had belief in his acting abilities (and maybe a minor crush too) since I saw Cellular about six years ago, then he proved his worth in 2007 in Danny Boyle's space odditiy Sunshine.




Captain America follows the tale of Steve Rogers, a skinny but eager young man who hates bullies but has not physique or health to stand up to them for long. It is 1942 and he has tried five times to join the army and the fight against Hitler, on his last attempt he catches the eye of a German scientist called Erskine 9Stanely Tucci) who has a top secret 'super soldier' mission that Rogers is perfect for, and Erskine takes him under his wing. However once he becomes Captain America tragedy strikes and the plan is abandoned in favour for Rogers to sell bonds to aid the war effort, staying safe way behind the front line, a propaganda machine. This all changes when he is informed his best friend Bucky has been taken by the Nazis, prompting Captain America to take his true form at last and become the man he always wanted to be.

For the casting of Captain America I heartily approve of Chris Evans, from the skinny (wonders of technology folks) lad desperate to join up and stop the bullies in Europe, to the beefcake storming Hugo Weaving's Nazi stronghold single handedly and saving hundreds of men. Steve Rogers embodied the all American spirit, the arrogance of the States that any individual could go in and beat up Hitler, but also the can-do spirit of a nation. 

This film, as all the latest Marvels, have attracted a high calibre of actor, and here we have Tommy Lee Jones, Stanley Tucci, and Hugo Weaving. Jones and Tucci are the good guys, an army Colonel and a scientist, Weaving is a Nazi super-villain by the name of Johann Schmidt, aka Red Skull. 
Jones is of course a believable and funny Colonel, he can do funny and also be taken dead seriously so he is the perfect choice. Tucci has wit and charm as always, he is one of my favourite actors because of his versatility, and you really believe in the relationship between this German scientist and his skinny good hearted protégé.
Weaving is on fine form as an obsessed power hungry Nazi who was Erskine's first attempt with his super-hero serum, and the results show that Schmidt was not the ideal candidate because as Erskine puts it "good becomes great, bad becomes worse". Obviously the side effects affected Schmidt on a cellular level as his face it transpires is not his true appearance.

The supporting cast are rather good too, Weaving has a side kick in the form of snivelling scientist Zola played by Toby Jones (the voice of Dobby the Elf!), and the Captain has a band of tough nuts played by Band of Brothers survivor Neal McDonough (with a bowler hat), Gossip Girl actor Sebastian Stan, and Britain's own JJ Field (Shadow in the North/Ruby in the Smoke) to name but a few. There is also the pre-requisite love interest in the form of another British actor Hayley Atwell who plays Peggy, a British Agent working with the American army.

In the majority of cases, women in Marvel outputs are some form of damsel in distress, with one or two exceptions it is only in the X-Men they given any power or abilities, and that is because genetic mutation cannot be gender specific. 
What I do like about the love interests are that they, although lowly non-super humans, do possess something the hero does not. Jane's intellect surpasses Thor's and she teaches him humility and the importance of family, The Hulk's Betty is a fellow scientist who was the only one who could bring out his humanity even while huge and green, and now Steve Rogers has Peggy who will teach him how to dance. Makes me smile. Each hero learns something from their gal and this shows the difference in our expectations of these movies. Fifty years ago there would have been less teaching more swooning, but today we know women can be just as tough as the men.

Atwell proves this, and she is a terrific actress (see Channel 4's Any Human Heart or Pillars of the Earth mini-series) getting to kick some butt whilst falling for our hero, refreshingly even before he becomes Mr Beefcake. Atwell handles the soppy stuff without bawling into the camera and is always impeccably made up even while using machine guns or flying in the middle of an air raid, this is done I think to show the British stiff upper lip and professionalism a woman had to show if they were to be anything other than a secretary or nurse in the military. I do not know if the original comics had a Peggy for Steve, but it works well in this movie. I think the love interests are also important to the film studios who firmly believe girls and women would not want to see a comic book film if there were no romance, however Peggy's presence allows the whole audience to see another side to Steve Rogers and how his previous stunted stature held him back not only in going to war but also in everyday life.

A man who has had no trouble with the ladies, the looks or the professional career is Howard Stark, played here with a dubious accent by the charming Dominic Cooper (History  Boys, Mamma Mia!). He is the genius behind Captain America's iconic shield and also, Marvel fans will know, father of Tony Stark (aka Iron Man). This film provides a little insight into the Stark showmanship, but while Cooper comes into New York to dazzle the crowds with his floating car surrounded by gorgeous women, when it comes to real work he is a consummate professional rather like his son. Cooper plays Stark well, he has a natural charisma that exudes in his performance, the only criticism I have is the accent, but after all the terrible American to English accents there have been over the years Cooper's does not seem so bad.

From sources I have gathered that the story in this film is not dissimilar to the original outings of Captain America, which is reassuring in itself as there is nothing worse than somebody completely re-writing history to suit a budget or executive. I very much enjoyed the plot, the history of the war is very important and I hope that the younger audiences will be taught a little about propaganda and the ways they convinced young men to fight for their country. There is an equal balance between talking and action, it has been the most successful of all the Marvel beginner tales so far in this respect. The special effects are on top form, the Red Skull uses a mysterious blue light energy, supposedly a source straight from Odin and the gods, to fuel super weapons that obliterate the recipient. These weapons also have a familiar sound to those who have seen Iron Man too many times like myself. The references to the gods and Asgard are intriguing, the energy source answers questions in Iron Man but also raises new ones of how it came to Earth, which will hopefully be answered in either the upcoming Avengers movie or the next Thor.

The movie ends in typical fashion, with SHIELD and Nick Fury, how or when I will not reveal but it is both moving and exciting.

It will not be surprising to those who read this blog that I loved this film, it is well cast (with a minor glitch in Cooper's American accent) with a plot to really get behind, defeating the Nazi psycho bent on destroying the world world and bringing it under his dominion with weaponry from another realm. The relationships are well represented with the bonds of friendship, paternal love, and fledgling romance amidst the guns and fire power.


I do not know if this beats Thor, because I adored that film, but both this year have competed in beefcake lead, talented and high class casting, and a focus on either the historical or mythological to pique my interest. This will only be decided once the DVD's come through I fear, but rest assured both are going on my shelf, along with X-Men: First Class, and I will remain giddy and excited until the release of the Avengers next year.


Keep it up Marvel, you beat DC hands down.