Finally! A superhero movie this summer that works.

Rating: Null/10 (25 July 2011)

Finally, after a summer of watered-down, cookie-cutter superhero movies, we have finally arrived at a good one. Thor: dull, Green Lantern: fizzled, and X-Men: hardly first class, it is refreshing to have arrived at a superhero movie with some meat on it. Captain America is weighty, fun, original and doesn't drown itself in special effects and noise.
Directed with care by Joe Johnston, Captain America: The First Avenger is more than just a series of special effects. Here is a movie that actually tries to build an origin story that feels new. That story is simple but not simple-minded. Taking place in the 1940s, it begins with a scrawny, 98-pound weakling named Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), who fails five times to enlist in the army. He wants to help with the American war effort to get himself some respect and to beat up on some Nazis. Currently, he is invisible to women, but all-too visible to bullies. Trying to enlist, gets him a rank of 4F.
Steve is spotted by Colonel Philips (Tommy Lee Jones) and a German-Jewish scientist Dr. Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci) who inducts Rogers into a military experiment designed to create a new Super Soldier. Scrawny Steve is strapped into a sarcophagus and, after a lot of lights and noise, emerges from the pod, a buffer, taller Steve complete with impressive muscles and six-pack abs. He is told that his cells have been re-calibrated to regenerate themselves. British officer Peggy Carter (Haley Atwell) sees Rogers' new physique and has few complaints.
Steve's first assignment is to go on tour as "Captain America", dressed in a silly red, white and blue suit in order to sell war bonds. This endears him to the 12 year-old boys back home but makes him a laughing stock to the troops in the field. No one, however, is laughing when Steve goes rogue on an unauthorized one-man mission behind enemy lines to rescue his brother from a Nazi prison and comes back with 40 MIA soldiers.
What I've described and what comes of this story has so much more weight and so much more meat than most films of this caliber. This is a really first-rate origin story and the movie doesn't let us down. Nor does it let us down in the villain department. Captain America's adversary is a whopper, a sadistic Nazi commandant named Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving) who wants to rise up and overpower Hitler with a private army of his own. He looks normal, but later reveals that his true face is a bright red skull, the result of a failed experiment to gain the same powers that Steve has. Schmidt is a major threat because he has his hands on a weapon that can turn a target to vapor in an instant, and intends to use it on various cities throughout the United States.
What sets Captain America apart is that it has a rich, beautiful sepia tone texture that evokes the 1940s without wringing out a lot of clichés. It has a flare for the period without making fun of it and it has characters who use their heads and not the standard boilerplate action movie requirements. The special effects here are not the star of the show. They are impressive but not overpowering. Most astonishing is the way in which special effects are used to make actor Chris Evans, a foot shorter and at least 60 pounds skinnier. I found myself trying to find flaws in those special effects but I gave up because it seems so seamless. Also impressive is The Red Skull, a nasty looking creature with no nose but a beautiful row of pearly white teeth. The face doesn't feel like a special effect or a mask, it feels organic and that makes it all the more unsettling.
Steve, both scrawny and buff, is a very smart lad, not simply a gee-golly kid. He has his reasons for wanting to fight the Nazis and he is willing to prove his bravery and courage despite his limitations. Chris Evans' performance is kind of a revelation here. I've seen him previously in films like The Fantastic Four and The Losers as the cocky ladies man, but here he pulls back that persona, playing a character who is determined to do the right thing but not always sure of himself.
The whole cast is wonderful. The script allows each character to have their moment and not just spout of a lot of background requirement patter. Tommy Lee Jones gives the same kind of "what the hell" gruffness that he brings to all his performances. Haley Atwell is wonderful as Peggy Carter, a British officer who provides a sweet romance with Steve that blooms into something substantial. Dominic Cooper gives a good performance as industrialist Howard Stark, a Howard Hughes-type who may father a son one day. Even Toby Jones (who was wonderful playing Truman Capote several years ago) exudes a kind of wicked charm as Schmidt's faithful right-hand man.
If I must point out one weakness in the film, it is the opening scene which shows the present day discovery of a downed airplane with Captain America's familiar shield inside. I understand why the scene was necessary but, for me, it gives away the ending. We know that our hero must be around in the present day in order to be part of next summer's Avengers movie, but I thought this misstep marred the suspense of the third act.
Still, I have little else to complain about. Here is an enjoyable summer entertainment that doesn't insult the audience's intelligence. I see more bad superhero movies then good ones and that's why this one is a breath of fresh air. Is it perfect? No. It is a good movie? Yes. It doesn't quite sit on the shelf as The Dark Knight or Watchmen or Iron Man, but at least, like those film, it is playing the same ballpark.