At last - a stand-out Superhero!

Rating: 7/10 (29 November 2011)

There are many superhero movies, but Captain America is one that has caught my eye, and this alone, with the vast expanse of similarly-themed films, only ameliorates the success of Joe Johnston's adaptation of a comic-book story of a young man who loves his country. This theme in itself is enough, as films such as Glory (1989), Rocky (1976), and Patton (1970) have already shown, but although the patriotism in Captain America is blatant for all to see (just look at his name!), it is ultimately justified. The original 'Captain America' was, as the film explains (in a roundabout way) merely a morale-booster, a propaganda ploy, and Johnston used this to his advantage.
By showing how this ploy was nowhere near as effective as people thought it would be this film serves also as a reminder of true American values, not just the petty bureaucratic ones of government officials. But I digress. I don't pretend that this film has any true moral values, other than those of 'goodness over evil' which is the central theme of any superhero film. What I do say, however, is that this film, for me at least, has been an enormous success, not least because of the seriousness with which it took itself. The actors... well, the principles at least, seemed to take their roles to heart, something which is very difficult to do when you are making a fantasy film.
Recent franchises such as Spiderman seem to have lost their way. 'Peter Parker', a representation of victory and triumph to geeks everywhere has lost himself in the persona of 'Spiderman', or so was the impression I got from the train-wrecks of 2 and 3, but The Captain remains true to himself throughout, and this is what I think made the movie such a captivator. Yes, bits of it looked ridiculous, but so do elements of all superhero films. It is an unavoidable inconsequence.
There is, of course, lots of action, which was beautifully sequenced, and the special effects were predictably stunning, and also fantastically well implemented. Maybe the franchise will go the same way as that of the Spiderman trilogy, but for the moment at least, this is the Superhero movie to beat. Game on.