Do 'Popcorn Movies' Need to Be this Dumbed Down?

Rating: 3/10 (25 September 2012)

In some ways the premise of Captain America: The First Avenger is irony deaf. The film has a similar light, fun-loving and stylized tone to other recent Marvel movies. But this film is more earnest and perhaps sentimental. The intended moral of the film could be summed up in a line from the movie---'A weak man knows the value of strength.' The concept of a brave imp with a heart of gold being the center of a film is interesting. The only problem is that Steve Rogers is a less than nobody, a man of little to no value, until he's juiced up on sci-fi 'roids. Once he becomes a hunk with super athletic power, he's suddenly worth while (and only then is his obvious love interest interested in him). Normally I don't really put much stock into how 'movie messages' affect youth. But this movie seems to tell kids they are worthless and unattractive unless they are super-buff Adonises. It also seems to suggest in our supposedly anti-steroids era that it is OK to take the easy way to physical strength and all the power it brings.
But, reading less into meanings, Captain America is a rather dull film. It has a used feel because so many of the ideas and forays of the film are second hand. Part of this is only natural in this era of comic book movie proliferation. The movie has adopted a sort of Men In Blackish sci-fi 1940's look that has little to do with history, mixed in with some war and action movie clichés with a bit of Bond-villain over the top evil and souped up Nazi reference bad guys with some Indian Jones sci-fi mysticism. No idea here feels fully original, yet the brew is disjointed as well as stereotypical.
The casting is lacking. The cast and acting style takes the audience out of the 40's era the film is supposed to take place in immediately. Chris Evans is blandly earnest, though competent in his role as Steve Rodgers. Hayley Atwell is bland and empty as Peggy. Tommy Lee Jones is, well, distractingly Tommy Lee Jones in his role as Colonel Phillips, although he is one of he few bits of screen presence in the film. And of course who better (or more predictable) to play a souped up Nazi with a red skull face than Hugo Weaving? But it isn't just acting and casting. The characters are written as clichés from foundation to roof. We have the all American hero from modest background (in this case from modest body), ultra Darth Vaderesque villain with Star Wars-like super weaponry (and no real motive or back story), the tough minded babe poised to fall in love with the newly buff hero, the tough but fair military leader, and assorted less used cliché people. Even for a popcorn action film this seems dumbed down.
This film is escapism, but do we want to escape here? The film is bland and lacks all but the most simple messages which it still manages to mess up. The action is ample, yet not attention getting. The bounds of reality are strained. Steve Rodgers' new found strength suddenly makes him the most coordinated human ever to live, and soldiers crack unfunny quips to one another at the most intense combat moments imaginable, in the face of new Star Wars type weaponry. Nothing about WWII era look or strategy even remotely concerns itself here. The idea of a comic book film taking place in the 40's is interesting, but the film has no interest in the 40's or WWII in any but the most shallow way. The look of the film beyond some nice art deco looking things is not appealing. The special effects are not interesting to look at, yet are plastered everywhere. The one major exception is the 'wussing' of Chris Evans, which is done remarkably well---it is one of the few joys of the film. Overall this film has a tone of mindless excess which feels like it could have been directed by a computer program. 3 and ½ stars.