All Night I Want the Young American (A Captain America: The First Avenger review)

With one more day to go until Avengers Assemble reach these shores, I've been covering the Marvel Cinematic Universe film by film. Having taken down both Iron Man films, The Incredible Hulk, and Thor, that leaves just one left. Ironically enough, it's also about the First Avenger.

Poster by Tyler Stout.

If Thor was considered a hard enough sell, imagine the headaches you'd get with making a film about Captain America. For one thing, the Captain has had two failed films made about him already. The first was an amazingly cheap 1979 two-hour TV film starring human airhorn Reb Brown in the title role, which contained a grand total of one fight scene and didn't feature the title character in his Evil Knievel-esque costume for over an hour; and the second was a more ambitious 1990 affair that only saw theatrical release in the USSR (no, I'm not making that up), and had the dubious honour of the son of J. D. Salinger playing the protagonist. Both of these films depicted Captain America as ineffectual weaklings who acted downright cowardly at times - not a good start.

Even if you ignore the track record, look at the character himself. He was designed as a propaganda figure by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby in 1941, as you'd imagine any character whose first cover featured him punching out Hitler, with a ridiculous uniform that has never exactly looked good in live action, which is something of a tough sell internationally (if they'd released a Captain America film in 2005 in Britain, when about half the population hated America, it would have been torn apart). Personality-wise, like Superman, it's often difficult to write for Captain America because...what the hell can you do? He believes in freedom, truth, justice, and keeping people safe. He's ridiculously well-mannered. Physically, he's nigh-superhuman, and he's a brilliant tactician. Bit of a dull character on paper, and not one that lends itself to Hollywood's usual three-act films that demand character arcs - what one could you give to the Captain that would stick?

Somehow, director Joe Johnston (the man behind the excellent Rocketeer movie), writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, and actor Chris Evans found a way to make this work. How well? Stand at attention, soldiers, we're reviewing Captain America: The First Avenger after the jump at oh-right-fucking-now hours. Fall in!

Ever heard of those old Charles Atlas ads? The ones that promise to turn a wimpy "Mac" into a musclebound "Man"? Because Steve Rogers (Evans) is such a Mac, I'm surprised his face isn't made of sand from all the times it's been kicked in his face. A short, skinny, sickly young man who's spent most of his life getting beaten up by the local neighbourhood Goliaths, Steve badly wants to join the US Army and fight the Nazis, but has been denied every physical. That is until kindly Dr Erskine (Stanley Tucci), a defected German scientist, sees the potential for a great man in wimpy little Steve and, after a few trials prove his ingenuity, determination and heroic nature, chooses him as the test subject for his new "Super Soldier" serum, designed to create a man to "personally escort Adolf Hitler to the gates of Hell". The serum works, turning Steve into a muscle-bound giant, but Erskine is shot dead by an assassin from HYDRA - formerly Germany's military science division, now spun out into a full-fledged organisation by its fanatical leader, Johann Schmidt, aka the Red Skull (Hugo Weaving). After HYDRA kidnap infantry men for their experiments, Steve takes it upon himself to rescue them, and in doing so becomes a valuable player in the effort against the Red Skull and his plan to cause widespread destruction.

Sounds so old-fashioned, doesn't it? You've got an elite Nazi division supposedly more hardcore and evil than the actual Nazis bent on taking over the world, but never fear, citizens of the world! Captain America, with his band of Howling Commandos, his strong two-fists, and a good ol' bit of American know-how, is here to save the day! It's almost refreshingly old-fashioned - the hero's a good guy because he can't imagine not being a good guy. The villain wants to destroy the world because he built all this equipment and it would seem stupid not to go the one step further. What stops Captain America being more than mere pastiche or just a throwback, though, is just damn good writing and a series of damn good performances.

Who's strong and brave, here to save the American Way?

Smartly, the film doesn't force Steve Rogers to go through some arbitrary character arc to get him to be the good captain, nor does it create any ambiguity that he isn't a pure Paragon; he's depicted simply and honestly as the best possible guy to be fighting the war, and to fight HYDRA. The trick with writing Captain America, or Superman, or any Lawful Good comic character is to get their virtue across without making the character preachy, insufferable or - worst of all - bland, and the writers nail that. To point out who would be the right candidate for the Super Soldier project, Colonel Phillips (a great Tommy Lee Jones) tosses a dummy grenade into the middle of a training routine; Steve's first instinct is to throw his scarecrow-like body over it. When Steve is asked if he wants to go to war to kill Nazis, he replies simply that "I don't want to kill anybody. I don't like bullies, I don't care where they come from". On top of that, Evans really comes across as a shy, honest humble type of hero; if it's hard to write this kind of character, it's even harder to pull it off in a way that seems completely sincere, but Evans nails it.

The explanation for the Captain America identity is very well-handled. After the Super Soldier project collapses, Steve is saved from further experimentation by a Senator, who turns him into an Uncle Sam type propaganda figure; he has him tour around, in the ridiculous costume, to promote war bonds. It's from the comics, admittedly, but the amount of detail that goes in is amazing. Not only does he get a chorus of dancing girls, but they manage to work in him punching out Hitler, the 1944 propaganda films based on the character, and even the original comic into the mix. Not only that, but they do it in the best, and thus far only, musical number to appear in a superhero film, a patriotic number by Alan Menken, who defined your childhood with "Under the Sea", "A Whole New World", and "Go the Distance".

Indeed, the whole production design is marvellous. The period detail, the props, the set design, even the little nods, all very well-designed. The Howling Commandos, who started off in the comics as a special infantry unit full of specialists led by Nick Fury, get a minor role here as Cap's men, but they all do well with their parts, especially Neal McDonough as the bowler-hatted marksman "Dum Dum" Dugan. The Tesseract, or the Cosmic Cube and the main weapon up HYDRA's sleeve, is referred to as the prize of Odin's treasure room - calling back to Thor without being overt about it. The World's Fair in the opening feels like a return to the past, all resplendent in silver and neon colours. The eagle-eyed comics fan will notice an appearance from the original Human Torch here (the one BEFORE the Fantastic Four), but the main attraction is Dominic Cooper as Howard Stark, father of Tony, having a ball in full-on Howard Hughes mode. HYDRA's headquarters is very sterile by contrast, mostly ominous brushed silver and, of course, swathed in shadow, which suits the retro-technology they have in store, including ray guns.

Yes, actual ray guns in a WWII movie.

Your arguments are officially invalid.

The plot avoids the potential jingoistic implications one could run into with Captain America, and is instead a tale of heroism triumphing over all. HYDRA may have started as a Nazi think-tank and have almost entirely German members, but we also have Erskine, a German defector, to counterbalance that, and HYDRA eventually break away from all nations. A key part of this is the Super Soldier serum, the one that turns Steve into a superhuman knight in shining armour, and Schmidt into a megalomaniac with a face almost entirely sinew and muscle. Erskine theorises that the serum enhances the user's main personality trait as well as their body - now think back to The Incredible Hulk. Banner is defined by his suppressed rage, and he was turned into the perpetually grumpy Hulk through a variation of the serum, albeit a temporary one. Emil Blonsky loved to fight, so the serum gave him a form fit for combat. Schmidt's insanity and hatred revealed his true ugly face to the world, and Steve's trusting and benevolent nature turned him into the physical best a man can be. This is the best kind of tie-in; it links with the other films but it does so subtly.

I have no funny caption for this, just...godDAMN.

Everything about this film is just so well-polished and well put-together I'm struggling to think why this didn't do as well as the other Marvel films. Maybe because it seems so old-fashioned, but if so, they're missing out. The action is solid and thrilling, even if the random disjointed shots of Cap punching out HYDRA agents feels a bit of an odd choice. The score will make you want to stand up and salute, even if you're not American. The supporting cast are all great, from Sebastian Stan's loyal friend Bucky to Tommy Lee Jones's grizzled old colonel who gets some of the best lines in a film filled with pretty good lines. I'd like to single out Hayley Atwell as Agent Peggy Carter in particular, for being a female lead who's actually a female lead. It's seen early on that Carter can hold her own with the men under her command, and in heels, but her relationship with Steve develops over the course of the film, from maternal concern to genuine romance, and in a way that feels organic, unlike Thor.

It's just a damn good movie, and one I feel is underappreciated in the Marvel canon.