After some Asgardian antics we move back to the 1940's with the star spangled man with a plan, Captain America! As is tradition I'll point you in the direction of Linkara's review of the very first appearance of the Power Punching Patriot with one of the most iconic and wonderful covers for a first issue you could ask for.
http://atopthefourthwall.com/captain-america-comics-1/
Now you think that making a compelling movie focused around a guy who punched Hitler right in his goddamn jaw on his debut cover would be as easy as farting but then again you'd be surprised how often when you think its a fart it turns out to be a very loose stool. Now come on we've all bet on a fart and lost at least once in your life don't deny it! Now you might be thinking only of the 1990 Captain America movie which was a nasty piece of work which both the Nostalgia Critic and Cinema Snob can attest to.
But that's nothing compared to the flaming hot liquid butt fudge that was the Reb Brown made for T.V movies the Spoony One covered many years ago. (I hope he gets back in the game, just take as much time as you need man, these sort of things take time.)
Ok I couldn't find part 2 of the 2nd Reb Brown review but yeah it's still really bad, trust me! But yeah Captain America while one of the most iconic superheroes ever was handled by some real grade-a holes before Marvel brought him home. Also for some reason they decided to cast Chris Evens as Steve. I mean it worked but let's not forget that the last time he was in a Marvel movie it was as Johnny Storm in those two mediocre Fantastic Four movies. I mean first Chris Evens and now Michael B. Jordon, at this rate it's only a matter of time till Jay Underwood finds his on screen redemption.
Back on topic, as per usual there were some major changes made from the comic to the big screen. Like for example Bucky Barnes is the same age as or older then Steve and isn't the regiment mascot, Steve doesn't get into the battlefield right away and they skip straight to him being frozen for 70 years or so. As for the rest that's what this review/ recap is for isn't it? So our story begins in 1942 where a Nazi officer named Johann Schmidt (played by Hugo Weaving) acquires a powerful artifact called the Tesseract and brings it back to his lab. Schmidt is the head of Hitler's R&D department Hydra and after he and his head scientist Arnim Zola (played by Toby Jones) decide that Hitler and his third reich were a waste of time split Hydra into its own unique organization after killing several Nazi officers with a Tesseract powered weapon.
Cut to America with young Steve Rogers (played by Chris Evens) trying to join the Army and serve his country. But the problem is that he looks like somebody could break his arms like twigs if they so much as accidentally bump into him. While he and his best buddy James "Bucky" Barnes (played by Sebastian Stan) attend a worlds fair Steve tries to enlist again but is accepted this time to be the guinea pig of Dr Abraham Erskine (played by Stanley Tucci) and his Super Solder project. After proving his nobility and self-sacrificing bravery to Erskine; Agent Peggy Carter (played by Hayley Atwell) and Chester Phillips (played by Tommy Lee Jones) he's chosen for the procedure and becomes a Super Solder.
But a Hydra agent kills Erskine and flees but kills himself with a cyanide pill after Steve catches him. Not knowing what to do with Steve now that Erskine and his formula are gone Senator Brandit wants to just make Steve into a patriotic mascot to promote the war effort as Captain America. But eventually Steve's had enough and when he hears that Bucky's unit is captured he takes matters into his own hands. With the help of Agent Carter and Howard Stark (played by Dominic Cooper) he breaks into the Hydra base, frees the P.O.Ws and even sees Schmidt who revels his identity as the Red Skull (a side effect of taking a prototype of Erskine's formula) and finally earns the respect of Phillips.
This starts a campaign of Captain America and his Howling Commandos busting down Hydra bases and pissing on Red Skulls shoes, that is until Bucky fell to his death on a mission. But thanks to Zola spilling the beans Cap finds the location of Red Skulls main base and his ultimate weapon. So he and his forces attack the base and Cap chases the Red Skull to the deck of his ship where after accidentally touching the Tesseract the Red Skull is either destroyed or forcibly teleported into the sky by a mysterious blue column of light. But Steve has to steer the ship off course before it reaches New York and the onboard missiles detonate, so he crashes the ship into the Arctic freezing himself in the process. So the story ends with Howard recovering the Tesseract, Peggy is left behind with her ABC spin off show and Steve is recovered by Nick Fury in 2011 more annoyed about missing his date with Peggy then anything.
To sum up Captain America The First Avenger is definitely one of the shining jewels of the MCU. A great period story and character piece of one of the greatest heroes of Marvels library. Of all the phase one Marvel movies this was definitely one of the more refreshing at least aesthetically. Sure Asgard looked amazing but you can tell that was mostly in CG (really good CG but still CG) the 1940's esthetic really was on point in this one, from the buildings, the music and general decor were just aces in this movie. But this is no surprise considering this was made by Joe Johnston who worked on The Rocketeer and the first two Indiana Jones movies, so he knows a thing or two about capturing the period of a setting.
Another of this movies best strengths is setting up the character of Steve Rogers and why he is Captain America. Erskine knew that in order to not make the same mistake as Red Skull he knew he had to find a man who had a noble and righteous heart. When he asks Steve why he wanted to enlist he wasn't just looking for some glory hound thug who wanted to kill Nazis he was looking for someone who knew what it meant to be weak and wanted strength not to attack, conquer and invade but protect and support. If he wanted a Solder there were plenty, but what Erskine was looking for was a Knight. Though clad not in armor but clad in the idea of what America should stand for, life liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Steve was definitely that Knight. His self sacrifice and willingness to do the right thing no matter the cost is made crystal clear in this movie. Even when he was flung into the future and everything he knew and loved was changed and gone forever this first thought was how he failed to keep his promise to Peggy. Though with that said as this was a great character piece for Steve Red Skull was just a standard megalomaniac with a fancy power source. We don't know much about him aside from how he thinks himself on par with the gods, big woop we've seen this type of bad guy 1000 times before. Now again Red Skull and that beam of light thing is an insurance policy and since the end credits scene give a key plot point away I think its time to indulge in a bit of speculation.
I mentioned this when I reviewed Hulk and Thor, they set up characters and left their fate ambiguous. Basically it was a hedging of bets to see which of these villains would work better with audiences to see who would be the big bad in the first Avengers movie, also just in case any scheduling issues popped up. So they set up The Leader, Loki and Red Skull and left them in unknown straights just to see which of these three would take center stage and we all know that Loki was the one they went with. Mostly due to how well Tom Hiddleston went with audiences, we actually saw him in Thor's end credits scene and also possibly due to the fact that Loki was the villain in the debut Avengers story.
So now with all of the key players at the table it was time to run it or go home empty. We've had five movies setting up the members of the team, the world they live in and now they needed a big enough threat to bring them all together. So did this bold gamble of a movie franchise work? Well obviously it did but hey that's hindsight for ya. Nonetheless come in next time as the March to Infinity continues with the end of Phase 1, The Avengers!
Special thanks to my Patreon backer Jesse for his support.
Captain America The First Avenger is owned by Marvel Studios, Paramount pictures and The Walt Disney Company. Based on the character created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby.
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