Did you know that before he became a Captain, 'Captain America' had to work his way up through the military ranks? He was 'Kitchen-Porter America' first. 'Cleaner America' second. And 'Lieutenant America' third. Before he achieved this lofty status. Now if you don't believe me, you should ask Director: Joe Johnston; or Actors: ChrisEvans, Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving, Hayley Atwell, and Dominic Cooper. But only in 2011 and for 124-minutes.Captain America: The First Avenger
THE STORY:
1942: All super-scrawny young-pup, Steve Rogers
(Chris Evans), ever wanted to do, was to become a super-solder in the US Army. But
no. He's skinny. He has asthma. And he keeps on failing his medical
examinations.
Thankfully though, one nice
evening, an earnest doctor called Abrahams Erskine (Stanley Tucci), runs into
Steve, and he finds a way to enlist him into the US
army, because he sees the potential in him. Granted, Colonel Chester Phillips
(Tommy Lee Jones) does have some concerns with Abrahams judgement - especially
when he observes Steve's form during his time at boot-camp. But as for British
Agent, Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), on the other hand - she has a lot hope in
Steve's courage, which is why she escorts him to a secret lab located in New
York City .
Oh! What for? To shag him? No! So
that Abrahams can transform Steve into the super-solder 'Captain America '
of course. Just before two Hydra agents kill the good doctor and make there
escape.
Ouch! What a bunch of b*stards!
Who are these Hydra agents anyway? Well, they're a Nazi fringe group under the
control of Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving), who, like Steve, has been transformed
into a person of power sometime ago. Moreover, he's also the dastardly
dick-head with a God fetish, whose head is very red (literally).
OK, so what does Steve do about it, huh? Perform a
propaganda piece with some pampered pretties, just to promote peace to the
general public? Yes - regrettably he is forced to do that. But in addition to
this, he does try his best to stop 'The Red Skull' any which way he can.
You see, under duress, plus with
some help from Peggy and Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper), Steve is able to
rescues a bunch of captured 'Howling Commandoes' and his old pal, Bucky Barnes (Sebastian
Stan), from the Red Skulls clutches. Also, he and his new found pals find a way
of denting the War in Europe , by bashing, smashing, and
broadcasting their endeavors, causing the public to cheer, YIPPPEE! Whilst
causing the Red Skull to try to fight back, BOOO!
Well, I suppose that is why what next transpires really
kicks off when our shield slinging Captain marches off to do battle with the
Red Skull once and for all. As buddies take a fall - Hydra henchmen have a ball
- the Skull seals his fate - and Cap is very late for a date.
Seventy years too late as a matter of fact. That's what Nick
Fury (Samuel L Jackson) tells him anyway.
THE REVIEW:
In my most humble opinion, 'Captain America - The Last
Avenger' is up their as being one of the best comic book films since 'Sin
City', 'Ironman', and 'The Dark Knight' (click here for the review). Honestly,
this is a really great movie to watch. The acting is solid. The tone is very
timely. The special effects don't distract from the action. And by in large
this is one of those flicks that just has it all.
Heck, the only four little gripes that I could find with
this flick, is that Bucky is too old, the skinny Chris looked a bit 'off' at
times, the love story felt too fleeting, plus isn't their an age snafu where
Howard Stark is concerned? Well, his son, Tony (Ironman) Stark, is in his
forties, right? And in this 'forties' film Howard must be in his early
thirties. So at a guess, if Howard squirted out Tony ten years later (when he
was forty), that would make Tony sixty by now. Correct?
I told you my gripes were little, didn't I?
Anyway, enough of my gripes. Here, have some of my facts as
well: (1) Wolverine, Namor, Bruce Banner, and Magneto, were all supposed to
have cameos in this picture. But this idea was scrapped due to rights issues.
(2) Originally Jon Favreau intended to make this film into a buddy comedy, but
chose to direct 'Iron Man' instead. At one point both Louis Letterrier and Nick
Cassavetes were also considered to direct as well. But eventually Joe Johnston
was chosen because of his work on the film 'The Rocketeer'. (3) This was the
final Marvel film produced by Paramount .
Disney bought the rights from 'Marvels Movies' from then on in. (4) This is the fifth live-action representation of Captain
America on
screen. The first was the 'Captain America '
television show. Plus the second, third, and forth, were all television based
movies called 'Captain America ' and 'Captain America II - Death Too Soon' for the
third [click here for some incite into the director of the third film, Ivan
Nagy]. (5) Hayley Atwell based Peggy Carter on Ginger Rogers. Whereas Hugo
Weaving based the Red Skull's accent on German filmmakers, Werner
Herzog and Klaus Maria Brandauer. (6) For the role of Captain America ,
quite a few actors were considered, such as Sam Worthington, John Krasinski,
Chace Crawford, Garrett Hedlund, Kellan Lutz, Ryan Phillippe, Alexander Skarsgård,
Channing Tatum, Scott Porter, Mike Vogel, Sebastian Stan, Wilson Bethel, Michael
Cassidy, Jensen Ackleswere and Will Smith. And
where the role of Peggy Carter is concerned, these actresses were at one time
or another considered, Keira Knightley, Emily Blunt, Alice Eve, and Gemma
Arterton. (7) Joe Simon and Jack Kirby created 'Captain America '
in 1941. Stan Lee revived him in 1964. And (8) Did you spot that red-suited
android at the expedition? He was Marvels first 'superhero' character called
the 'Human Torch'. No. Not the same character that Chris played in 'Fantastic
Four' [click here for review]. Rather, the title character on Marvel's first
published comic book [then called Timely].
Now if you have not guessed by now, let me just state for
the record that 'Captain America
- The Last Avenger', is a brilliant piece of film-making. What I liked about it
the most; is that the pallet was muted, the direction had a hint of Spielberg
to it, the majority of this movie was set to one single time, and all the
actors were just great.
Tommy channels Lee Emery in his demeanor. Hugo has an
almost Germanic flavour to his pose and presence. Domenic does a very good
Robert Downey Jr. impersonation. Hayley is a forties sweetheart. And Chris is
so blue-collar earnest-Americana; I could hardly tell if it was him at times.
All in all this is one great comic book movie. I just hope
that we see a sequel in the works after the 'Avengers' film comes out. Right
guys?
THE RATING: A