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Review

Captain America – Movie Review

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I’ve always felt rather ambivalent about Captain America – is he a symbol for heroism, truth and justice? Or just blind patriotism? Luckily in this new film, you don’t really have to think about that. You don’t really have to think about anything if you don’t want to. Just watch a boy become a man, and Americans become heroes. Yet again.

Chris Evans plays Steve Rogers, the soon to be Captain America. He is a small, wiry man who wants to join the army because he loves America. That’s all the back story on him there is really. Don’t worry, a German scientist [played by Stanley Tucci, who I am unable to take seriously since seeing in the movie "Burlesque"] takes pity on him and he is soon on his way to becoming a big beefy American hero. The CG of his smaller frame is done quite well but is rather jarring against his strong Brooklyn accent. He is nice and buff as Captain America though.

Meanwhile, Arnim Zola, another scientist, has no moral qualms about working for the Nazis, but is having doubts about working for someone apparently WORSE than the Nazis: HYDRA. It was interesting that a Swastika was only seen once in the entire film [perhaps due to legal concerns], but this also served to sanitise the war story. The issues of war, genocide and so on are conveniently glossed over so they can fight the easily identifiable bad guy Red Skull, who is going to harness the power of the magical Tesseract [or Cosmic Cube] to kill pretty much everyone. When Rogers catches wind of this plan they begin a series of attacks on the HYDRA bases, each more explodey than the last.

The film attempts to make us feel for the characters and their struggles, but it’s all pretty one dimensional. The woman is The Love Interest, the Captain is The Hero, and the guy in black with a red skull is The Enemy. Howard Stark is also there, standing around looking sexy and making weapons, but that’s about all we see of him. [I certainly would have liked to have seen more… *ahem*]

There’s no discussion of the horrors of war, or of what it truly means to be an American patriot [other than a German character, played by an Italian American, telling Rogers he is a good man]. They attempt to show Rogers becoming the man he needs to be, but it’s pretty clear from the outset how things are going to turn out, other than a tiny twist at the end [not a twist for fans].

I have a confession to make.

Even for all the cheese and forced patriotism, I enjoyed this film. It was pretty, it was fun, it was explodey. Even in moments where I was thinking “that is clearly CGI” or “God that line was cheesy” I was still enjoying it. It’s shot well, the CG is quite good if a little obvious at times, and the 3D [UGH] was not too overbearing.

Please do not go into this thinking there will be anything deep, but if you want to see a buff Chris Evans punch some evil dudes in black suits, and some great deaths by “soldier #27”, take some popcorn and enjoy.

PS: Stay till the end of the credits. Seriously. ^_^

Trailer

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What do you think? Is “One Girl in Melbourne” an anti-patriot who will soon be seen as the next big villain for Captain America to fight?  Or is she absolutely on the money?  Feedback Super Soldiers!

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About The Author

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Zoe writes the @onegirlinmelb twitter while also being a casual gamer, geek girl, history book reader, political scientist, and lover of all things kawaii. Her favourite superheroes are Batman and Green Lantern. She is all kinds of awesome.. if she does say so herself.

Article Information

  • Posted: Thursday, July 28th, 2011
  • Author: One Girl in Melbourne
  • Filed Under: Film,Review
Tags: , , , ,

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