I can hardly stand the wait. First we’ll get to see Thor, the God of Thunder. Then, right on his heels, next summer, Captain America: The First Avenger, will make his “Marvel Studios” debut. Let’s not bother detailing the awful straight-to video vehicle starring Matt Salinger and Scott Paulin as an Italian Red Skull, or the Reb Brown Television movies of the 1970’s. Sorry to even bring those up…
The First Avenger will be different. I think. I hope.
I understand there are those who are not impressed with Marvel’s decision to hire either Joe Johnston as director, or Chris Evans as our Sentinel of Liberty. Personally, I think Johnston is more than capable of making a realistic “period piece” with all the action and adventure we can hope for, and, I have grown to trust the choices being made by the Big-Wigs at Marvel Studios.
Like most of you, I do have my concerns, however. Here are a few of them.
One of my concerns before and after the announcement of Chris Evans as Cap was, “How will they find someone who can play “scrawny” Steve Rogers and that person still be able to bulk up to Captain America-like proportions in the time allotted?”
I wondered if they would ask their chosen actor to “pull a Christian Bale” ala The Machinist, then ask him to “pull a Stallone” ala Rocky IV, not that Sylvester was ever big enough to play Cap, as ripped as he was then.
I wondered if they would hire a separate actor for each point in Cap’s life, and simply hide his face until after “Operation Rebirth”, or if they would simply show no change whatsoever in the physique of their actor, like they did with Matt Salinger (sorry, there I go again).
Then I saw Avatar. What James Cameron and his team were able to do to Sam Worthington’s legs made Lt. Dan from Forrest Gump look like an Etch-a-Sketch drawing. Of all the wondrous visuals in that movie, the sight of Worthington’s deteriorated legs may have impressed me the most. So, now, I’m thinking, “If they can muster those sorts of realistic C.G.I. effects, then Johnston should have no excuse for not doing the same to Chris Evans’ face and body.” This way, Evans can concentrate on getting as big and cut-up as humanly possible (without becoming superhuman, of course) before filming begins. Nice…
Another concern of mine was how much screen-time they plan on devoting to the training of Rogers, be it through his actually being taught to fight or his field-experience. Hopefully, we’ll get at least a little of both.
When I was very young, I understood Captain America to be one of, if not “the”, premiere hand-to-hand combatant the Marvel Universe had to offer. I mistakenly attributed these abilities to him having been around so long, constantly gaining valuable experience to which other heroes like Spider-Man, the X-Men or Fantastic Four were not privy.
See, I was forgetting the very important aspect (I was a little kid, gimmie’ a break!) of his having been frozen for (what, 20 years at the time, now sixty if he’s revived today?) such a long time. It wasn’t until later that it dawned on me that he became Captain America, went to war (WWII lasted from 1939 to 1945, with the U.S. becoming involved in 1942, no?), had a few years worth of battles, and then became lost/frozen at sea.
That’s not really much experience, in terms of time. If Peter Parker was bitten by that spider when he was 15 or 16 years old, then by the time he was 19 he had roughly as much experience fighting as a “thawed out Captain America”.
What I’m getting at is, I feel we need to witness some intense training scenes, where a post “Super Soldier Serum” Rogers can be shown mastering his new found strength, speed, stamina, balance and over-all athletic abilities.
In much the same way Arnold was shown the ways of the sword and having to learn to fight in those grueling pit-matches in Conan the Barbarian, or Morpheus schooling Neo in The Matrix, or, more recently, Christian Bale’s Bruce Wayne spending almost a third of Batman Begins learning to fight from Ra’s al Ghul and his “League of Shadows”, we need to see Steve Rogers quickly shown the ropes before he enters the war.
Then, I am concerned that the movie may not span the several years necessary to illustrate just how battle-tested Rogers will have become before he gets “put on ice”. I do not want the film to simply be a “one-mission” adventure ending with the Red Skull repeatedly ramming his face into Cap’s shield. This does not mean that I expect the movie to last three hours. No, this could be done with a montage, if nothing else.
Can you envision Cap beating down one bad guy (Baron Zemo?), then the scene cuts to him whipping another (von Strucker?) and another (Hitler?) in a series of clips that play out like rounds 4-12 in virtually all the Rocky movies?
Anything to establish that there are many battles to be fought within every war, and that as time goes on, Steve becomes more and more skilled as a tactician and hand-to-hand fighter (not to mention what should be a growing expertise with his shield). I want to see the evolution of his prowess, and be made to believe that, once he is “thawed-out”, he’ll be ready to give lessons in A$$-Kicking!
I am worried, a little, that too many characters from Steve Rogers’ original timeline are allowed to somehow survive or be reincarnated with him in modern times. Of course, I want the Skull to make it into the future where he can renew his evil schemes and torture our hero some more. Perhaps his buddy, Zola, can “transfer his consciousness” into a clone of Steve Rogers similar to the comics.
Perhaps, in this way, Zola too survives, in that “TV set in the abdomen” version of himself from the pages of our hero.
Then, of course, we have Nick Fury (Infinity Formula? Will that be used?) still kicking well into the future as well.
And, the many generations of the Zemo clan explain how a version of the original character continues to haunt Captain America in modern times.
Then we have Bucky, long thought, believed, and if for no other reason than not bringing back yet another character, hoped, to be dead, who is revealed to have also made it out of the 1940’s, relatively recently.
I know the new take on his skill level as a fighter and deeper detailing of his “Bad-A$$-edness” during the war, not to mention his new look and taking over of the “Captain America mantle”, has many fan-boys in full “geek-out” mode, but I am indifferent.
Why don’t we go back and pretend like Aunt May was really a “sleeper-cell ninja” programmed by The Hand back before Peter was out of diapers. We could give her a newly colored dress and a cyborg leg!
I’m kidding. I like the new take on Bucky, but if Marvel plans to reintroduce him in future films as the Winter Soldier then I think they need to consider cutting back on the other “survivors”. I can only suspend my disbelief so much.
Obviously, Nick Fury has to make it. And, I suppose the Red Skull does too. But sheesh- where does it end? How much of a “man-out-of-time” can Steve Rogers be when he’s still surrounded by the same cast?
Speaking of the cast, it seems to be rounding out nicely with Hugo Weaving (Red Skull), Stanley Tucci (Dr. Erskine), Toby Jones (Arnim Zola), Haley Atwell (Peggy Carter), Sebastian Stan (“Bucky” Barnes), Neal McDonough (Dum Dum Dugan), Dominic Cooper (Howard Stark), Samuel L. Jackson (Fury) and Tommy Lee Jones (as Gen. Chester Phillips according to IMDB.com) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0458339/ Is that official yet?
I am, therefore, not concerned with the cast. They will do just fine.
I am, however, worried that the scene Johnston spoke of about parading Cap around in a U.S.O show may do more harm than good.
You can read his quote found in L.A. Times Entertainment here: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/herocomplex/2010/02/captain-america-will-be-a-uso-performer-in-the-movie-director-says.html
I realize this is old news and many have expressed their concerns already, but I share those concerns, and felt it necessary to include them. If the scene is there for the sole purpose of showing us his “traditional” costume, then perhaps it should be left out. I don’t think Kirby will mind. Let’s hope it works, and doesn’t ruin what otherwise seems to have the makings of a great movie.
Besides that, I think my only major concern is making sure I live long enough to see it.
Feel free to comment. I’d love to hear what you think.
Peace,
VictorVon