Reviewed: Captain America: The First Avenger [2011]

12A - 125mins - Action/Adventure/Sci-Fi - 29th July 2011

With the summer season now in full blast we get our latest and final all action comic book hero for the year in the guise of Captain America- yet another character that I am unfamiliar with. Have I missed out on a childhood filled with comic books? It would seem so.

Set during World War II, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) a poorly yet determined man has only one goal- to join the army so that he can serve and protect his country. Due to his illnesses and diminished stature though he is rejected and turned away by every recruitment station he visits. A chance encounter with Dr. Erksine (Stanley Tucci) changes his fortunes and leads him to be accepted onto a secret project codename Project Rebirth where his honour and integrity gain him the chance to become a super soldier. He undergoes the transformation and becomes capable of near superhuman acts.

Meanwhile in Germany, Johann Schmidt aka the Red Skull (Hugo Weaving), head of the Nazi exploratory research department HYDRA is building and army and technology that threatens to not only usurp Hitler but destroy the world. Captain America is tasked with stopping Schmitt and bringing the war to a premature end.

I was looking forward to seeing Evans in his role as Captain America as I'd wanted to see if he had what it takes to be the leading star in a film rather than the supporting roles he's more used to. He passed with flying colours making the character his own from a skinny nobody to the patriotic propaganda spinning Captain America. The rest of the cast also performed well with Weaving a convincing bad guy (despite me wanting him to say Mr. Anderson) and Tommy Lee Jones adding his unique charisma to the hard as nails Colonel. I was less convinced with Hayley Atwell playing the love interest Peggy Carter as the chemistry wasn't there and she never really extracted any emotions from me good or bad.

The action taken as a whole was good but I'm not sure that there was enough from Captain America. Sure he swung his shield and sent the opposition flying but I never felt that he was getting down and dirty for his cause. Some of the fighting scenes felt rushed and tended to be over before they had even begun. Also I understand Captain America's improved metabolism/regeneration properties cover up the fact he always looks like he's just walked out from make-up room #1 but I would still have liked to see him a bit beaten up and then recover for the next scene rather than looking as if he's just going for a stroll through the park. He never felt in peril which instantly removes any suspense that I should have been feeling for him.

The story of his origins seemed to take president over the action and to a certain degree that's understandable- there is no movie without a plot, but I would have liked a smidge more action and a tad less talking. Luckily the film didn't give off that all American vibe that I thought it might with the patriotism healthily present rather than all engulfing. Likewise, the comedy flowed at a decent level with many short (as in height) jokes and other such one liners hitting their mark. Although for me, I found Red Skull to be the funniest merely for his appearance- he was not scary and just looked like he'd forgotten to lather himself in suntan lotion before a trip to the beach one day.

The ending certainly adds its clout to The Avengers film due out next year. (You may want to hang around at the end for another post credit scene and a teaser trailer for said film). So where does this go in my list of Summer comic book heroes? I think it slots in nicely behind X-Men, just pipping Thor into second and is comfortably ahead of the Green Lantern.

Rating: B

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From Comic to TV Cartoon to Big Screen - X-Men: First Class - Review

Normally this is Hollywood's thought and we get more and more diluted sequels until taking dip. Either that or go for the now trendy "Reboot" starring a young, hip cast of up and coming early twenties prettyboys and prettygirls.

They decided, this time to go with the reboot. However, with a twist. Instead of churning out some soulless cash in they decided to make a proper movie, hiring Mathew Vaughan, the director of the excellent Layer Cake and recent critically acclaimed Kick-Ass. A bold choice, as these were serious and adult movies. Not exactly the person you would expect Hollywood to give the reigns of one of their summer tentpole blockbusters. Vaughn then wrote the story with Jane Goldman and Bryan Singer.

They then decided to fill the cast with hot young actors who can actually act! James McAvoy one of the hottest actors in Hollywood after his turns in Atonement, Wanted and The Last King Of Scotland played a young Charles Xavier while the equally hot Irish/German actor Michael Fassbender, fresh from stealing the show in Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds and taking on the challenging role of hunger striker Bobby Sands in Hunger. (Even if he was in Jonah Hex. We won't hold that against him). Kevin Bacon played the bad guy (Which should help in your next round of "Six Degrees Of Kevin Bacon"). Rose Byrne and January Jones and others filled out the younger roles ably.

The story was articulate: Set during the Cuban Missile Crisis it charts the creation of the X-men and Michael Fassbender journey from Nazi concentration camps to his eventual Magneto persona. As a result, Fassbender gets the meatiest role. His character arc is, by far, the most interesting. We see the torture of his youth in concentration camps and his relentless pursuit of revenge afterwards. He is always a charismatic and sympathetic character. Who doesn't want to see Nazis get their just deserts?

He is also the character most at ease with his powers, encouraging his fellow mutants to embrace their differences rather than hide them. If there is one flaw in his performance, it is his accent. For some reason, as the film goes on, his Irish accent becomes more and more apparent. While he never sounds like Jackie Healy Rae (Fassbender's father is from Germany but he was raised in his mother's home of Kerry) by the end of the movie his accent is pretty obvious. At least it is for an Irish audience. It probably isn't so apparent for others.

The action is slow to start as the film really is about the creation of the X-men so we see the introduction of various characters familiar and unfamiliar to viewers of the movies (All will be familiar to the comic readers of course) but once the action starts it comes thick and fast: flying submarines, nuclear missiles, and mutants aplenty.

All in all Fist class is a surprisingly mature comic book to TV to big screen film with a decent cast and director and story. I'm looking forward to checking out the sequel. Oh, and it has the best cameo EVER and it's not even the ubiquitous Stan Lee!

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X-Men: First Class Movie Review

I feel like I'm beginning to sound like a broken record, but Marvel has done it yet again! I recently saw X-Men: First Class and I honestly feel it is one of the best comic book movies ever. Even though I was more a fan of DC Comics, the one series of Marvel that I read was the X-Men. I was always able to relate to the plight of the mutants because they were always on the outside of society looking in and had to deal with prejudice, ridicule, persecution, and exile. All of these are clearly shown in this new film, which is set in the 1960's where tolerance and acceptance were almost a foreign concept around most of the world. Add to this drama of the mutants "coming out" to the world at large the real life drama of the Cuban missile crisis and you come up with the best script, best acting and overall best film in the X-Men franchise.

This film helps us to understand better a number of the relationships that we are familiar with and also raises some new questions that we hopefully will see in future installments. First, we get a little more back on both Magneto and Xavier's childhoods and what influences them to go down the paths that we have seen in the previous films. What pushes Magneto to become the villain we know? How does he learn to master his abilities? What puts Xavier into a wheelchair? How did the two of them meet and form their friendship? What is the origin of Mystique and how does she become Magneto's second in command? I love that these answers are provided in this film as I was unaware of most of these answers because they were told so early in the timeline of the X-Men universe. Now, whether the events of the film relate to the events as they were told in the comics, I couldn't quite tell you because I only began reading them in the late 80's, but I really enjoyed how they explained these things in the new film.

Another great thing about this movie is that we are introduced to a number of different mutants, both heroes and villains that we haven't seen yet on the big screen. We get to see Beast before he was turned into the blue furry guy he is to become, Banshee, Havoc, Sebastian Shaw, Emma Frost, and Azazel. All of these guys are supporting characters behind the big guns of Magneto, Xavier and Mystique, but it helps us get a better understanding how the X-Men were formed and how Xavier's school began. Also, I'm not certain if the movie follows the same story as the comics. In meeting Alex Summers, aka Havoc, I wonder if he will turn out to be Scott Summers', aka Cyclops' father or other relation. The villain Azazel has the same ability to transport like Nightcrawler. Does this mean they are father and son with Mystique being the mother giving Nightcrawler his blue skin? Again, more questions I hope to have answered in the next installment.

This movie works on all levels but none so much as the great acting talent they cast in these iconic roles. The standouts include Michael Fassbender as Magneto, James McAvoy as Professor Xavier, Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique and Kevin Bacon as Sebastian Shaw. These four performances steal every scene that they are in and made each of their roles their own. Kevin Bacon really surprised me with his mastery of German and Russian and he reminded me what an incredible bad guy he can play. I've never seen Jennifer Lawrence before, but I can absolutely see how she is now an Oscar nominated actress for Winter's Bone. I've always been a fan of James McAvoy, and he knocks it out of the park yet again with his witty, charming and sincere performance of the Professor. Lastly, Michael Fassbender, who wowed me with his performance in Inglorious Bastards, makes Magneto his own and gives the best performance in the film.

I really can't say enough about how much I enjoyed this film. It really upsets me that it didn't make more money in its opening weekend and I truly hope that more people get out and see this in the theater. I would hate for the studio to stop doing these films because they didn't make as much money as they were expecting. If they can keep the quality of future films as high as they have on this one, they could have a franchise that will be around for quite some time. So please go support this amazing picture and show that you want to see more high quality comic book films that aren't style over substance.

J. Chandler, Grade: A

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