Captain America: The Star Spangled Avenger

Friday, as I sat hunched over the laptop watching Twin Peaks (more on that later this week), mom poked her head into my room and stated that she wanted to go see a movie on Saturday. She does this every now and then - it's a healthy reaction to having months off work (she teaches at an elementary school) and spending most of her time at home with few other people around.

We don't watch movies that are rated R, or movies that just look stupid, so our options this summer are severely limited. After a quick brainstorm, we decided to go see Captain America, which I have to admit was bordering on the 'looks stupid' side of my chart (I'm not a fan of superhero stories, really). However, of all the movies out right now it's the one I was most interested in, so Saturday afternoon we drove out to see Captain America.

A quick side note, however; I totally forgot to bring my 2D glasses. I don't see the point in 3D movies, so we never go to those, but a while back my brother bought us a pair of 2D glasses, designed by Hank Green. Essentially, they take 3D movies and let you watch them in regular 2D, taking the headache out of this "RealD" fad. I was planning on popping into another theater for a moment to test them out, but since I forgot them, I'll have to see how well they work later.

Anyway, after almost being late to our theater, we managed to sit down just as the Regal Cinemas roller coaster ended and the movie started. They even delivered our hot-dogs to us because we were late!

The movie itself was pretty good, especially for an action adventure superhero story. It takes place in the early 1940s, as America is gearing up to join the second World War, and Chris Evans plays Steve Rogers, a scrawny little kid who wants to join the army, but is unable to because of his many health problems. He's finally recruited to a top secret research project, where he's pumped with an experimental serum to raise him to the 'peak of human potential', which makes him the buff, super-powered being we on the cover of the comic books.

One of the things I really loved about this Captain America movie was the self-referential nature of the story. When I think of superhero movies, I think of Toby Maguire's Spiderman or Christian Bale's Batman, depressed vigilantes who beat up bad guys by night and have to hide their identities by day. Once Captain America gets his powers, however, he's in the limelight, and every American knows about him. There's this awesome transition scene that shows him dressed up in his superhero costume, pitching war bonds and acting in films, appearing in comic books just like the real character did.

In fact, Captain America doesn't actually go out and do any bad-guy-beating-up until a good way into the film. If you're looking for an action movie with lots of punches and little plot, this isn't it. His character is really developed over the first hour of the film, and he continues to develop during the second hour. The audience has to care for the things he goes through, and the director managed to pull that off. That isn't to say there aren't any pure action, fists and gunfire scenes, because you can't have an action film without the action.

I also really liked the chroma of the movie. They didn't do anything tricky with the camera settings, but the costumes, makeup, and lighting were done just right to give every scene in this movie either a hint of period sepia or a splash of bold comic-book-like coloring.

What I really enjoyed about the movie, however, and a major reason we decided to go see it, was all the Avengers references. Marvel Studios, while working on all their comic-to-movie adaptations, had the brilliant idea to tie them all in together. Comic books have been doing this for decades - there are entire television series based off the idea that all the superheros exist in the same fictional reality. Marvel is now doing this with their Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Excluding things like X-Men and that weird Punisher movie no one saw, every comic book Superhero movie that Marvel has released since 2008 has contributed to the larger 'cinematic universe'. They started with the first Iron Man, where a highly observant audience caught a glimpse of Captain America's shield on Tony Stark's desk, and a more dedicated audience stayed for the scene after the credits, where Tony Stark was asked by Marvel Universe character Nick Fury to join "the Avengers Initiative."

I haven't seen the second Iron Man, or The Incredible Hulk, but I did go to see Thor a while back. There's one scene, when a giant metal monster attacks the titular hero, where one government agent guy turns to another and asks, "Is that one of Stark's?" (The reply, probably the best lines in that movie, was "I don't know, that guy never tells me anything.")

Steve Roger's transformation into Captain America.

I've been following the Avenger's tie-ins, so I was really excited to see all the references in Captain America. For starters, the experimental serum used to turn Steve Rogers into Captain America is the same serum used, years later, to create one of The Hulk's enemies. One of the men on the science team, Howard Stark, goes on to help Captain America by designing his shield, made with a superior metal, and later founds Stark Industries and has a son who becomes Iron Man (Which makes no sense to me, because he'd be somewhere around 60 when Tony Stark is born - I'm hoping they instead decide to make him a grandfather).

Also, and this only a minor spoiler because it's revealed in the first ten minutes of the movie, the real villain, of the movie is trying to rule the world with a weapon he tracked down after it had been given to man 'by the Norse gods'. The Cosmic Cube, strangely similar to a few of the other weapons we see in Thor's family's weapon's room, is eventually picked up by Howard Stark, who I'm assuming uses it to create the "magical" power source that is eventually used to power Iron Man's iron suit.

I wont spoil it, but the ending to Captain America probably surprised a few people, and out of context may have seemed a bit cheap. I'd already done enough research to know what was going to happen, however, and with the context of the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe, it was the only thing they really could have done. I was surprised by how many people in our theater stayed all the way through the credits, to see the hidden scene at the end. Each movie leading up to The Avengers has had a hidden scene hinting at the plot for the upcoming 2012 movie; Captain America even had a full trailer, as well.

Even without all the tie ins, however, I think Captain America was a pretty good movie. There's enough action to appease the more fighting-oriented fans, but there's also enough real story and plot to make the film memorable. Out of the serious superhero movies I've seen, Captain America was definitely one of the better ones.