DIRECTOR: Joe Johnston
SCREENWRITER: Chistopher Markus, Stephen McFeely (based on the comic books by Jon Simon and Jack Kirby)
Normally at the end of a Marvel film in the pre-Avengers series, there is a teaser for the next instalment. Iron Man concluded with an eye-patched Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury introducing himself to Robert Downey Jr’s Tony Stark, thus setting up the arc and a subplot for Iron Man 2; Downey Jr would also cameo in The Incredible Hulk while Thor’s hammer was discovered at the end of Iron Man 2. Thor’s ending I didn’t quite get and will revisit. Captain America: The First Avenger makes the exception of having a post-credit sequence of sorts at the very start and with The Avengers movie on the horizon, we pretty much know how The First Avenger will end. But that is no hindrance is it may be the most fun and dramatic (read “tragic”) entry in the series so far, though I shall revisit all the other entries. Thor was fun (and funny) whereas Iron Man 2 (and maybe The Incredible Hulk) were more in “meh” territory.
There were a couple of things I missed such as what the power was that Yohann Schmidt/Red Skull gets hold of (something about Odin I think, which again ties into Thor) as well as what it was Captain America was given to strengthen him up. Whatever it is, it “makes good – great and bad – worst”. There is a theme of sorts of bullies standing up – the shorter and skinnier Capt. America is beaten up for asking a talker in the cinema to be quiet as he shouted over newsreel war footage. In fact the shorter and skinnier Capt. America takes getting used to at first. But it is his “weakness” that is needed for a (good) German Doctor’s experiment as he apparently has more compassion. He even tried to get into the army a few times and perhaps one could see a ‘David and Goliath’ allegory. After becoming the First Avenger, he goes through the post-transformation phase seen in 2002’s Spider-Man and 2008’s Iron Man by wearing a prototype (or two) of the costume (plus the Shield) before later donning the final version. In fact, it is here that my main gripe about the film comes in, in which Capt. America is seen in his new suit in a montage of action scenes like the film became a trailer of itself (see also Transformers: Dark of the Moon), though of course this could also be a reference to newsreel war footage (incidentally, when the monochrome footage plays in the movie theatre in the film, it is 4:3 but shown in close-up for us, it is 16:9). There is a kind of science-fictiony idea that Capt. America inspires his own real-life franchise with comics, movies and an anthem, The Star-Spangled Man (I will probably buy the soundtrack). The main science-fictiony stuff is of the retro/pulp kind with control panels, switches and most importantly of all – WW2 with lasers. If Thor would fit in a trilogy with 1977’s Star Wars and 1980’s Flash Gordon, The First Avenger could be said to go back further to the older Flash Gordons (as parodied in Star Trek: Voyager’s Captain Proton holodeck programme). Richard Armitage (Guy of Gisborne in the BBC’s Robin Hood series) gets to pilot a submarine, but unfortunately not for very long.
Another minor gripe is the apparent use of 3D (I saw it in 2D), namely a flagpole falling over, a gun being pointed and the Shield being used as a frisbee.
I started off by talking about “post-credit sequences”. Be very sure to stay until after this film. Not only is there a scene that set-ups up The Avengers, but you might well be applauding by the end.
