Everyone's been asking for my Captain America review. Do you people have nothing better to do with your lives than wonder what this particular Zombie thought of the latest Marvel blockbuster? I'm a very busy man, you know. I can't just be reviewing every film I've seen as soon as I've seen it. Oh, very well...
The capsule review goes like this: I enjoyed Captain America. I thought it was fun. Not as much fun as Thor. Not as much fun as The Incredible Hulk. Certainly not as much fun as Iron Man. (But a load more fun than Iron Man 2.)
I liked the way Chris Evans portrayed Steve Rogers' journey from zero to hero. I liked Hugo Weaving's boo-hiss Red Skull. I liked Tommy Lee Jones. I like Hayley Atwell. I liked Stanley Tucci. I liked Toby Jones. There wasn't anything not to like. I just wanted to like it more.
I wanted Evans to be more charismatic (I know he can - Johnny Storm proved that). I wanted the Skull and Zola to be more diabolical. I wanted Tommy Lee Jones to have funnier / grumpier lines. I wanted Bucky's tragic fate to have more impact. I wanted the romance with Peggy Carter to have more heart. I wanted Cap to live up to the Indiana Jones template, but it was never going to happen.
The problem is Captain America himself. Created in the 40s, he's the archetypal square-jawed hero. He only really becomes interesting as a man out of time. To be everything he needs to be in the present day, Steve Rogers needs to be rather dull and L7 in the past. He's no Indiana Jones. He's no Johnny Storm. He's just a too-good-to-be-true hero like the ones we grew up watching in the old black and white movie reels. (No, I'm not that old - I watched them on Saturday morning telly.) And that's just what Marvel gave us here - a modern day movie reel. There was no room for sly winks to the camera like Harrison Ford would have done. I might have enjoyed that more, but it just wouldn't have been appropriate for Captain Whitebread.
Still, it was nice to see a cameo from the original Human Torch. Sadly no Namor though. Wonder if Marvel Studios don't own the rights to Subby?
