MCU Retrospective, Part 5 — "Captain America: The First Avenger"
In this weekly series, Film Yap writer Andrew Carr revisits each installment of the decade-long Marvel Cinematic Universe. Once a week, Andrew will review one film in the series, in the order in which they were originally released. Additionally, after each viewing he will reevaluate his previously held opinion of the film, giving each one a new score out of 5 Yaps. All 18 films (plus "Avengers: Infinity War," upon release) will be compiled into one definitive ranking. Each entry in the "MCU Retrospective" series will include a short review of the given film for the week, as well as a historical recap about the film's initial conception and release.
A new entry in the "MCU Retrospective" series will be posted every Sunday from now until the weekend prior to the release of "Avengers: Infinity War" on May 4.
Click here to see last week's entry in the series: Thor
History Time!
With The Avengers now slated for a summer 2012 release, the ever-more-confident Marvel Studios needed only one more film to round out their founding line-up.
Captain America was one of the last additions to the "original" Avengers team in the 1960s comics, having been revived by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee from his origins as the titular character of what was essentially a propaganda comic from the 1940s. Frozen in ice after World War II, Captain America was discovered and thawed out by the Avengers in their fourth issue in 1964. In 2011, Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige cited this revival dynamic as the basis for the new film, explaining that most of the film would be set in World War II, with Cap waking up in the modern world later in the film.
Fun fact: John Krasinski (of The Office fame) was one of the final actors in consideration for the title role. Personally, I think Chris Evans was the right choice, but it's fun to think about Jim in the star-spangled uniform, flashing smug looks at the camera whenever one of his Nazi enemies is confounded by his latest scheme.
The Review
CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER (2011)
Admittedly, The First Avenger is kind of a misleading subtitle. First of all, Captain America was one of the last additions to the Avengers team in the 2012 film. Secondly, even if what the subtitle really means is "the first person to exist who will eventually be an Avenger," it's still wrong; that title would go to Thor, by a couple thousand years. Regardless, the subtitle was essentially nothing more than a shameless plug on Marvel's part for their then-upcoming Avengers film.
And I think it's that promotional nature that led to the somewhat middling response the film got from fans (it sits at a weak 6.9/10 on IMDb, with only The Incredible Hulk rated lower). The film's after credits sequence is literally a teaser trailer for The Avengers, if that says anything, so I understand the mockery this film received on that end.
Even still, it received more positive feedback than not, and upon review, I'm inclined to lean into that positivity. The First Avenger is quite a good film. It's not amazing, and I'll be surprised if it makes the top half of my MCU ranking by the end of this series, but I see that as more of a testament to the impressive level of quality that has become standard at Marvel since.
Captain America is a flawed film, for sure. It's relatively light on action, which can make its pace drag a bit (though I'd also argue the restraint from explosions and spectacle leads to more and better emotion and character work than many of Marvel's films since). It also has a week third quarter, feeling the most ham-fisted and overlong shortly after the midpoint and just before the finale. Additionally, some may find issue with the film's "cheese factor," though I find it to be a strong balance of hammy and heartfelt for a movie about a World War II propaganda mascot.
The First Avenger honestly might be one of the MCU's most emotionally centered films, and I believe it's really this movie that makes the MCU's Captain America such a fan-favorite and point of empathy in the franchise. People like to give all the credit to The Winter Soldier for making people care about Captain America, and I think there may be a case for that, in terms of making him feel relevant in the modern world. But I believe it's The First Avenger that gives us the reason to root for Steve Rogers, the man. It's here that we learn who Steve is, what he wants, and what he'll do to achieve his goals. We see a frail, tiny guy who just wants to be able to contribute like the war draftees around him. We see a man who will stand up for what he believes in even when utterly outmatched. And maybe that's a little bit of pride and vanity at work in little Steve, but I think it's mostly the courageous idealism that America has always pretended to strive for. At least for me, that's what has always made Cap a powerful character; not that he's some chest-beating representation of everything that's great about this nation, but rather, a goal for what we could or should be. And that dynamic is on full display in The First Avenger, which might be why I'm so willing to forgive the film's sometimes stagy execution. For me, at least, creating a character I care about is half the battle in any film, maybe more.
Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), Dr. Erskine (Stanley Tucci), and Colonel Phillips (Tommy Lee Jones) function as a sort of three-headed mentor for Steve, each helping Steve find who he is and understand his value, and it's in those four that the film finds its most genuine emotion. Steve's relationship with best pal Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) works fairly well retroactively, after having seen them reunite in the later films, but in this standalone entry, their friendship could have been pushed much further. Similarly, the "Howling Commandos," Bucky's prison camp buddies, could have been further fleshed out. I would have liked to see a little more group interaction; last year's Wonder Woman got a little closer to doing that part right.
As for main antagonist Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving)—well, we can go all day about Marvel's list of lackluster villains—but honestly, this guy is a mad Nazi scientist. I don't know; I guess it doesn't bother me to have a Nazi caricature as a villain in a self-aware WWII period piece about, again, a propaganda character. Plus, Weaving really bites into the role, executing a wonderful German accent (complete with flipped V's and W's) and contorting his manner with such snide self-importance that you can't help but be convinced.
As mentioned earlier, the action comes in smaller doses this time around, and it pales in comparison to the complex choreography in Cap's later films. That might be what makes The First Avenger a bit of a bore for some. But it maintains that adventurous spirit we look for in an action blockbuster, and it's enough to keep the film afloat when paired with the relatively well-executed emotional elements.
Action-wise, one thing The First Avenger does have, that Marvel films have increasingly lacked over the years, is a willingness to show fleeting moments of darker violence. In this film, we actually see someone get shot, and blood explodes out of the exit wound—maybe the only time in the MCU. A man also gets turned into "human cottage cheese" (as my dad once said) in a plane propeller. I'm not asking for the MCU to get gory all of a sudden, but sometimes it can really bolster the weight of an action moment when you see brutal consequences like that. A broken bone here, a visible stab wound there; maybe I'm beginning to sound like a sociopath, but it'd just be nice to see Marvel embrace a more visceral take on violence every once in awhile. It's easy for it all to feel a little sterile and unconvincing when there's no blood or obvious evidence of injury. There are some gems of violence in the early MCU that feel like they'd never make the cut today. I blame the MPAA for ruining everything.
Aaaanyway, psychotic rant about not enough violence aside, I think Captain America:The First Avenger gets a little bit undersold when we look back on the MCU. It's not likely one of Marvel's absolute best, but it's a strong, warm-blooded film with a strong sense of empathy and a willingness to risk cheesiness in the name of heart. I think Roger Ebert was right in his review when he said, "If Marvel is wise, it will take this and Iron Man as its templates." Mostly, they've done a good job of that. But I think there are some forgotten nuggets in Captain America that could be further mined for inspiration.
PREVIOUS SCORE:
NEW SCORE:
The MCU Ranking!
Every week, I'll take each entry covered for that week and place it in an ongoing ranking, which will eventually include all 19 films. Right now, the good Captain has taken a lofty seat at number two. Below is my current ranking of the MCU, including the first four films: