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Way back in the early 90’s, there was a film I saw as a kid
that to me, was a classic adventure story. ‘The Rocketeer’ told the story of a stunt
pilot who comes across a rocket jetpack. He flies around, battles the bad guys,
rescues the dame and saves the world. Set in the 1930’s the movies visual style
was very much film noir and a throw back to adventure films of the Golden Era.
Directed by Joe Johnston, you can see why this man was the obvious choice to
call the shots on the film version of “Captain America”.
The story centres on a young army soldier named Steve Rogers
(Chris Evans). Despite being young, he’s also short and frail – really short
and frail. There’s nothing to him, but what he lacks in size he makes up for in
courage. Steve tries again and again to be enlisted and represent his country
at the peak of WWII.
Due to his underprivileged physical stature, he gets knocked back more than
once. But the strength of his character drives him to do good and serve others,
even if the army don’t want him. This is seen early on in the movie, when Steve
is attending the theatre. Some jerk-ass in the crowd is speaking out
offensively against the soldiers that occupy the screen during a news story.
Steven pulls him up on it, and the jerk turns to see who’s telling him to shut
up. Next thing he knows, Steve is in the alley having the crap beaten out of
him by a guy at least twice his size. With every punch that knocks him to the
ground, the pint sized battler just keeps getting up.
Steve’s wishes to fight for America
against the tyranny of war are granted, when he is chosen for a special
experiment. The army want to create the worlds first Super Soldier, who will
take care of the “special missions”. Because of the way Steve responded to
several tests, he is seen as the one who possess the character and qualities to
become a Super Solider. Seeing this as his only way to achieve his ambition to
protect others, Steve willingly volunteers for the experiment. The experiment
is conducted in front of a large gathering of the US Army’s brightest and best.
The experiment works, injecting Steve with muscle stimulants. He emerges
harder, better, faster, stronger.
When the technology that turned Steve from dud into stud is
stolen by the Germans, the army decide to take him out of the action. Still
wanting to make himself useful in any way possible, Steve takes on his new role
as “Captain America”.
He becomes the poster boy for the US
army, and busies himself by posing for photos and starring in off-Broadway
musical numbers with dancing girls. Surely not what he had in mind, but if it
means he gets to serve his country, than Steve will do his part.
But he can only perform as the “Publicity Puppet” for so
long, and soon enough Captain America
wants a piece of the action. Going against the Colonel’s orders, Captain America
helps to break out his friend, as well as a hundred other soldiers, from a
German POW camp. His success in this grants him the position of helping with
the more special missions, that no normal soldier could handle. Armed with a
shield made of a rare metal, Captain America
takes down one base camp after another. This infuriates the villain of the
story, a man who calls himself ‘Red Skull’ who oddly enough, has a red skull
under a prosthetic version of the face of Hugo Weaving - played by Hugo Weaving
;)
Captain America
is, in my opinion, the last piece of the puzzle in putting together all the
characters in preparation for “The Avengers”. To it’s credit, the film doesn’t
only play that part, as it does well to establish Captain America
as perhaps the most human of all the heroes we will see fighting in the hero
ensemble. He doesn’t have the self-obsessed nature of Tony Stark, the “Act
First – Think Later” approach of Thor, or the impulse-driven fury of the Hulk.
Captain America
is a noble and fair hero who represents what his country stands for; freedom, liberty
and justice for all. Hence the name, Captain America.
Chris Evans equips himself well in the role, and has certainly come a long way
since “Not Another Teen Movie”
* TIE IN TO THE
AVENGERS - in an empty gym, Captain America (dressed down in pants and a
t-shirt) works out. Looking frustrated and restless, he smashes he fists into a
punching bag, hitting it hard enough to force it off it’s hooks and send it flying
across the room. He may have been asleep for 70 years, but he hasn’t lost his
strength. Nick Fury walks into the room (appearing from the shadows as usual)
noticing that Captain America is having trouble sleeping. The hero asks if Fury
is there with a mission. Fury confirms that he is. “Trying to put me back in
the world?” Captain America asks. Fury looks at him calmly and replies “Trying
to save it”. END OF SCENE *
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