Film Review: "Captain America: The First Avenger" (**1/2)

I'd very much like to hate what I want to hate, but occasionally I have to give credit where credit is due, and credit is very much due to key member involved in creating Captain America: The First Avenger. Probably the most key members in this film are Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, the two men who created the original comic, which is the building blocks for what makes this film mildly successful. You have to give them credit for inventing one of the more original superhero origin stories, as well as one of the more tragic.

This fifth film in Marvel Studios' superhero chronicle follows Steve Rogers, a 90 pound asthmatic who is desperate to serve his country, not on brutality but on principle. He's not one of those gung-ho attitude military types, but mostly a man who wants to serve his country, and as cliche as that sounds, it kind of works. That is, it works until he's given a serum that gives him "amazing superhuman abilities"... which are that he's suddenly gorgeous and can leap long distances and punch stuff? As much as it fits the 1940s mentality, that is still a lame power to have.

Everything up to that moment had me thinking, this might actually be really good, with something incredibly humble, nervously funny, and with spry enough wit. Then, almost the very moment Steve gets all buff, the film turns into a dumb and ridiculous action slobber. I believe that attention is due to director Joe Johnston, who tries so incredibly hard to hammer this film into the ground. The action sequences are so supremely stupid and poorly executed, and you can feel all the wire rigging in place when Rogers leaps over streetcars.

That's the biggest problem with the film, and it drags it down quite a considerable bit. Johnston is not a competent director, and it shows in every move he makes. The script is also a little too cheesy and hap-hazard, which you know when you ask yourself on numerous occasions during the film, "Are they really doing that?" Perhaps the only moments when the campy and corny flourishes really work was when it was dealing with Johann Schmidt and Hydra. I'm not a huge geek over this genre, but probably the most amazing and spectacular moment of the film was towards the end, when Schmidt "experienced" the power of the bifrost from Thor.

The cast is certainly to be commended for fighting a script filled with such ridiculous tendencies. Stanley Tucci is always not necessarily a standout, but he's a wonderful presence as well as an emotional tie, but they dispatch him too quickly and without meaning. He was just gone, and we were like "okay". Hugo Weaving is the spotlight actor of this film, and he just basks in the craziness of his character. Schmidt isn't so much an ultimate villain as he is a hardcore Norse mythology enthusiast who has the power to indulge his twisted fantasies. It's ridiculous, and the only parts of the film that are meant to be so.

Dominic Cooper plays pretty much the 1940s version of Tony Stark, and after seeing Iron Man 2, there is some satisfaction that comes with that. Chris Evans is surprisingly good in this role, at least enough to deserve better dialogue than what he's given. Tommy Lee Jones is exactly what you'd expect, which isn't a problem, and is in fact a nice counterweight to the darker moments of the film. Toby Jones appeared enough to get a few nice moments of ham and ridicule. What I'm most surprised about is Haylee Atwell who, in addition to being Christina-Hendricks-on-Mad-Men style hotness, has a nice chemistry going with Evans, even if the dialogue does play it up like a 1940s romance.

That chemistry actually makes the final act of the film all the more powerful. I went through so long feeling absolutely nothing about the film, other than unintentional humor. So when Schmidt unveils his ship, which happens to be the same ship seen sunken in the ice at a modern day segment at the start of the film, there is a pit in your stomach for what's about to happen. That entire action sequence, poorly executed as it may be, has a sense of tension simply from knowing what's about to happen. The end reverted to the previous stupidity of the film, which was a disappointment, but what are you going to do?

On a few closing notes, Alan Silvestri's score is the film's greatest recurring joke, coming in to emphasize how ridiculous our American ideals are. Also, the way things are left at the end of the film give me the idea that Steve Rogers is looking at a tough emotional slope ahead of him. Not only has he lost really everyone he's ever cared about, but he's in a future America that no longer makes sense. What happens when he realizes that what he was fighting for is gone? I'd like to see him go through a deep depression, and maybe attempt suicide. But that's me being picky. It might come true if they don't let Joe Johnston anywhere near the sequel. Don't make the same mistake twice!