We decided to watch Captain America: The First Avenger yesterday even though we supposedly had other plans in mind because we were not about to pass up watching the movie that beat Harry Potter 7.2 at the box office this week. All the good seats for the 2D sessions were already booked, so we watched it in 3D.
We enjoyed it very much. It was all there – a good plot, action, special effects, romance, humor, and heart.
Captain America may just be the most “heroic” Avenger out of the bunch. I know he’s not as powerful as Iron Man and Thor but I’m referring to his attitude. His selflessness was the reason why he was chosen to take the serum that transformed him from a scrawny little guy to an Olympian hulk.
As Dr Erskine put it: “The serum amplifies everything that is inside. So, good becomes great. Bad becomes worse. This is why you were chosen. Because a strong man, who has known power all his life, will lose respect for that power. But a weak man knows the value of strength. And knows compassion. Whatever happens tomorrow, you must promise me one thing. That you will stay who you are. Not a perfect soldier, but a good man.”
And he did just that. Selfless to the very end. He always put others before himself – when he threw himself on top of a grenade to save his fellow soldiers, when he stole into an enemy camp to save his best friend and 400 other soldiers, and the biggest sacrifice of all – when he crash-landed the plane he was on so it would not kill other people, even though it meant he might never be able to get back to the first woman who ever liked (or as Col Phillips put it, “had a crush” on) him. The plane was lodged so deep into the ocean, in fact, that he was not discovered until 70 years later.
He is noble, a truly inspirational hero that everyone can truly look up to, completely deserving of his superhero name.
I liked how they wrote the story. It had just the right pacing and build up, giving us a background of how Steve Rogers became Captain America. Kudos to the special effects team for successfully warping Chris Evans’s body to look believably short and skinny. When the machine encasing him was opened to reveal his new serum-enhanced perfectly muscled body, there was a collective gasp from the audience (including from me, even though I had already seen this happen on the trailer). I found an explanation of how they did this in IMDB:
Contrary to popular belief, a body double was not used for Chris Evans for the scenes when he was skinny. The filmmakers had originally planned to hire a body double and superimpose Evans’ face onto the double’s body, but ultimately scrapped the idea since director Joe Johnston claimed that Evans moved in a unique way and that no body double could replicate his movements. Ultimately, the filmmakers utilized digital technology to “shrink” Evans down, essentially erasing portions of his physique, until they came up with what the filmmakers called “Skinny Steve”. Over 250 shots were filmed like this, and because the shrinking process left empty space in the background, many of the scenes had to filmed in front of a green screen so that they could superimpose the backgrounds back into the scene.
I also liked how they showed how the Cap got his name and costume – he had first been used as a symbol for America and went around the country wearing a costume for a dance show. I like how they toned the flashy costume down and adapted it into a manlier soldier suit with subdued hues of the original costume. I also love how he used his shield not just as a defense tool but as an offense weapon. Cool!
The chemistry between the Cap and his lady interest was also very good. They hardly touched each other all throughout the film but you could totally feel the sparks whenever they talked. Sucks that they just had the one kiss and then could never be together, just like Thor. What is this, an Avenger curse?
One more thing I liked – how the movie felt like an authentic period movie. It was set in the 40s and it really felt like it, unlike X-Men First Class, which failed at that.
Like all Marvel films, this one also had a scene after all the credits had scrolled and it’s the awesomest after-credits scene I’ve seen so far because it’s an actual trailer of the Avengers film set to come out in 2012. Flashes of Iron Man, Thor and Captain America – oh my heart, I can’t decide which one I love best! One thing’s definite though – I can’t wait for the Avengers movie!
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