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lydamorehouseLast night I went to "Captain America: First Avenger" with Eleanor and ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
seanmmurphy. I have to agree with what Laura Anne Gilman pointed out on Goggle+, which is that the movie completely fails the Bechdel Test, but, it's still an awesome superhero movie.
For my money, though I'm a huge Cap fan, "Thor" was more fun. Eleanor and I have been talking about this from the moment the credits rolled, and one of the things I decided is that Captain America's orgin story is difficult to tell partly because he was a honest-to-goodness propaganda tool when issue #1 came out. There's this whole history of him as a gosh-gee, "buy war bonds" kind of hero (which the movie found a clever way to acknowledge.) Captain America as we have come to love him really doesn't come into his own as a complicated character until he becomes "a man out of time." That's when he gets his Marvel "issues," at least.
That being said, I think that the writers did an excellent job of finding a good theme and sticking to it. As Eleanor cleverly pointed out on FB, "Thor is about a superhero learning to be a decent human being; Captain America is about a decent human being learning to be a superhero." (Iron Man, I pointed out, as a collelary, is about an indecent man learning decency.)
I ended up finding more to like about Steve Rogers as a character than I think a lot of the critics did. Part of that, of course, is that I have a long history with him, which I can't help but carry into any movie about Cap. Another thing, however, was the "movie magic" they performed by giving the 90-pound weakling so much screen time before he becomes the buff super-soldier Rogers becomes. I'd never spent much time with the "earlier" Cap in my head -- who he was, at his core, before he took the super-soldier formula. (Note: I was first introduced to Cap via the Avengers and was not a regular reader of his individual title until really, REALLY recently. Think: Brubaker's "Winter Soldier") At any rate, that meant that the grenade scene was new to me (though I understand it's canon, yes?) For me, that provided all the character I needed. Steve Rogers, before any augmentation, is that guy who is going to run INTO the burning building, instead of away from it.
Say what you will about Bendis, but I've come to appreciate his constant, unwavering, and in-depth exploration of what it means to be a HERO. That moment reminded me of one of my favorite quotable lines from NEW AVENGERS: Breakout, where Spider-Man is headed toward the prison breakout not knowing even what's going on, thinking, basically, "what new cosmic fiasco" am I running TOWARDS?
Other people, including Chris Lough at Tor.com have suggested that the saving grace of this film is it's more interesting side characters (Dr. Erskine, Peggy Carter and Tommy Lee Jones's Colonel) that carry this film. That might be true, but to be fair, I've always thought Captain America is a better ensemble player, anyway... so it worked for me.
As a side note, I love the movie-version of Bucky a lot. I totally saw Brubaker's Winter Soldier echoed there especially in the scene on the train (that's all I'll say in an effort to keep this review mostly-spoiler free. Hopefully, I've said nothing above that you haven't seen in the trailer.)
Anyway, I'm SUPER-excited that I'm going to get to talk about this with all y'all at Diversicon.
seanmmurphy. I have to agree with what Laura Anne Gilman pointed out on Goggle+, which is that the movie completely fails the Bechdel Test, but, it's still an awesome superhero movie.For my money, though I'm a huge Cap fan, "Thor" was more fun. Eleanor and I have been talking about this from the moment the credits rolled, and one of the things I decided is that Captain America's orgin story is difficult to tell partly because he was a honest-to-goodness propaganda tool when issue #1 came out. There's this whole history of him as a gosh-gee, "buy war bonds" kind of hero (which the movie found a clever way to acknowledge.) Captain America as we have come to love him really doesn't come into his own as a complicated character until he becomes "a man out of time." That's when he gets his Marvel "issues," at least.
That being said, I think that the writers did an excellent job of finding a good theme and sticking to it. As Eleanor cleverly pointed out on FB, "Thor is about a superhero learning to be a decent human being; Captain America is about a decent human being learning to be a superhero." (Iron Man, I pointed out, as a collelary, is about an indecent man learning decency.)
I ended up finding more to like about Steve Rogers as a character than I think a lot of the critics did. Part of that, of course, is that I have a long history with him, which I can't help but carry into any movie about Cap. Another thing, however, was the "movie magic" they performed by giving the 90-pound weakling so much screen time before he becomes the buff super-soldier Rogers becomes. I'd never spent much time with the "earlier" Cap in my head -- who he was, at his core, before he took the super-soldier formula. (Note: I was first introduced to Cap via the Avengers and was not a regular reader of his individual title until really, REALLY recently. Think: Brubaker's "Winter Soldier") At any rate, that meant that the grenade scene was new to me (though I understand it's canon, yes?) For me, that provided all the character I needed. Steve Rogers, before any augmentation, is that guy who is going to run INTO the burning building, instead of away from it.
Say what you will about Bendis, but I've come to appreciate his constant, unwavering, and in-depth exploration of what it means to be a HERO. That moment reminded me of one of my favorite quotable lines from NEW AVENGERS: Breakout, where Spider-Man is headed toward the prison breakout not knowing even what's going on, thinking, basically, "what new cosmic fiasco" am I running TOWARDS?
Other people, including Chris Lough at Tor.com have suggested that the saving grace of this film is it's more interesting side characters (Dr. Erskine, Peggy Carter and Tommy Lee Jones's Colonel) that carry this film. That might be true, but to be fair, I've always thought Captain America is a better ensemble player, anyway... so it worked for me.
As a side note, I love the movie-version of Bucky a lot. I totally saw Brubaker's Winter Soldier echoed there especially in the scene on the train (that's all I'll say in an effort to keep this review mostly-spoiler free. Hopefully, I've said nothing above that you haven't seen in the trailer.)
Anyway, I'm SUPER-excited that I'm going to get to talk about this with all y'all at Diversicon.