Pages

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Captain America: The First Avenger

To go along with the Iron Man character poster that was revealed just the other day, the folks over at Marvel.com have released another SDCC 2011 exclusive character poster for their upcoming film The Avengers. This one gives us a really good look at Captain America in his updated costume that will be worn in the film.

The Avengers hits theaters May 2012 and stars Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America, Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man, Chris Hemsworth as Thor,Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/ The Hulk, Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Clark Gregg as Agent Coulson, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, and Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill.

It works, although enemy agents steal the serum to help a scary renegade Nazi called the Red Skull (Hugo Weaving) harness otherworldly powers. As the only super-soldier, Steve is assigned by cranky Col. Phillips (Tommy Lee Jones) and comely officer Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) to the USO, selling war bonds as a character called Captain America.

But when he hears a friend's unit is lost, Steve, in costume, leaps into action behind enemy lines. He saves the troops and is awarded a team to fight the Red Skull.

How he winds up in the ice involves the Red Skull's flying craft and Steve's indestructible, boomerang-like shield. But the real kick is the pitch-perfect tone harnessed by director Joe Johnston ("The Rocketeer," "Honey I Shrunk the Kids," "The Wolfman"), a genre stylist specializing in classic movie moments. He and screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely make sure we know skinny Steve (Evans' head is believably CGI'd onto a smaller body) before his transformation to give the story a solid backbone.

Meanwhile, the nifty wartime setting adds to a "Raiders of the Lost Ark"-lite feel. And there are secret laboratories behind bookshelves, a mountainside fortress and tie-ins to the Marvel characters who'll assemble in next year's "The Avengers."

Anchoring it all is Evans, striking the right balance between old-fashioned corniness and retro-style integrity. Jones is enjoyably gruff, Tucci adds a twinkling, kindly conscience, and Weaving would be deliciously loathsome even if he didn't look like a sunburned Valdemort.

Though the action scenes are rousing, an impressive last battle is regrettably missing. But hang in there: A head-spinningly cool finale will have you seeing more stars than there are on Cap's iconic costume.

No comments:

Post a Comment