Batman Begins was on AMC a few days ago but I skipped over it. I don’t want to see it again just yet. You see; I plan on marathoning the Nolan Batmans and the Marvel movies right before The Dark Knight Rises and The Avengers come out. While I did enjoy Captain America: The First Avenger, something about it just didn’t sit right with me. Let’s explore this further …
Last summer’s Thor and Captain America were two of the more original comic books movies in that one was about a Norse God and the other was the story of a World War II soldier. Both have their strong and weak points to them. But whereas with Thor the stuff on Earth with the human characters were the obvious low points for me, Captain America was a bit trickier to pin down. Then I realized what it was. You see; I had just recently finished the series Band of Brothers, along with quite a few other war movies as well. I came to the conclusion that my two biggest problems with Captain America: The First Avenger are:
- The movie is far too sanitary and sensitive.
- The movie is far too removed from its proper era in time.
This should have been just a straight up World War II movie with super heroes and villains as the main characters. Have everyone use the real clothes, weapons, and hardware from that era; like Sherman and Panzer tanks, Lugers and Flammenwerfers. Make the Nazis be actual Aryan, goose-stepping, swastika wearing, fascist, war crime committing, Nazis. Be as close to historically accurate for an action movie as possible.
Hitler and Nazis
Instead we get a cartoony Nazi-like organization using weaponry that’s beyond even our current technology. We do get a few name drops for Hitler and a handful of Sieg Heils, but – for the most part – the splinter organization Hydra is a safe, faceless PC friendly stand-in for the real Axis enemy.
The Hydra soldiers themselves are covered head to toe with no visible hint of an actual person inside. Because of this we see the heroes killing just blank nameless units instead of real human beings. Hydra also carries super advanced ray guns so that the US soldiers who get shot don’t drop dead or suffer grievous injuries. They just conveniently disappear, as if nothing had happened.
The Hydra Army
The montage of Captain America (Chris Evans) and the howling Commandos blowing stuff up was essentially just a more explody version of his propaganda news reels. You see them burst into frame and open fire on targets that are just off camera. None of the allied men die or are even injured during these. We also get a scene where Cap jumps up onto a tank, opens it and pulls out a soldier to safety, then throws a demolitions pack into it. It’s like a Saturday morning cartoon. The worst thing is, he didn’t even avoid killing anyone with that move. Tanks that large would probably have one driver, one gunner, one guy to help aim and load with the gunner, and maybe one commander.
Having Cap fight super advanced weaponry takes away from the time and culture shock that he’ll experience when he eventually get’s thawed out in the present day. Everyone was far too nonchalant about facing such exotic machines, now that I think about it. If this tech was so great then why was it all able to be destroyed with 1940’s era bazookas and grenades?
This was pretty much one of the only super hero movie whose effects could have been done on location practically with real hardware. But the sci-fi art direction meant that most of the action scenes were obviously shot in front of a blue screen with loads of CGI elements added in later.
Captain America
Now to address some of the more serious things, namely the tragedies and atrocities of the war and the social climate of the period. I find these are almost completely glossed over and ignored.
I understand the need for a PG-13 rating for this movie; kids should be able to see it and there’s nothing wrong with having a new “go get ‘em, boys” type WWII film when most of the modern high profile ones are intense and depressing. I’m not expecting this to be a Flags of Our Fathers or a Schindler’s List. But what I would have liked to see is at least some acknowledgment of the hardships suffered by the people whose lives the war touched.
Because Hydra aren’t real Nazis, their menace is limited to the stock world domination scheme with no mention of them committing any acts of cultural, ethnic, or religious genocide. The detention camps that Cap rescues the prisoners of war from are in fairly humane conditions all things considered. I get that S.H.I.E.L.D. is an elite and experiential agency which often carries out its objective in rather unorthodox ways. And I know that most of the characters in Captain America’s platoon were taken from Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos but having a multi nationality equal opportunity unit of the army in WWII is very problematic. Blacks, Asians, French, English, and women did not all fight alongside the white US armed forces.
With only a snide remark that’s quickly silenced by a furious strike the only hint of women not being considered equals in the military. The single instance of the suspicion and hatred that Japanese Americans endured during WWII was when “Dum Dum” Dugan (Neal McDonough) gave Jim Morita (Kenneth Choi) a hard time during their escape. The subject was never brought up again after Jim insured Dugan that he was “from Fresno”. For the most part minorities were not treated very well in the military. Hell; sometimes even in the present day they’re not. The racial bullying that drove Pvt. Danny Chen to suicide is just one of many examples of this.
Segregated Black Troops
To depict an era without addressing its many civil injustices is one thing. There are many stories that don’t need to touch upon that topic. But to paint over everything with everybody working together all happy as equals with no real problems at all just doesn’t sit right with me. I can see why Marvel and its studios would want it like this: To add some diversity to the cast as well as to the appeal for the foreign market. But it comes off as tokenism at best. At worst it’s the white washing of real problems that a great deal of people were forced to suffer through.
Thor had a similar problem with Black and Asian actors in a world of Norse mythology.
Idris Elba was awesome in his few scenes, but at the end of the day he was still just the doorman. And Tadanobu Asano was just a samurai buddy who had scant few lines. Adding these minority actors in roles that would call for white actors is a step in the right direction with an unfortunate side effect. It makes colored people exist in Asgaurd but they can only ever be minor players. They’re guards and sidekicks with no real shot at achieving the power and glory that their white superiors are born to inherit.
Having covered the gender and race issues we’ll go back to Captain America and the fact that how there wasn’t all that much weight to death in the film. As stated above, a lot of the death we see is cartoony and inconsequential. Bucky’s (Sebastian Stan) death does weigh heavy on Cap as does Dr. Erskine’s (Stanley Tucci) but the high casualty count that wars create is never touched upon. It would add more weight to Steve Rogers’ powers and character if most of his men died over the course of the film instead of just one of them. New recruits would come in to replace the ones who were wounded or killed only to become casualties themselves. This would demonstrate just how strong and skilled Cap is on the battlefield. We would also see his compassionate side when dealing with outliving hundreds of his fellow soldiers.
Having Captain America view wars and fighting as something that’s not glorious or sought for is very important. Just look at The Avengers roster to see why.
Thor (Chris Hemsworth) hails from a culture who believes that dying in glorious battle is the best thing that could happen to a guy. Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) was a weapons manufacturer who saw an entire squad killed with his own hardware and almost got killed by it himself. He’s got nothing against killing his enemies. Hell; he probably killed around 50 guys in Iron Man. The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) is an angry smashing monster. Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) are members of a secret government agency who probably don’t lose much sleep over “collateral damage”. This team needs a heart.
I felt Steve Rogers’ character qualities of standing up to bullies and not wanting to really kill anyone were presented quite well and I’m confident that we will get to see him act just as loyally and honest in The Avengers, but I feel that putting him through hell would have added to his character a lot more.
Captain America Poster
The final thing is Steve Rogers’ time shock. Does he feel that the status quo of a white male Christian dominant America is perfectly fine or does he feel that some things needed to change? This is important; maybe even more so than the other stuff I’ve brought up because this will determine how Captain America will interact with the modern world.
Having him be racist – like one of your older relatives – would give his character room to grow and learn. It could tell a story of someone learning to accept different ways of life as well as dealing with change. Likewise, having him be more ahead of his time could also make for a compelling story. What if we got a scene between Cap and Jim Morita where Cap finds out that Jim’s parents have been sent to a detention camp? Having Captain America confront Tommy Lee Jones character about detaining his fellow Americans or voicing his opinions on the matter at a USO show would have been a powerful scene, even more so if he’s met with questions about his loyalties and patriotism.
Just think about this; a man from the 1940s believes in treating minorities and women like equals is transported to the present day. Here, things have changed drastically in ways he couldn’t even imagine happening. He’s overjoyed at the possibilities everyone now has, yet saddened that so many people take them for granted. Having a character who is rather archaic in his social and political views and yet genuinely and truly believes in them would be a great counter to the “PC”, “Post Racial”, “Color Blind” mentality that so many seem to be adopting.
I know it might sound like I’m expecting too much serious historical drama in a action movie based on a comic, but if you look at similar films I really don’t think I am. In Raiders of the Lost Ark and Last Crusade from the Indiana Jones series we see people getting shot in the head, chopped up by propellers, and have their faces melt. Indy (Harrison Ford) gets shot in the arm and actual blood splatters on the windshield. Most of the older war movies like A Bridge Too Far are rated PG or PG-13. In The Karate Kid we learn that Mr. Miyagi’s (Pat Morita) wife died in a Japanese-American internment camp while giving birth. Keep in mind that he was in the armed services fighting for the very same country that singled out his family as a potential enemy.
The James Bond movies have varying degrees of violence and death that can be rather harsh at times. Take the ball busting torture in Casino Royale, for instance. Some of the more recent story lines in The Clone Wars that centered on the clone troopers themselves have been downright brutal compared to the R2D2 and C3P0 adventures that preceded their airing.
Maybe my expectations are a bit too high for The Avengers. After all; it’s going to have seven main heroes, a villain, plus any of the sidekicks and love interests that they decide to throw in. With all that, there will be barely any time for everyone to get some character development and still have a steady plot progression; let alone enough room for social exploration.
I believe I’ll be more than happy with a simple fast pasted punchy explosion movie, provided everything isn’t spoiled with the marketing and merchandizing beforehand … But it would be nice if we could get a serious 4 hour hard “R” Marvel war movie; a dramatic – if stylized – film similar to Inglorious Basterds with Captain America, Wolverine, and Nick Fury and his Howling Commandos would be most excellent.
Captain America