Another loud voice in the Internet wilderness

As some of may know I always have a problem with Super Hero movies because they stray away from the comic book origins and the characters mythology/story history. Captain America The First Avenger is no exception. That being said I find most of  my nitpicking to be minor for the most part and did not really take away from my enjoying the movie. Sure most of it is standard and predictable, but it’s still a fun ride.

Chris Evans (Fantastic Four) portrays Steve Rogers a 98 lb weakling (the CGI putting Evans head on a skinny little body is impressive) who constantly gets turned down when trying to enlist in the service during WWII . His buddy Bucky Barnes (nitpicking point 1) enlists and before shipping overseas takes his 4F friend out for a night out on the town.  They go to a World’s Fair type exposition in Flushing Meadows park  with their dates when Steve spies a recruiting booth at the fair and tries to enlist once again.

As Bucky confronts Steve about this exercise in futility and possible crime (they keep harping about how illegal it is to try and enlist under false information) their exchange is overheard by Dr Erskine (Stanley Tucci , a fine actor and the best part of Undercover Blues. Go find it, trust me.)  Dr Erskine who we learn fled from the Nazis, likes Steve as a candidate for his Super Soldier experiment and stamps him 1A fit for duty.

Steve enters the service and joins the weeding out process for the prime Super Soldier candidate much to the chagrin of Tommy Lee Jones’s Army Colonel.  (All is forgiven for your portrayal of Two-Face Tommy).  As in the comics, Steve gets the formula and transforms into Captain America.

The movie version is pretty similar to this except for the tanning booth

I’m not gonna go over the whole flick but have to give Hugo Weaving props for his portrayal of the Red Skull, Hayley Atwell as Steve’s love interest Peggy Carter and in a surprise appearance for me, Toby Jones (Infamous where he played Truman Capote) as Dr Armin Zola.

I give it 3.75 out of 5 stars. Go see it. I can’t wait for this on video.

As always with these Avengers movies, make sure you stay through the credits.

And now for the nitpicking *SPOILER ALERT* Don’t read this part as it might spoil part of the movie for you.  Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah OK. Now that that’s over.

– When was Bucky the older and bigger of the two? Bucky was Cap’s mascot as Robin was Batman’s. That being said I actually approve of this rewriting of history. To include a young Bucky would have slowed the movie down and make it even longer.

–  I  do like the casting of Neil McDonough and Derek Luke as members of the Howling Commandos.  However this does create a nit to pick. (**WARNING big time geek fanboy speak coming up. You’ve been warned**) In the original comics The Howling Commandos were led by Nick Fury. A white Nick Fury for those of you who may not know this.

That don't look like Sam Jackson to me

But then the problem becomes how is it Nick Fury is still around when Captain America is thawed out of the ice?  When the Captain was reintroduced in 1964* Nick Fury was only 20 yrs removed from WWII. Even with the infinity formula that he was shot up with during and  after the war that slowed down the aging process, he still would be  close to 100 years old now.  I don’t know how willing movie audiences are willing to believe that. I know they have no problem with The Hulk character or a guy that flies and controls lightning but the comics crowd is a much more forgiving bunch. And since Paramount already ran with the Ultimates version of Nick Fury based on Samuel L Jackson in previous films why even go there?

* In the comics Captain America was frozen in a block of ice and worshiped by an Eskimo tribe. Prince Namor The Sub Mariner  (Think Aquaman with an attitude, Spock ears and wings on his ankles. A diva before his time ) sees this and goes berserk throwing Cap into the Ocean.  The Avengers happen upon his thawed out body in the ocean and revive him. In the movie agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. find him in a plane’s wreckage.

A real diva, this Namor

I just KNOW Kanye West has an outfit like this.

And since Prince Namor is one of the zillion or so Marvel Universe characters that have not made it to the big screen I completely get leaving him out. Although I do think Tom Cruise would make a great Namor.

And don’t get me started about Baron Zemo.