Captain America
Sep. 19th, 2011 01:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elennielHave I rambled about Captain America: The First Avenger here yet? I don't think so.
I didn't have any particular expectations of the movie when I went to see it in August. There have been so many superhero movies lately that it's kind of boring and most of them have rather obnoxious heroes. But I'd been hearing good things about it from comic book geeks and reviews seemed generally good so I decided to go see it.
And I loved it.
It was a good superhero origin story, it was comprehensible even to non-comic geeks (like me) and it was entertaining. I liked the distinctly retro look and feel of it, and the Alan Silvestri music was great, as was that highly amusing song by Alan Menken and David Zippel.
But what I liked most was Steve Rogers (a.k.a. Captain America). There we have a superhero who is truly likeable. Not a charismatic jerk or a tormented soul, but a really genuinely nice guy. When asked by Dr Erskine (who eventually selects Steve to be the first recipient of his super serum), "Do you want to kill Nazis?" Steve's reply is along the lines of: "I don't want to kill anyone. I don't like bullies, no matter where they're from." Now that is the right sentiment to have.
Sometimes it feels to me like movies nowadays insist on the main characters being "realistic" representations of people, which means they have to have some dark, sordid past or have to be snobs or jerks or are dragged into being heroic very reluctantly (e.g. by a mutation, a twist of fate) or just... tormented somehow. The "nice guys" (and girls) are sidelined. Reduced to mere sidekicks admiring the arrogant/tormented/misunderstood hero, if there are any truly nice-guy characters in those movies to begin with. But in Captain America, it's the nice guy who is at the centre of it all. And, more importantly, it's the nice guy who benefits from being the nice guy. I read a review somewhere that mentioned how most other superheroes seem to have all the power to begin with but have to learn responsibility along the way, whereas with Steve Rogers, it's the reverse - he starts off with no power but all the responsibility and all the determination and good-heartedness. The super serum gives him the power (and increases all the other good in him). For once, the good guy is good. He starts off that way and stays that way right through to the end.
I don't think I ever really understood why artists and filmmakers think it so great to glorify the dark side of humanity and life. I don't mean that they go around shouting about how awesome it is to be cruel; they don't do that. But what I don't get is why there is such a need to make it such a central aspect of the supposedly "good" characters. Yes, in a way it does give depth to a character. But surely - surely - that isn't the only way? And must they be so bleak and dark? I haven't seen a live-action superhero prior to Captain America whom I felt any real admiration for.
It was just really really refreshing to have the focus on a good guy. A good guy whose heart's in the right place and whose principles never waver from start to end. That, I think, is the main reason I so appreciated this film.
I didn't have any particular expectations of the movie when I went to see it in August. There have been so many superhero movies lately that it's kind of boring and most of them have rather obnoxious heroes. But I'd been hearing good things about it from comic book geeks and reviews seemed generally good so I decided to go see it.
And I loved it.
It was a good superhero origin story, it was comprehensible even to non-comic geeks (like me) and it was entertaining. I liked the distinctly retro look and feel of it, and the Alan Silvestri music was great, as was that highly amusing song by Alan Menken and David Zippel.
But what I liked most was Steve Rogers (a.k.a. Captain America). There we have a superhero who is truly likeable. Not a charismatic jerk or a tormented soul, but a really genuinely nice guy. When asked by Dr Erskine (who eventually selects Steve to be the first recipient of his super serum), "Do you want to kill Nazis?" Steve's reply is along the lines of: "I don't want to kill anyone. I don't like bullies, no matter where they're from." Now that is the right sentiment to have.
Sometimes it feels to me like movies nowadays insist on the main characters being "realistic" representations of people, which means they have to have some dark, sordid past or have to be snobs or jerks or are dragged into being heroic very reluctantly (e.g. by a mutation, a twist of fate) or just... tormented somehow. The "nice guys" (and girls) are sidelined. Reduced to mere sidekicks admiring the arrogant/tormented/misunderstood hero, if there are any truly nice-guy characters in those movies to begin with. But in Captain America, it's the nice guy who is at the centre of it all. And, more importantly, it's the nice guy who benefits from being the nice guy. I read a review somewhere that mentioned how most other superheroes seem to have all the power to begin with but have to learn responsibility along the way, whereas with Steve Rogers, it's the reverse - he starts off with no power but all the responsibility and all the determination and good-heartedness. The super serum gives him the power (and increases all the other good in him). For once, the good guy is good. He starts off that way and stays that way right through to the end.
I don't think I ever really understood why artists and filmmakers think it so great to glorify the dark side of humanity and life. I don't mean that they go around shouting about how awesome it is to be cruel; they don't do that. But what I don't get is why there is such a need to make it such a central aspect of the supposedly "good" characters. Yes, in a way it does give depth to a character. But surely - surely - that isn't the only way? And must they be so bleak and dark? I haven't seen a live-action superhero prior to Captain America whom I felt any real admiration for.
It was just really really refreshing to have the focus on a good guy. A good guy whose heart's in the right place and whose principles never waver from start to end. That, I think, is the main reason I so appreciated this film.
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Date: 2011-09-20 03:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-24 03:59 am (UTC)XD