Captain America: The First Avenger

Well it's finally happened. Marvel have dropped the ball. In setting all sights on next years epic superhero team-up The Avengers, they have been racing to get all story lines in order before it's release. It was bound to happen really. So far each of the four films in the Marvel Studios Universe (Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor) has done their job to the best of their ability in succeeding being stand alone films first and teasers for The Avengers second. But here in Captain America, shows for the first time that they were clearly more preoccupied with getting all those heroes in the one room for next year, than actually developing a decent story for Steve Rogers et al. Director Joe Johnston has made a career out of being a poor man's Spielberg. Long before JJ Abrams came along with the homage to end all homages in Super 8, Johnston was the go-to-guy whenever getting Spielberg was deemed too expensive. As a result, he turned in such efforts as a poor mans Indiana Jones (Hidalgo, The Rocketeer), a poor mans Jurassic Park (Jurassic Park III, Jumanji) alongside Honey, I Shrunk The Kids and last years contender for worst movie of 2010: The Wolfman. Not exactly an impressive track record. And yet Marvel decided he was perfect for Captain America. Each of their choices so far to helm these huge budgeted superhero flicks has been both interesting and fitting. Jon Favreau and Kenneth Branagh both seemed left field choices to take on films of this nature and yet they knocked their efforts out of the park and both Joss Whedon and Shane Black set to continue that trend with their upcoming efforts across the next few years. And yet when Johnston was announced, I didn't think 'how interesting'; rather a sickening groan of 'oh no'. However, while I had my serious doubts about 2011's previous contender Thor, that actually turned out to be surprisingly good fun, so surely the Captain couldn't be as bad as I might have thought? He is after all, one of Marvel's last untouched top shelf superhero's that they have not yet adapted for the screen in their new line. And so I reigned in my doubts for 'Cap'. How wrong I was....

Captain America has a distinction from most other recent superhero films; it is set almost entirely during World War II. We open with a small, skinny and sickly Steve Rogers (Chris Evens) as he repeatedly tries to join the army, to no avail. Here is a man who detests bullies, stands up for what he believes in and has great values of good and justice. It is for this reason, that Rogers is selected by Dr Abraham Erskine, (Stanley Tucci) to be a contender for some sort of super soldier serum. The serum turns Rogers into the all powerful and muscular Captain America. Meanwhile, evil Nazi's dubbed HYDRA (basically even badder Nazi's than usual - hiss!) have set their sights on an all powerful tesseract with the power to win the war and take over the world. Being led by the sinister Red Skull (Hugo Weaving - he looks exactly like he sounds) nothing stands between them and total world domination. That is, apart from Cap and his team. The cast do their best with the lacklustre script yet fail to add much gravitas to any of the action on screen. Weaving snarls and delivers evil one liners with relish but amounts to little much more, while romantic interest Hayley Atwell contributes zilch to proceedings and is obviously shoe-horned in to appeal to the female demographic. Other supporting roles don't fare much better. Not one character makes any impact on proceedings and each one is vastly under developed. Evans works well enough I guess, but can't really do much with a character as bland as the Captain himself. With Thor, everything was played as a fish out of water comedy to balance out it's more fantastical action and help sell the inherent ridiculousness of such a character - a very wise move indeed on Marvel's part. Captain America has always stood as a cheesy, patriotic, flag waving square to everywhere outside of the US and was always going to be a tough character to swallow for most (that the film is merely named The First Avenger in many territories of the world speaks wonders at how unsure Marvel were to sell their brand). However, instead of playing up just how much of a nerd the man is, Johnston fully indulges him. Within him, there is no confliction or darkness, just an over eager appetite to do good no matter what. This shreds the character of any depth or interest he might have had. This might have been easier to overlook if the man was actually truly super. Compared to the Hulk's might, Thor's power and Iron Man's vast gadgets, Cap does.....very little actually. Apart from running faster that is. Even his shield seems more super powered than the man himself. Throughout, I kept on waiting to see him stretch his powers and do something truly incredible but it never came. This almost certainly will see him stick out like a sore thumb along his more fantastical team mates next year. Action sequences are all poorly staged and have no originality to them - most occur for no other reason it seems than someone deciding 'we need an action scene, let's do one here'. Also, despite it's PG rating, the film is by far the most violent Marvel film to date, with deaths well up into the double digits. I guess when it involves Nazi's you can do whatever you want with them and avoid the pesky wrath of the MPAA. The film carries a pleasing retro vibe throughout, which makes things that bit more tolerable and Tommy Lee Jones is his usual craggy, reliable self, but as the film goes on, it sinks further into it's unimaginative stylings. Not that any of those Marvel films so far were high art, far from it in fact - but they were at least fun and entertaining. Captain America had plenty of potential and only a small percentage of which has been delivered on. Some things work along the way and those looking for nothing more than an effects laden action film could do worse but with so much riding on this guys introduction, he should have landed harder. Thor is a missplaced God with Daddy issues, Hulk is a tragic take on Jekyll & Hyde and Iron Man has his egotistical mouth to match his impressive arsenal of weapons - what does Captain America have? A guy who wanted to be strong and now he is so he beats people up if they're bullies? Not exactly the stuff of legend is he?

Verdict: 4/10
Impressive retro stylings and special effects do not mask what is a clunky mishandle of a character that had plenty more to offer than what is seen here. Under developed and poorly written, this Captain would have been better off being kept frozen.

"Captain America: The First Avenger" Trailer

Trailer - "The Sitter"

Initially introduced by an alarmingly thin Jonah Hill, this eventually settles into standard movie trailer territory and actually looks to be very funny stuff indeed. Everybody knows that putting kids into adult situations with bad language always equals comedy gold and this looks set to continue that trend. The film centres around Hill's loser slob, who is forced to babysit local children in an effort to boost cash. Of course things go astray and it is not long before Hill and the kids he is supposed to be minding are led into a night of crime and debauchery. Can he get the kids home unharmed in time? Will he get a tip? How much weight did he have to lose for the upcoming 21 Jump Street to look like that? Anyways, the film looks like a barrel of laughs and will hopefully turn out to be marginally better than director David Gordon Green's last comedy effort from this year; the dodgy Your Highness. And anything in which Sam Rockwell is allowed free reign for his rarely used comedy bone always goes to must see in my book. The Sitter is pencilled in for release on January 12th 2012.

First Look - "The Dark Knight Rises" - Catwoman

I'm sure Christopher Nolan is growing ever more weary of those pesky paparazzi that are flanked outside any locations The Dark Knight Rises is shooting and has decided to pre-empt them by releasing an official pic of Anne Hathaway's 'Catwoman', before they get the chance to leak them. And it is very intriguing indeed; it seems Nolan has gone in a completely different direction than any previous vision of Catwoman has gone before. Gone are the feline ears and mask and in, is a new set of blinky goggles. While I'm sure there will be some who are a bit alarmed at such a change of iconic character design, I am staying in the pro-Nolan side of things. Everything the man does is clearly thought out and elaborately planned before it is executed and I'm sure this costume is no change from that. Also important to note is that nowhere on any official studio statements is Hathaway referred to as Catwoman; rather Selina Kyle. Of course everybody knows it is she who becomes Catwoman, but could Nolan be choosing to forego the name in an effort to distance himself from any expectations the character might have? And just why is she piloting the Bat-Pod - did Batman lend it to her or did she steal it? Unfortunately, Nolan's release of one of the biggest tidbits of the film has led to even more questions, which I am sure is what the man had always planned. The guessing continues until July 20th next year......

Trailer - "Pearl Jam Twenty"

Trailer - "Intruders"

Spanish director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo has been mostly quiet since 28 Weeks Later four years ago. Well here's the new trailer to his more recent offering of horror. Starring Clive Owen, it tells of a young British suburban family getting targeted by an ever escalating state of supernatural events. What seperates this from other haunted house pictures like Insidious and the upcoming Don't Be Afraid of the Dark is when a rural Spanish family comes forward with very similar experiences happening to them as well. How are they both connected? The trailer is suitably eerie and is very atmospheric stuff indeed. While 28 Days Later didn't do much for me outside of it's fantastic opening, it is still obvious that Fresnadillo is a talented director and should hopefully be able to mine more menace from this film. That is only however, if the CG apparition that is glimpsed at the end of the trailer is kept to a minimum. Note to all film makers: CGI is not and never will be scary. Intruders is released on January 27 2012. Here's hoping........

First Look - "The Avengers" Character Artwork

The first glimpse of the assembled Avengers has been revealed, albeit in art form. So it may not be a live action shot as exciting as those chairs from a few months ago, but it is still very intriguing stuff. Also of note here is the first shot of Mark Ruffalo's Hulk, looking more faithful to the original comic it was based on than any of the more recent cinematic treatments have and Cobie Smulders' new addition to S.H.I.E.L.D., Maria Hill. While a live action teaser or picture of the entire cast is due for release any day now, this will have to do for the time being. Until it's release on April 27th next year, Joss Whedon has his work cut out for him.

Horrible Bosses

It's been a while since we have seen a decent black comedy on the Hollywood scene. More times than not, America is unwilling and insecure about dark themes such as murder for laughs. While Horrible Bosses is not a classic by any standards, it is still nice to see a film like this in a market usually stuffed with romantic comedies or males bonding over acting like adolescents. That the film is the reasonably diverting experience that it is, is down to it's lead cast. They help sell the darkness of the premise through, so it doesn't leave a bad taste in the mouth. The film is pure farce, but coasts by on it's lead trios sensibilities. Falling somewhere in between Strangers on a Train and Throw Momma From a Train (something the film gleefully name checks) the film follows three undervalued and very frustrated workers played by Charlie Day and Jason's Bateman & Sudeikis. All of them are good people and just want to work in a non hostile environment and in a place where they can be allowed to reach their full potential. However, all three are hamstrung in their respective positions by their evil bosses. Their bosses are each played with relish by Kevin Spacey (psychotic, morally duplicitous) Colin Farrell (cokehead, clueless and ignorant) and Jennifer Aniston (sex crazed, nympho). Each one goes for their ugly characters with aplomb and show no qualms about acting against type. Sure Spacey has done his bastard office boss a few times in the past but we have never seen Farrell or more importantly Aniston go this against previous conventions like this before. So after one drunken night, the guys decide to hire a murder consultant called 'Motherfucker' Jones played by Jamie Foxx (the story of how he got his moniker is priceless) to help them off their respective bosses. Of course, it is from here that things spiral wildly out of control for the guys.

The film flirts dangerously with going off the rails at a few points. Luckily Seth Gordon (who directed the masterful The King of Kong) and his leading trio keep things on track just as your mind begins to wander. The film is very uneven and features a large overabundance of missing gags from it's beginning and end. This top ended feeling stems from people trying too hard for those laughs that just aren't there. Thankfully, the second act of the film finally shifts into gear as they have to get information on their different targets. Featuring cats, bathroom utensils, a syringe and some cocaine, the extended sequence certainly provide the films funniest moments. Praise as well to everyone for trying even as slightly as this film does, to push the darkness. Of course, the fact that the bosses are as broad as they are only helps sell the reasons why anyone would want them dead. Although Farrell is underused and Aniston's performance is largely one note, they still help control the films charms. At the end of the day there is nothing here truly remarkable or memorable, other than a reasonably diverting Saturday night. You'll laugh and chuckle with the guys, but don't expect anything to truly register. It features it's fair share of contrivances and is wildly uneven, but it is an at times very funny comedy. In the end, your enjoyment will depend on whether or not you can accept the fact that any man would ever want Jennifer Aniston dead for trying to have sex with him.

Verdict: 6/10
A noticeably short supply of jokes at both ends of the film do not hamper what for the most part, is a raucous comedy. Events coast by on the easy charms of it's leads. Just don't expect to remember it afterwards.

"Horrible Bosses" Trailer