As I may have mentioned before somewhere, two of my favorite superheroes are Spider-Man and Captain America. Both heroes have had good films made around them, but I've noticed one film often gets overlooked. This comes as a bit of a surprise because this film not only sets up the hero's origin, but accurately expresses why people have loved this character for almost 80 years.
I am, of course, talking about the first Captain America movie "Captain America: The First Avenger." While this film isn't remembered as a bad movie, it often gets overshadowed by other films in the MCU, including Captain America's own admittedly superior sequels. However, this film is still worthy of respect and admiration for being one of the first good Captain America films (the less said about the 1990 film the better).
This film does an excellent job transporting us into the "comic book" version of the 1940s. While filled with period accurate things like cloths, hair, army uniforms, and buildings the film also features pulpy scifi elements to would have been common in comics at the time such as ray guns, Nazi mad science, and borderline "steam punk" technology that only existed in that era's fiction. It doesn't surprise me that the film's director, Joe Johnston, also directed "The Rocketeer", another film that blends pulp scifi of that period and accurate historical setting extremely well.
The film also boasts a great cast that would get better and better as time went along. Hayley Atwell makes a huge impression as Agent Peggy Carter by allowing her character to be tough, but also not being afraid to show her more vulnerable side. Sebastian Stan plays Bucky as a loyal and committed friend who can be a bit of a lovable wise ass here and there. It really says something about his acting abilities when we see him take the character in darker directions in the sequels. Hugo Weaving, who can play cartoonishly menacing better than anyone, plays Red Skull as a very over-the-top Nazi super villain who works as the perfect foil for Captain America.
This brings us to the hero of the film Steve Rogers. The character of Steve Rogers is the main reason this film works. Chris Evans was a great choice as Steve Rogers and takes a character who, on paper, would sound boring and bland to some, and gives him extra layers of wit, pathos, and humanity. Steve Rogers is presented as not only selfless and self-sacrificing, but just a genuine good guy who's polite and humble.
The film makes it a point to show that it's Steve's good nature and friendly personality that act as his real super powers. Power is not what makes someone good. Power can be used by evil people to hurt those they deem weaker and subjugate them. However, when power is given to people who know compassion and humility it can be used to help other and give hope to those who have none. These are lessons I feel the real United States needs to learn time and time again (especially recently).
America needs to learn humility and compassion for others if it really wants to be a "great nation." Great nations are not embodied by the numbers of factories they have, the strength of their military, or how rich the country is. Real great nations are built from the ideas and morals that they embody, that everyone (no matter race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation) should be free and equal. Great nations should act as safe havens for the less fortunate and give them the chance to build better lives for themselves.
America has its fair share of dark periods in its own history and has often not full embodied the idea of "free and equal" for everyone. America is a flawed nation, but Americans should never give up on chasing the dream of a full free and equal America; if give up on that then this nation is truly lost. America should be the embodiment of compassion, equality, and freedom for all, and it will only truly get there when we all embody the selfless and kind nature of a skinny boy from Brooklyn.
