With the release of Iron Man 2, we're one step closer to the Avengers movie. So far things have been pretty good, with Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, and Iron Man 2 all being solid movies. The final 2 pieces to the puzzle are the Thor and Captain America movies. I've decided to make a video about Captain America and not Thor for 2 main reasons. First, I really don't know nearly enough about Thor to make suggestions about how to make a Thor movie. Second, I feel that as the leader of the Avengers, Captain America is a crucial character to get right before bringing the team together. In this series of articles, I'll address some of my concerns and some of the things that excite me about this movie.
Joe Johnston: Joe Johnston is directing Captain America. Some of his previous films include Honey I Shrunk the Kids, The Rocketeer, The Page Master, Jumanji, October Sky, Jurassic Park 3, and most recently the Wolfman. Of those I have seen Honey I Shrunk the Kids, The Page Master, Jumanji, Jurassic Park 3 so I'm mostly familiar with his kids movies but I must say that I have liked most of what I have seen from him. However, like a lot of people, I'm not completely sure if he's the right guy for the job. The Wolfman was pretty poorly received and he's had a few other movies that have also seen pretty mixed reviews. However, you can't always accurately judge if a director is suited for a job based on his past work.
Take Jon Favreau for example. Back before Iron Man came out, there really wasn't anything to suggest that he was going to do the awesome job that he did with it. The only films that he directed before that were Made, Elf, and Zathura. For one thing, he didn't have that much experience. For another, his notable works included kids' movies much like Johnston. Interestingly enough, Favreau's Zathura was a very similar movie to Johnston's Jumanji, both being based on books written by the same author. To sum it up, while I'm not completely sold on the choice of Johnston to direct Captain America, some of his prior work shows that he has the potential to handle this and directors like Jon Favreau prove that sometimes an unlikely choice is the perfect person for the job.
The Casting of Captain America: If you followed the casting process as they looked for the person to play Captain America, you know that it was very long and difficult. There were a lot of names being tossed around and for a while it seemed like they weren't getting closer to finding the guy. I can understand why this process took so long. Casting Captain America is a big deal. He's not only the leader of the Avengers, but he's an inspiration to every hero in the Marvel universe. In that sense, his role is more important than Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, or Thor.
Besides his importance, Captain America is a difficult role to cast because of the different positions that he's in in the movies that he's going to be a part of. In Captain America: The First Avenger, Steve Rogers goes from this sickly, frail young man to an amazing soldier that's a symbol of hope. He really bears the burden of being the only super soldier of what was supposed to be an entire army so he has to find the confidence in himself while trying to be strong and lift up everyone around him. I see the Captain America of this story as a guy in about his mid 20s.
The story of Captain America in the Avengers is pretty different. While he's already a strong leader, he's a man out of time. Pretty much everything and everyone he knew is gone. Over the course of this movie he'll have to adjust to this new, unfamiliar world and come into his role as a leader of a team of superheroes. Both movies should have a similar theme of Steve Rogers having to get used to the new situation he has been placed in. However, when I think about the Captain America of the Avengers and the modern Marvel universe, I think about the guy as an established leader and a role model, so I really picture him as someone in his mid to late 30s. The way I see it, if you cast too young, you're ignoring the role he plays after he's thawed out when he's a person that so many heroes look up to. If you cast too old, you're ignoring the role he plays as the young man who learns to become the hero we all know and love.
Anyway, the long process came to an end when they announced that Chris Evans, known to us comic book fans as The Human Torch, had been chosen to play Captain America. I must admit, at first I was very apprehensive at the thought of Chris Evans playing Cap. I was really thinking "There's no way the Human Torch should be Captain America" because the characters are just so different. It wasn't just because of the Fantastic Four movies, but Chris Evans seemed to be an actor who was just very suited for these sly, funny, Human Torch type characters in general. If you told me they were remaking Star Wars and Chris Evans had been chosen to play Han Solo, I'd think he was a solid choice. Anyway, when I dropped the image that I had of him as Johnny Storm, I realized that he's actually a pretty decent choice.
First, he's got the right look and voice for the role so once he dies his hair blonde he'll be a decent physical match for Steve Rogers. Second, he's actually a pretty good actor. Since I had a bit of a problem separating him from Johnny Storm, I decided to watch him in one of his more serious roles as a character named Mace in the movie Sunshine. After watching that movie, I'm more confident in his ability to take on a more serious role and certain scenes made it pretty easy to picture him as Captain America. Finally, third, he just has a kind of likable quality about him. The reason why so many of us see him as the Human Torch is because he did a darn good job playing him. I don't think many people would disagree with me when I say that he was one of the highlights of both of the Fantastic Four movies. Maybe it's his talent for comedy, but I think he really has the ability to entertain an audience and get people to like him. I think all of these qualities show that with the right script and the right direction, Chris Evans is capable of playing a really good Captain America.
I have to say that I am concerned about how he was chosen. He has stated that he really didn't even have to read for the role. With all of the candidates being considered, I figured there was a pretty tough audition process, with screen testing and everything. Keeping in mind how important the role of Captain America is, I think that they would really try to make sure that they were getting the right person. To find out that they gave the role to an actor without even having him read from the script to get a feel for his performance, makes me a little uneasy. What does that say about how seriously the casting people approached this job? Like I've said, I'm confident in Chris Evans' ability to play Cap. However, this really makes me question the overall handling of the movie.
Check out the video version of this article here. Mostly the same content, but includes a nifty retro introduction.
Thanks for reading and please check out my next article in which I'll talk about the supporting cast!