Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre - Dir. Cary Fukunaga (2011)

Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre is an indelible work of literature. As such, it has seen dozens of cinematic adaptations including a silent film version in 1915 and a 1996 version directed by Franco Zeffirelli and starring Charlotte Gainsbourg and William Hurt. Perhaps, the most famous take is the 1944 version starring Joan Fontaine and Orson Welles and based on a script adapted by John Houseman and Aldous Huxley. Director Cary Fukunaga and screenwriter Moira Buffini (Tamara Drewe) have the unenviable task of breathing new life into a story that has been oft-told in film, television, and on stage.

Bronte incorporated many elements from her own life and beliefs in the original novel (published in 1847) with the title character serving as a sort-of analogue for the author. By all accounts, Bronte was a forward thinking woman, which informed Jane Eyre's views on the ultra-religious and patriarchal society she inhabited. Much like Jane Eyre, Bronte was also sent to a boarding school along with her sisters, including Emily, author of Wuthering Heights. The poor conditions of the school led to the deaths of her eldest sisters Maria and Elizabeth due to tuberculosis.

At a young age Jane Eyre (played as a child by Amelia Clarkson) lost both her parents and was sent to live with her Uncle Reed and his family. When he dies, she is left in the care of her cruel Aunt Sarah (Sally Hawkins), who ships Jane off to the Lowood Institution, a Dickensian nightmare of fear and abuse. The headmaster, Mr. Brocklehurst (Simon McBurney), has already branded Jane as deceitful and encourages all others to shun her. The one friend Jane does make dies due to the negligence of the staff.

Jane leaves Lowood as an adult (Mia Wasikowska) to accept a position as governess at the reclusive Thornfield Hall. She is taken in by the kindly housekeeper, Mrs. Fairfax (Judi Dench), but finds the lord of the house, Mr. Rochester (Michael Fassbender), is less than welcoming. Rochester spends little time at the estate and his first encounter with Jane could hardly be considered a meet cute after he is thrown from his horse. He even accuses Jane of bewitching his steed. This is exemplary of the brusque manner in which Rochester treats everyone around him. Yet, he is the first real man Jane has ever met and there is an undeniable attraction. Girls love the bad boys.

As their relationship grows, Rochester discovers Jane is an intelligent, young woman who isn't afraid to speak her mind or stand up to him. He finds her a refreshing change of pace from the cowering servants and the sycophantic bluebloods he usually converses with on a daily basis. But, Thornfield is a sinister place and she and her master hold their own dark secrets.

Fukunaga may seem like an odd choice to direct a 19th century romantic drama having made his feature film debut with Sin Nombre, a thriller about gangbangers and South American immigrants making their way to America. Yet, he and Buffini have found a fresh approach to the source material by focusing on the love story between Jane and Rochester instead of attempting an all-encompassing adaptation. The film begins in media res with the rain-soaked heroine collapsing on the doorstep of the pious St. John Rivers (Jamie Bell). From there, Jane's tale of woe unfolds through a series of flashbacks. Still, it feels as if more screen time could have been devoted to their relationship and that the resolution came too quickly. At just under two hours, Jane Eyre (not counting end credits) is one of those rare instances where an extra fifteen or twenty minutes could have been an improvement to the overall narrative.

Despite a rushed conclusion, Jane Eyre is buoyed by a pair of powerhouse performances by its lead. Mia Wasikowska had already played a similar, eponymous role in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. While Jane Eyre provided a less colorful and fantastical world, Wasikowska displayed the same aura of strength and determination. On the page, Eyre was described as a plain looking girl and Fukunaga can't hide Wasikowska's natural beauty despite tying her hair back in a severe bun and hiding her face inside a bonnet. On film, Wasikowska's expressive eyes and pale, white skin make her look like a porcelain doll come to life, which adds to the fragility of her character. Her leading man is no slouch either. Michael Fassbender has risen in stature after strong performances in indie films like Hunger and Fish Tank. He's come to the attention of Hollywood for his roles in Inglourious Basterds and most recently as Magneto, another tortured soul in X-Men: First Class. Fassbender definitely gets his chance to play tortured again as the conflicted Rochester, running hot and cold at a moment's notice. The supporting cast is also good, including Simon McBurney, who seems to be giving Timothy Spall a run for his money as the go-to British character actor for malevolent antagonists. There's also the always dependable Judi Dench and Sally Hawkins, who does a complete 180 from the cheerful Poppy in Mike Leigh's Happy-Go-Lucky.

The actors' work is accentuated by the atmospheric direction of Fukunaga and the cinematography of Adriano Goldman. Using only natural lighting, Goldman crafts a picturesque view of the English countryside, but the movie truly shines at night with only moonlight wafting through the curtains and the flickering of a candle to light the scene. The moody lighting does wonders to highlight the eeriness of Thornfield. You can almost feel the chilling winds hitting your body. It's no wonder so many died of a young age by tuberculosis, typhus, or pneumonia.

Ardent fans of the original novel may find that this latest adaptation is missing too much of the source material. However, Fukunaga's film is hardly a Cliff Notes version of Charlotte Bronte's classic. While it would have benefited from a longer runtime, Jane Eyre is a compelling take on the Gothic love story anchored by two amazing performances from Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender.

Rating: *** (*****)

Conan the Barbarian

Conan the Barbarian - Dir. Marcus Nispel (2011)

The life story of author Robert E. Howard could probably make for a compelling film. He practiced boxing and bodybuilding as a boy and this physicality would inform his later writing. Howard's mother, Hester, contracted tuberculosis from caring for ill relatives before she ever met his father, Isaac, meaning she was dying throughout his entire life. When Hester fell into an unrecoverable coma, Howard (aged 30) shot himself in the head. Many have speculated about his mental state, but what was undeniable was his body of work. Howard wrote numerous short stories for the Depression-era pulp magazine, Weird Tales, which also published the writings by H.P. Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith. Howard created characters like Bran Mak Morn, Solomon Kane, and his most renowned creation Conan the Barbarian, which ushered in the genre of sword and sorcery.

Conan was first brought to the silver screen in 1983 with a feature film directed by John Milius, who co-wrote the script with Oliver Stone. It managed to skyrocket the movie career of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Nowadays, it's known more as a cult classic of 80's action cheese rather than a faithful adaptation of Howard's stories. It spawned a sequel in Conan the Destroyer and a spinoff, Red Sonja, a character originally created in the Marvel Comics series by Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith, who based her on a pastiche of other Howard characters. A third Conan film was mired in development hell. One script based on the novel, Hour of the Dragon, was put into production until Arnold backed out. Kevin Sorbo replaced him, but refused to star in a role previously played by another actor. So the studio renamed it Kull the Conqueror to shoehorn in a previous barbarian character Howard had created.

Comparisons between that version and the all new Conan the Barbarian are inevitable. Enough time has passed from my last viewing of Arnold's Conan that it doesn't cloud my experience of the new one. I will say that Conan's new catchphrase, "I live, I love, I slay and I am content." doesn't hold a candle to…

"What is best in life?"
"To crush your enemies, see them driven before you and hear the lamentation of their women."

This new Conan gets off to a promising start with an expository narration by Morgan Freeman about the history of the mythical Hyborian Age, a time after the fall of Atlantis. It's all about the ancient Mask of Acheron, which could grant its wearer ultimate power. Next is an internal shot of a sword piercing a womb. We cut to a pregnant woman in full battle garb in the midst of a violent struggle. Her husband, Corin (Ron Perlman), comes to her aid. He performs an emergency C-section and pulls his newborn son from her belly. He says, "Name your son," and she answers, "His name is Conan!" Corin holds the baby, covered in viscera and after-birth, to the high heavens and lets out a hearty scream. Cue title logo.

A pre-teen Conan (Leo Howard) undergoes a brutal rite of passage as he slays several attackers in the snow-covered forests outside his village. He tosses their heads at the feet of his father as proof of his brave deed. Unfortunately, these happy days of decapitation end when the forces of Khalar Zym (Stephen Lang) invade in a quest to reassemble the pieces of the Mask. In an homage to Once Upon a Time in the West, young Conan and his Corin are placed into an unfortunate death trap involving molten steel that doesn't end well for daddy.

The adult Conan (Jason Momoa) returns to seek revenge against Khalar Zym and his half-witch daughter, Marique (Rose McGowan). Zym seeks to sacrifice a pure-blooded virgin in order to empower the mask and conquer the world.

It's odd that themes of filial vengeance played such a huge role in both Conan films, despite the fact these elements were not present in the source material. Conan the Barbarian is simply a victim of Hollywood's incessant need to origin stories for every character they get their hands on. His name is Conan the Barbarian. Is there anything more you need to know? Does the audience genuinely need to delve into his psychological make-up to truly understand a guy who just likes to kill and fuck?

The production budget was a whopping $90 million and while it looks better than the original, doesn't look at all like they spent $90 million. The special effects begin to fail in the second half of the film as if the filmmakers started running out of time and money. The worst sequence has to be a third act battle between Conan and a tentacled monster. The creature looks terribly fake and the picture is murky and nearly incomprehensible due to the haphazard 3D conversion. Faring better is a fight scene pitting Conan against ninjas made out of sand. The CGI looks good, but the action is poorly staged by director Marcus Nispel, who makes the common mistake of cutting in too close and too quickly. Nispel, who also directed the remakes of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Friday the 13th, is the primary reason why I had such low expectations going into Conan. He also directed 2007's Pathfinder, a brutally boring movie about Native Americans versus Viking invaders. It almost makes you wish Brett Ratner had stuck around. Almost.

The largely unknown Jason Momoa undoubtedly won fans over for his portrayal of Khal Drogo on HBO's Game of Thrones. He definitely has the charisma and the steely gaze to make a badass Conan. You just wish he had better material to work with. Stephen Lang gets another chance to play the snarling villain. Lang gets to chew up plenty of scenery as does Rose McGowan, who looks like she got make-up and wardrobe tips from her ex Marilyn Manson. Meanwhile, Rachel Nichols as the virgin Tamara doesn't get much to do other than look pretty. Also, it was unclear whether or not she needed to be a virgin for the blood sacrifice because Conan ruins that at the end of the second act. To no one's surprise, they engage in a softly lit love scene that looks like it was lifted from an early-90's skin flick that aired on late night Cinemax.

In between the flash forward, there is a brief mention of Conan's adventures as a mercenary, pirate, and thief. Any one of those stories would have been more interesting than this generic schlock. Conan the Barbarian should have been easy to pull off. Take some of the best elements from Howard's stories, combine with the visceral visuals of Frank Frazetta, and toss in plenty of blood and boobs. Instead, we get a boring series of clichés that is only Conan the Barbarian in name. Nispel's film has more in common with the litany of 80's knockoffs like The Beastmaster, Deathstalker, and Yor, the Hunter From the Future.

Crom, I have never prayed to you before. I have no tongue for it. Grant me one request. That someone finally make a GOOD Conan movie. And if you do not listen, then the hell with you.

Rating: * (*****)

Cowboys & Aliens

Cowboys & Aliens - Dir. Jon Favreau (2011)

Cowboys & Aliens has one of those high-concept titles that tells you exactly what you're going to get. Just like Snakes on a Plane had snakes on a plane, Cowboys & Aliens has cowboys and aliens. It should have been a cool mish-mash of Western and sci-fi genres, but, again, like Snakes on a Plane worked better as a joke on paper. Based loosely on a graphic novel published by Platinum Studios, Cowboys & Aliens had all the makings of a successful summer blockbuster. It had two renowned leading men together for the first time in Daniel Craig and Harrison (James Bond and Indiana Jones!). It had a talented director with a proven track record in Jon Favreau (Iron Man). Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard, and Brian Grazer were among the producers. Credited screenwriters included Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman (Transformers), Damon Lindelof (Lost), Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby (also of Iron Man), and Steve Oedekerk (Kung Pow: Enter the Fist), who was attached to write and direct way back in 1997. Hmm…okay that last one was odd, but you can hardly hang the film's failures on a singular man.

Cowboys & Aliens opens with an unidentified man (Craig) awakening in the desert with no memory of who he is or where he came from. There's also a bizarre bracelet attached to his wrist. After killing a trio of assailants, he makes his way to the small town of Absolution where we learn he is a wanted outlaw named Jake Lonergan. The whole town lives in fear of local cattle baron, Col. Woodrow Dolarhyde (Ford), whose sniveling son, Percy (Paul Dano), has also arrived to drunkenly shoot up the place and bully the barkeep Doc (Sam Rockwell). When the Colonel learns Percy and Lonergan have been arrested, he rides into Absolution with the intent of taking them both. Just as the six-shooters are about to be drawn, mysterious lights flash in the sky. The aliens have arrived on crab-like vessels destroying everything below and snatching up innocent people left and right. Among those taken are Percy, Sheriff Taggart (Keith Carradine), and Doc's wife Maria (Ana de la Reguera). Lonergan discovers his bracelet is actually an advanced weapon capable of detecting the aliens and destroying their ships.

Lonergan and Dolarhyde reluctantly form a posse to rescue their people and stave off the alien invasion. Among their group include Doc, Dolarhyde's Native American servant Nat Colorado (Adam Beach, the Sheriff's grandson Emmett (Noah Ringer), the gruff reverend Meacham (Clancy Brown), and a mysterious woman named Ella (Olivia Wilde). Eventually they are all forced to team up with a tribe of Apaches and a band of ruthless outlaws in a final showdown with the extraterrestrials.

The film starts with a strong first act mimicking all the standard tropes of the Western with the taciturn hero and Mexican standoffs. Favreau does his best to ground the story in some semblance of reality even after the outlandish introduction of space invaders. Then, things start going off the rails. The momentum built up at the beginning drops into a second act lull as the plot takes its time to develop its thinly drawn characters. The narrative is clumsily dotted with flashback sequences of Lonergan's fuzzy past. Ford is initially cast against type as a gruff and slightly racist antagonist, but he's Harrison Ford and can't stay that way the whole movie. He's significantly softened with two cheesy subplots of Dolarhyde acting as a surrogate father to Nat and Emmett. The movie also gets taken down a notch with the early loss of Paul Dano, who served as an excellent whipping boy to Craig's Lonergan. Despite her insane gorgeousness, Olivia Wilde appears only as a functionary character to deliver helpful exposition and act as a deus ex machine to defeat the aliens. Also wasted are great character actors like Keith Carradine, Walt Goggins, and Clancy Brown.

Favreau is a solid director with a knack for handling large ensembles, but he's not the flashiest when it comes to action. His finales (both Iron Man movies, for example) tend to build up strong and then fizzle out towards the end. Cowboys & Aliens suffers from an anti-climatic finish as the final battle between the humans and aliens becomes monotonous and easily forgettable.

While classic Westerns like The Searchers served as inspiration, Cowboys & Aliens (with its wooden dialogue and silly plot contrivances) recalls the B-movie productions of Roger Corman. There is an underlying irony beneath the pedestrian narrative about our nation's history of genocide and Manifest Destiny, but don't think for an instance this movie is an allegory for American imperialism. Cowboys & Aliens isn't a game changing genre bender. It is summer entertainment. Mindless escapism in its purest form.

Rating: ** (*****)

Meek's Cutoff

Meek's Cutoff - Dir. Kelly Reichardt (2011)

Critics have jumped at the chance to label Meek's Cutoff as a "Revisionist Western" or a "Feminist Western." Some have even snidely referred to it as a big-screen version of the edutainment computer game, The Oregon Trail. I'll jump on the bandwagon and call it an 'Anti-Western' as director Kelly Reichardt has crafted a de-romanticized look at westward expansion and frontier folly. All of this is wrapped in timeless themes of xenophobia and national imperialism.

Based loosely on actual historical events, Meek's Cutoff follows a small group of settlers in 1845. They have broken away from a larger group to follow their guide, Stephen Meek (an unrecognizable Bruce Greenwood), across the Oregon High Desert along a supposed shortcut. What was supposed to be a two week journey has stretched to over a month as the pioneers' supplies dwindle. Among the group are: Emily Tetherow (Michelle Williams) and her older husband Soloman (Will Patton), the ultra-religious William & Glory White (Neal Huff & a squeaky voiced Shirley Henderson) and their son Jimmy (Tommy Nelson), and young couple Thomas & Millie Gately (Paul Dano & Zoe Kazan). Tensions mount as the wandering settlers try to decide whether Meek has intentionally led them astray or is he simply incompetent. The possibility hope arrives when they capture a lone Indian. Meek wants to kill him outright, but Soloman and Emily believe he can lead them to much needed water.

Meek's Cutoff is a challenging film with long stretches of silence and scenes of the characters endlessly walking the bleak terrain. It will try even the most patient viewer so much so that New York Times critics A.O. Scott and Manohla Dargis penned an article entitled, In Defense of Slow and Boring, which also referenced divisive films such as The Tree of Life and Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives. It may be a hard pill to swallow, but Meek's Cutoff skillfully conveys the hardships and tedium that came from this era of Manifest Destiny. Reichardt stays through every painful step of everyday tasks before the advent of modern technology. Grinding coffee and churning butter are a pain in the ass. One scene features Michelle Williams firing a warning shot with her rifle, and then almost farcically going through every laborious step to reload. It makes you wonder how past generations ever got anything done.

Throughout it all, Reichardt (working from a script by frequent collaborator Jonathan Raymond) manages to subvert every trope expected of the Western genre. The film was shot in the old aspect ratio of 1.37:1, commonly referred to these days as fullscreen. As such, the characters are framed in a claustrophobic manner that accentuates their positions of being trapped by the landscape. The beautiful Monument Valley of John Ford's oeuvre is replaced by dry, acrid land bereft of any beauty. Reichardt also keeps the audience at a distance as the picture opens with a series of long shots as the settlers go through the arduous task of crossing a shallow stream. The first bit of intelligible dialogue doesn't occur until approximate seven minutes into the movie. The story is told from a female's perspective with Emily as the lead character. Reichardt places her audience into their point of view exemplified during a sequence where the men try to decide what to do with Meek. She shoots them from an extreme long shot, but stays with the women (their faces hidden behind deep bonnets) who watch from a distance and speculate on a conversation they are not privy to.

Reichardt uses only natural lighting during the production. Night scenes are lit simply by a crackling campfire, which gives off an eerie highlight of orange across the actors' faces. Michelle Williams stands as one of the top actresses working in Hollywood today and gives another stellar performance.

Meek's Cutoff caps off an unofficial Pacific Northwest trilogy by filmmaker Kelly Reichardt, which also includes Old Joy and Wendy and Lucy. Thematically, all three movies have much in common. Old Joy was about two friends (vestiges of the 60's counterculture attitude) on a camping trip and coming to grips with the disparity in their lives. Wendy and Lucy was a heart wrenching tale of a woman and her dog making their way to Alaska amidst the crushing weight of the economic crisis. All three were about the people who have fallen through the cracks of society. Meek's Cutoff won't be to everyone's taste, but those with strong enough convictions will find a powerful drama and a successful exercise in minimalistic cinema.

Rating: *** (*****)

Captain America: The First Avenger

Captain America: The First Avenger - Dir. Joe Johnston (2011)

"What makes you so special?"
"Nothing. I'm just a kid from Brooklyn."

If the interpretations of Mayan calendars turn out to be false and the world doesn't end in 2012, fanboys will rejoice as they'll be able to witness the glory of The Avengers, in which Marvel's greatest superheroes join forces for the first time in live-action. Before the premiere comic book team (sorry, Justice League) makes its debut, Marvel Studios must place the pieces into play. They laid the foundation with Iron Man and continued to build upon it with The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man 2. This summer, Marvel Studios had the daunting task of breathing life into two of their more challenging characters. One was a Norse god with a magical hammer. Thor was successfully realized in an epic fantasy with just the right amount of fish-out-of-water humor. Next up was Captain America, a product of World War II jingoism that leapt from the minds of creators Joe Simon and Jack Kirby.

The character made his debut in Captain America Comics #1, published by Marvel (then known as Timely) in March of 1941, a year before Pearl Harbor plunged the United States into WWII . The cover famously depicted Captain America punching Adolf Hitler right in the face. It would be easy to ridicule his unwavering patriotic beliefs, his star-spangled spandex, and a garish code-name. William Klein did just that with the absurdist Mr. Freedom, a biting Cold War satire of American culture. Yet, Captain America: The First Avenger deftly deals with those issues without a hint of cynicism and celebrates the Captain's old fashioned values.

It is 1942 and a 98-pound asthmatic named Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) is rejected from enlisting in the Army for the umpteenth time. His best friend, Sgt. James "Bucky" Barnes (Sebastian Stan), tries to console him, but Rogers simply wants to serve his country. He gets his chance when Dr. Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci) chooses him as part of a clandestine super-soldier program. The project's overseer, Col. Phillips (Tommy Lee Jones) has serious doubts about this human toothpick, but Dr. Erskine believes in him and so does British liaison, Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell). Thanks to Erskine's serum and vita-ray procedure, Rogers is transformed into a buff beefcake with strength, speed, and agility beyond those of normal human beings. Erskine takes the secrets of the process to his grave when a Nazi saboteur (Richard Armitage) murders him immediately following the experiment.

The assassin was sent by Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving), the recipient of an early version of the serum, which gave him super-strength, a crimson cranium, and the nickname of The Red Skull. Schmidt has formed his own splinter group called Hydra, which employs high-tech weaponry powered by the Tesseract (or Cosmic Cube to the comic book fans), a mystical object said to be from Odin's treasury. Knowing Rogers is their only super-soldier; the government hones his identity as a symbol of national pride as he performs in propaganda reels and USO shows. Dressed in a wool costume, the Captain pleads for citizens to buy war bonds while leggy dancers belt out a show tune penned by lyricist David Zippel and Alan Menken, the composer of classic Disney movies like The Little Mermaid and Aladdin. In a clever meta-textual gag, the comic book character becomes a comic book character with issues of Captain America being read by children and servicemen alike. The Captain eventually makes his way to the frontlines where he battles Hydra alongside Bucky and the internationally diverse Howling Commandos.

There has been a glut of comic book films this year and Captain America lies somewhere in the middle of the pack. It's leaps and bounds above The Green Hornet and Green Lantern, but it's not as strong as Thor or X-Men: First Class. Much like Thor, the story is rushed with the filmmakers primarily concerned with setting up The Avengers than crafting a stand-alone picture. Just when you think you've reached the midpoint of Captain America, you're actually at the climax. There's a lot stuffed into this origin story that introduces numerous characters and builds subplots for later movies. Minor spoilers: Captain America is bookended with the discovery and revival of the Star-Spangled Avenger after spending decades in deep freeze. That's a lot to handle for a single two-hour film. So much so that the movie employs three montage sequences to pare down the narrative. But, the strengths of Captain America outweigh its weaknesses.

Director Joe Johnston has bounced back from last year's critically derided Wolfman with an exciting, four-color adventure that recalls the most underrated comic book adaptation, The Rocketeer, which he also directed. Captain America has a vintage quality that the captures the tone of Raiders of the Lost Ark and the Republic movie serials that inspired it. Not much of a surprise as Johnston studied under the tutelage of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg as a special effects artist on Raiders and Star Wars. There is even a sly Indiana Jones reference ("The Fuhrer digs for trinkets in the desert…"). Johnston isn't a strong action director, but the battle sequences in Captain America are exciting, despite an anti-climactic finale. There's a Where Eagles Dare-style raid in the Alps and it's a joy to see Cap slinging his shield. The screenplay was written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (The Chronicles of Narnia) with an uncredited rewrite by Avengers director Joss Whedon. Though it tends to fall on the bloated side, the script has plenty of sharp humor and the kind of wicked one-liners that could have only sprung from the Whedon's mind.

The production design is impeccable. It doesn't attempt to faithfully replicate the period, but replicate an exaggerated Marvel-ized version of the times, which could only be described as Art Deco Retro-Futurism, what people of the past thought the future would look like. The highlight is an early staging of the Stark Expo from Iron Man 2 with a mannequin of the Golden Age Human Torch (one of Marvel's first heroes) on display. This isn't the WWII from Saving Private Ryan or Band of Brothers, but a PG accounting with Hydra foot soldiers vaporizing their enemies with chrome-plated laser cannons.

Chris Evans takes on his toughest and highest-profile role to date as the title character. Evans is already known to comic book fans as the Human Torch in Fantastic Four and the skateboarding Lucas Lee in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. As Johnny Storm, Evans brought a charismatic flair to the otherwise abysmal Fantastic Four. The same can be said for his role in another comic book adaptation, The Losers. Evans had turned down Captain America multiple times before revealing he was simply afraid of playing the part. It's lucky he changed his mind as Evans is excellent in the role. Not only does he have the All-American good looks to play Captain America, he brings the right amount of gravitas. Using the magic of CGI, Evans begins the film as a scrawny weakling constantly beating up by bullies, but never backing down. He is actually more interesting as Steve Rogers than he is as Cap, partly because the majority of Cap's scenes are action-driven rather than dramatic. The most refreshing trait of the character was the fact that he didn't go through an obligatory character arc. The majority of recent comic book films revolve around an arrogant protagonist who must learn humility and responsibility en route to becoming a bona fide hero. Steve Rogers is honorable and virtuous throughout First Avenger, yet that didn't make him any less compelling. Secondly, Cap doesn't treat his newfound powers as a burden. Thus, he does not go through the clichéd turning point of quitting only to take up the mantle again after ten minutes.

The supporting cast is equally good with even the smallest role performed memorably. Hugo Weaving is villainously over-the-top as Cap's arch-enemy, employing the distinctive inflections of eccentric auteur Werner Herzog to his cartoonish German accent. The make-up is excellent too, making the Red Skull a hideous by-product of Aryan genetic engineering. Toby Jones plays the Red Skull's right-hand man, Arnim Zola. Jones subverts the cliché of the sycophantic henchman by injecting a sense of apprehension in the face of the Skull's overwhelming evil. Tommy Lee Jones essentially does Tommy Lee Jones as the Captain's gruff and grizzled commanding officer. Dominic Cooper also turns in a great performance as Iron Man's father, Howard Stark, a Howard Hughes-esque playboy industrialist.

This isn't Captain America's first film. The character was previously brought to life in a pair of 70's made-for-TV movies with Reb Brown as a motorcycle helmet wearing Captain America. There was also a direct-to-video cheapie with Matt Salinger (son of J.D. Salinger) as rubber-eared Captain America who fought an Italian Red Skull. Captain America: The First Avenger is the version fans have been waiting for.

Rating: *** (*****)