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  • Canister X Movie Review #30: Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)

    Posted on by A.P. Fuchs

    Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)

    Fantastic Four Rise of the Silver Surfer
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    Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)
    Written by Don Payne and Mark Frost
    Directed by Tim Story
    Runtime 92 min.
    4 out of 5

    Galactus, a giant planet-eating alien, is heading for Earth and he sends the Silver Surfer to scout things out. When the Fantastic Four meet this herald of destruction, all bets are off and it’s a race to save the planet before Galactus can consume it.

    What a great follow up to 2005’s Fantastic Four. I remember when news hit that the Silver Surfer would be involved and that Galactus would be the bad guy I was beside myself with fanboy joy. And that trailer? Man, sweet stuff and totally got me stoked. Did this movie live up to the hype? Not completely, but that’s not to say it was a terrible movie. It was every bit as good as its predecessor, but more exciting thanks to the Silver Surfer zipping around on his board and the Fantastic Four trying to track him down. That scene where the Human Torch meets the Surfer and the two quickly have it out? Yeah, sweet stuff.

    This flick played up all the stuff that made the first one good, which was the family dynamic of the Fantastic Four, the bitter evilness of Dr. Doom, and then upped the ante by bringing in Galactus. Unfortunately, Galactus—while just fine as a concept—failed to deliver in terms of execution as comic book fans were really hoping for the giant space man with the purple helmet instead of the big haze of cloud we got. Some would argue that a big man that’s larger than planet Earth wouldn’t translate to film and a space cloud works better, but I disagree because Galactus is an all-powerful alien, can change size and could work as is if written well.

    I totally dug Laurence Fishburne as the voice of the Silver Surfer. The guy can say anything and it’ll sound cool (i.e. see his dialogue as Morpheus in The Matrix and its sequels; the words themselves are ridiculous but he makes them sound awesome).

    The story arc as suggested at in this flick would’ve better been the stuff of a trilogy, starting off with the Silver Surfer’s origin, how he got involved with Galactus, even a demo of him going ahead of his master to a planet other than Earth, the destruction of that planet then going to Earth, meeting the FF, and the whole planet getting ready to fend off this literally giant threat. So I feel we got the Reader’s Digest version of such a story in this movie. It still works, but it could’ve been expanded upon.

    As always, the SFX were great and they tidied up Mr. Fantastic’s stretching abilities so they weren’t as cartoony as in the first movie.

    I totally would’ve been up for them to make a third movie, but with Marvel’s Phase One plan no doubt in the works at the time this flick was released, we’re basically going to get a Fantastic Four reboot at some point in the future, probably sooner rather than later.

    I’ll be there because I liked these movies and am eager to see how things will progress from here and if it’ll be an all-out reboot complete with origin story, or if they’ll sort of unofficially acknowledge these movies that came before.


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  • Canister X Movie Review #29: Elektra (2005)

    Posted on by A.P. Fuchs

    Elektra (2005)

    Elektra
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    Elektra (2005)
    Written by Zak Penn, Stuart Zicherman and Raven Metzner
    Directed by Rob Bowman
    Runtime 97 min.
    2.5 out of 5

    After coming back from the dead and trained in the deadly art of Kimagure, Elektra Natchios is a killer-for-hire. Upon receiving her new contract, she goes up against a band of ninja assassins known as The Hand, who are also after the same target: a young martial arts prodigy with a potential for greatness. Elektra’s past meets her present as she seeks to protect this young prodigy while also facing demons of her own.

    I was in the minority of people who liked Daredevil, in which Jennifer Garner also played Elektra. When I heard she was getting her own spin-off movie, I was really excited because, while I’m not an expert on the Elektra character, I know enough to know that a film version would be awesome. We didn’t quite get that with this flick, but that’s not to say it was utterly terrible. However, what audiences expected and what they got were different things.

    Let’s see . . . I was happy that Elektra sported her famous red costume in this as opposed to the black one in Daredevil. Though technically totally impractical in real life, having her very-similar-to-comic-book-costume on screen was cool for fanboys and fangirls alike and, no, not for the reason you’d think. Just something about seeing a comic book character “as they are” on screen brings a thrill.

    The fighting sequences were not bad and Hollywood’s version/perception of the martial arts is always interesting as they tend to add all sorts of legend and mystique to them as opposed to their reality.

    They got the gist of the character but didn’t get hardcore into it, and it was clear this was just a way to cash in on the Daredevil movie that came out a couple years before. A solid story of Elektra’s assassin exploits—even if you want her to fight mercenaries with a similar agenda—would’ve been a great help, but this flick seemed more introspective and slower paced versus something that should’ve been geared toward the action-and-suspense genre (i.e. a high profile target, like a president or something, then have that person tie into Elektra’s mythology. Set her on the run while also giving her history and what it’s like to be someone who was supposed to be dead, some in-costume Daredevil universe cameos, and you’d have a solid story). Just ideas.

    In the end, if they ever went back and rebooted the character, I’d definitely check it out as the potential is there, but wasn’t fully exploited with this outing.


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  • Canister X Movie Review #28: Defendor (2009)

    Posted on by A.P. Fuchs

    Defendor (2009)

    Defendor
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    Defendor (2009)
    Written by Peter Stebbings
    Directed by Peter Stebbings
    Runtime 101 min.
    4.5 out of 5

    Arthur Poppington (Woody Harrelson) has a secret: when night rises upon the city, he takes to the streets as Defendor, a lone avenger on the hunt for the ever-elusive Captain Industry. Unfortunately for Arthur, he’s mildly retarded and the line between right and wrong sometimes blurs. Though he means well, sometimes he gets in over his head, especially when his search for Captain Industry takes him into the city’s underworld of drugs, guns and prostitution.

    After saving the life of prostitute and drug-addict Kat Debrofkowitz (Kat Dennings), Arthur takes her in and, though at first exploited by her for money, the two eventually bond and he accomplishes one of his first objectives he had since donning the Defendor uniform: helping those who need it most.

    Being a lifelong superhero fan, there are a few things, to me, that define a good superhero movie and Defendor had more than one of those things. It touched me on that very human level of seeing a sincere human being trying to make a difference regardless of what other people thought of him. Fear of man is one of the things I think holds people back from doing the right thing in real life. To at least see that attribute on the screen means a lot to me because it proves that people are still thinking about it even if it’s just in a movie.

    The trailer for this flick makes it come across as more of a superhero spoof than a serious movie, and this was most definitely a serious movie. Sure, there were some funny moments, but this movie wasn’t about that, but instead was about a man who saw something wrong and did the best he could with what he knew how to do.

    And he did. He showed us who Captain Industry really was: the villain that all of us have in each of our cities, the one comprised of drugs, guns and illegal sex that has ruined countless lives yet for some reason authorities refuse to do something about.

    This movie makes me think of the real life superheroes that are out there, those real men and women who don guises of other personas and do what they can to help us. Lots of people mock them. Lots of people mocked Defendor, but when all is said and done, they, like Defendor, do the right thing and try to right a world full of wrongs, bring hope to those who need it, and set an example that we should all follow.

    Defendor is a fantastic movie and I’m really glad Peter Stebbings went ahead and made this flick.

    Fight back.

    Recommended.


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  • Canister X Movie Review #27: The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

    Posted on by A.P. Fuchs

    The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

    Dark Knight Rises
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    The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
    Written by Christopher Nolan and Jonathan Nolan
    Directed by Christopher Nolan
    Runtime 165 min.
    5 out of 5

    It has been eight years since the Batman took the wrap for the murder of District Attorney Harvey Dent. Eight years since the last time the Dark Knight was spotted in Gotham. The streets are safe, the police are receiving praise for doing a good job—except Commissioner James Gordon knows it’s all based on a lie. About to come clean of what really happened that fateful night, Gotham is suddenly thrown into chaos at the hands of a mastermind, muscle-loaded criminal named Bane. With the city about to fall, the Batman must return to restore order to his beloved city otherwise it will fall into the hands of a sadistic genius bent on its destruction.

    To complicate matters, a mysterious female cat burglar is working out an agenda of her own and her endgame is tied into the legacy of Bruce Wayne.

    Will Batman rise from the shadows to defeat evil once more, or has he had his day and should stay in the dark?

    Saw the midnight screening of this gem before it hit theatres all over the world. This movie is epic on a scale that is hard to fit into a simple review, especially since I don’t want to give away any key plot points and/or spoilers.

    The Dark Knight Rises picks up immediately after The Dark Knight storyline-wise, and eight years later in movie-time. Running throughout the whole flick are threads from Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, plotlines that reach their ultimate climax in what I have to say is one of the best endings to a trilogy I’ve ever seen. It’s on par with, third-movie-wise, Return of the Jedi and Return of the King. All comes to a head as we’re led down a deep tunnel into who Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) truly is and what being Batman has done to him. Glimpses of his scarred psyche were hinted at in the previous two movies, but really get hit home in an emotional and powerful way throughout this final installment.

    Batman himself also shines as he gets to show off his physical skill against a villain that can truly stand toe-to-toe with him, something we never saw in the previous two films. The battle with Bane (Tom Hardy) is realistic, strongly-delivered, and one where this reviewer felt the punches thrown as if they were happening to him. Yeah, it was that good of a fight.

    The other Bat-flicks struggled with having two villains in the same movie. To be honest, I never thought I’d see the day where a modern superhero movie would have more than one villain and be just as good as if it had just one. Anne Hathaway’s Catwoman is the best rendition of the character I’ve seen on screen, both in movies and on TV. She had to play multiple roles given her identity as a thief and work her deception in such a way that a lot of the time we weren’t sure who’s side she was on. I’m an Anne Hathaway fan, but this movie easily contains her best career performance to date.

    Bane was a crazy good villain, a kind of cross between Joker—intelligence-wise—and Ra’s Al Ghul—combat-wise—of the previous two movies. Especially since most of his face was covered with a mask throughout the whole flick, Tom Hardy had to act with his eyes in such a way as to deliver a performance as if he wasn’t wearing a mask at all. It was something he did in spades. Bane was one of those on-screen villains that you were afraid of because he’s that smart and that powerful and that sadistic.

    Gary Oldman did an amazing job, as usual, as Jim Gordon, and Sir Michael Caine nailed it once again as Alfred. In fact, I’d be shocked if Sir Michael doesn’t get an Oscar nomination for his emotional portrayal of a hard-headed vigilante’s butler.

    It’d be so easy to give away several key plot points in this review, but I’m keeping it vague on purpose because you simply need to see this movie for yourself. You might think you have it figured out, but you’d be wrong, my friend.

    All dangling story threads from the previous two movies are resolved, the SFX did its job but the movie didn’t rely on it, and The Dark Knight Rises had one of the best movie endings in history, to me, one equal to the incredibly-satisfying ending of The Shawshank Redemption.

    Hats off to director Christopher Nolan and crew for the amazing stories and respect they delivered to Bat-fans everywhere throughout the entire Dark Knight Trilogy.

    Go watch this Bat-flick. You must return to Gotham. You must.

    Recommended.


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  • Canister X Movie Review #26: The Dark Knight (2008)

    Posted on by A.P. Fuchs

    The Dark Knight (2008)

    Dark Knight
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    The Dark Knight (2008)
    Written by Christopher Nolan and Jonathan Nolan
    Directed by Christopher Nolan
    Runtime 152 min.
    5 out of 5

    Where do we begin?

    Three years ago, movie-goers wouldn’t dare touch a Batman movie. I mean, what happened? Did you get your act together and deliver us one of the best Bat-flicks ever?

    Seems so.

    And now you’ve done it again . . . times ten!

    Batman has made a difference in Gotham. Criminals are running scared. Underworld organizations are toppling. He has indeed become the symbol he set out to be.

    Now a psychotic clown-faced criminal is tearing his way through the Gotham City underworld, quickly establishing himself as the Clown Prince of Crime. His method: death, and lots of it. His motive: madness. But is he crazy? As he would say, “I’m not. No, I’m not.” And he’s right. He’s not crazy. This man—this “Joker”—is brilliant, and if he gets his way, Gotham will fall into his hands.

    Unless Batman can stop him.

    The Joker’s reign of terror starts in the underworld but reaches deep into Gotham’s social structure, various men strategically placed throughout the police, mayoral offices, everywhere. And they listen to him. Except for Gotham’s White Knight, Harvey Dent, the do-gooding district attorney who’s dedicated himself to cleaning up Gotham and taking down the crime syndicates that have oppressed it for so long.

    Death reigns supreme in this movie. People die, and Batman is faced with the hard choice of becoming that which he hates . . . or risk losing Gotham and those he loves to this madman.

    I cannot say enough good things about this movie. Going into this thing back in 2008, and despite the crazy good trailers for The Dark Knight, I wasn’t sure if Batman Begins could be beat or even tied. Batman Begins was what put serious superhero flicks back on the map in a big, big way. It was what restored the faith of us fans in DC Comics and gave us hope that they started the journey to taking down their number one competitor at the box office, Marvel. And with Superman Returns being just plain poopy, I hoped against hope they’d at least get Batman right a second time.

    And they did. They so did and me and everyone in that theatre were gushing with joy that not only was The Dark Knight as good as Batman Begins, it was even better.

    Christian Bale delivered another solid performance as Bruce Wayne/Batman. The new suit rocked hard. Loved the detail. Though he was less buff than the previous film—why? who knows? You’d think a crime fighter would maintain a fitness regimen—he did a great job differentiating between the boring and dull playboy Bruce Wayne and the rage-filled-justice-driven Batman. My only issue was the voice. In Batman Begins, it was gruff, cool and tough. In this one, he sounded like he was growling the whole time and he had to force the words out to make them all gravelly. (And, FYI, WB, Batman’s voice doesn’t have to be like he’s talking through pebbles and sand; Kevin Conroy proved that.)

    Heath Ledger’s Joker was utterly amazing. Creepy. Gothic. Funny, but not comical (like Jack Nicholson’s was). Eerie, disturbed, crazy—delicious. What I loved the most was two things: 1) the clown makeup was just that: makeup. At first I didn’t like this idea and wanted the Joker to have been a victim of an acid bath ala his comic book backstory, but after watching the movie, I see why they went this route. Bringing us to 2) Joker was a genius. It was his brilliant criminal mind that enabled him to quickly establish himself as a powerful evil force in Gotham and the makeup was his edge in doing that both in a scary-because-I’m-crazy way, but also it made others think he was merely a lunatic in turn making them drop their guard so he could move in.

    Once more, I really dug Gary Oldman’s James Gordon and seeing him officially become commissioner in this was cool.

    Likewise Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent and, eventually, Two-Face—hey, he did a good job on both sides of the, um, coin. My only thing with Two-Face in this flick was that I wasn’t expecting him to show up. I thought this movie would establish the Harvey Dent character in turn setting him up to become Two-Face in the next one. So, yeah, that part was a bit rushed but them’s the breaks.

    I enjoyed Maggie Gyllenhaal as Rachel Dawes better than Katie Holmes. Maggie’s kind and cute, but can be rough and tough when she needs to. Worked well for Bruce’s childhood friend/love interest, especially when that twist came that changed Rachel’s future forever.

    My only other little quibble was the whole bat-sonar thing. That was venturing into Batman Forever territory and we all know how that one turned out, but the positives of this movie more than made up for the couple of minor issues I had with it.

    This movie is just tremendously good. Good fighting. Good story. Good stuff.

    Very recommended.


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  • Canister X Movie Review #25: Daredevil (2003)

    Posted on by A.P. Fuchs

    Daredevil (2003)

    Daredevil
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    Daredevil (2003)
    Written by Mark Steven Johnson
    Directed by Mark Steven Johnson
    Runtime 103 min.
    4 out of 5

    An A-plus report card brings young Matt Murdock to the docks to show his father. All he ever wanted was to please his dad and, as per his father’s advice, “be a doctor, be a lawyer.” Except, stumbling upon his alcoholic, washed-up ex-boxer father as a leg-breaker, Matt takes off on his skateboard in a hurry, only to accidentally run into a truck with barrels of radioactive liquid that cause him to go blind. But all is not darkness because he also mysteriously inherits a strange “radar sense” that enables him to see in a sort of X-ray way because of his newfound ability to convert sound waves into sight.

    Him and his father vow to fix their relationship and their life, promise to never give up and be fearless, and embark on a journey to perfect themselves and hit the comeback trail—Matt via the books and honing his senses and disciplining his body; his father to enter the ring once more. With Matt by his side, Jack “the devil” Murdock makes good on that promise, but a fateful night in the ring changes everything and Matt promises from then on to stick up for those who can’t defend themselves and watch out for the long shots like he and his father were.

    Now, all grown-up, he’s a lawyer by day and masked crime fighter by night. His name: Daredevil.

    And he’s not the only one who wants a piece of New York. Crime boss the Kingpin (Michael Clarke Duncan) is on the rise, as is his hired goon, Bullseye (Colin Farrell). Adding to matters, Elektra Natchios (Jennifer Garner)—a shapely martial arts master—has her sights on Daredevil (Ben Affleck) as well, leading us into a battle for New York, for vengeance, and for those who have been a victim of crime.

    For some reason a lot of people didn’t like this movie. I thought it was great. I liked the overall story; the costumes (except Bullseye’s); the atmospheric New York City; the sense of darkness Matt Murdock carried within himself; Elektra’s close relationship with her father; Foggy Nelson (Jon Favreau) and his being a “come-with” guy—very enjoyable. There was a sense of humanity about this version of Daredevil that I was able to relate to on a lot of levels.

    The fight scenes were nothing short of amazing, especially that barroom brawl where Daredevil clears the room. I remember seeing that in the trailer and just being absolutely stoked.

    Who cares that Kingpin was black? So what? The dude’s one of my favourite actors and it was interesting to see him play the bad guy as he’s usually the nice, innocent one, but for some reason people didn’t like the character being black in this. It doesn’t matter, folks. He did a good job.

    The whole Matt Murdock-Elektra/Daredevil-Elektra relationship was well-handled, in my opinion, and I particularly enjoyed how those elements intertwined with each other throughout the film.

    If I was going to criticise a few things—and while I enjoyed Daredevil’s gallivanting throughout New York—his spinning jumps and aerial movies were very similar to Spider-Man’s (who made his feature film debut the year before Daredevil came out), and some of the stuff Daredevil was able to do was pretty farfetched. I mean, I don’t care how awesome you are at acrobatic stuff or if you’re more fit than Bruce Lee on his best day, but falling face first toward a window washer’s station at lightning speed won’t get slowed down by doing a somersault in the air so you could land on your feet. You’d break your legs and die from the impact. But whatever. It’s superheroes, so I overlook most of the impossible these guys accomplish. Just goes with the understanding that superheroes can do things we can’t, whether realistic or not.

    That’s really my only critique. I liked everything else. Wasn’t crazy about Bulleye’s costume. Would have liked to have seen him as more of a stealth assassin. I also don’t read Daredevil comics so I can’t tell you if this is a faithful adaptation or not. I know Daredevil’s backstory and a bit about some past adventures, but that’s about it.

    I haven’t seen the director’s cut of this either, so need to get around to doing that.

    Still a good movie and I’m proud to have it in my superhero movie collection.

    If you like superhero flicks, you’ll like Daredevil (2003).


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  • Canister X Movie Review #24: Chronicle (2012)

    Posted on by A.P. Fuchs

    Chronicle (2012)

    Chronicle
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    Chronicle (2012)
    Written by Max Landis
    Directed by Josh Trank
    Runtime 84 min.
    5 out of 5

    Andrew Detmer’s got a tough life: he’s bullied at school, his mom’s dying of cancer, and his dad is an alcoholic. Andrew also likes to film things and his friend, Steve, gets him to film something him and Matt have found in the woods: a strange deep hole with a weird blue crystalline object inside it. After the boys develop telekinetic abilities, all bets are off as they discover exactly what they are capable of. The problem, however, is that with great power comes great temptation and Andrew begins to discover not only the extent of his power but what is deep inside of him. Soon, the group of friends are divided and one has gone off the deep end.

    This movie is the boss. This is very much in the vein of Unbreakable, that is, the story of people pre-superhero or pre-supervillain, how they got their abilities, the discovery of their powers, the honing of them, and the ultimate decision as to what to do with them.

    Filmed via “shaky cam” documentary style, Chronicle looks like a home movie but carries the strong story and special effects of a major blockbuster. Actually, it has a stronger story than most major blockbusters, but that’s another topic. This flick is completely down-to-earth despite its out-of-this-world premise. By doing it documentary style, the character development of Andrew (Dane DeHaan), Steve (Michael B. Jordan) and Matt (Alex Russell) is through the roof and you care about each one, hope for each one, and get mad at each one when they do something you think you wouldn’t do yourself. Well done, boys. Well done.

    Telekinesis is the name of the game in this movie, that is, the ability to move and control things with your mind. While we’ve seen this power on screen before, this flick really gets into the potential of that ability from simply causing objects to float all the way to making yourself fly. Telekinesis would be the power to choose if one was presented with it because the majority of superpowers can ultimately come from it: flight, strength, stopping objects from hitting you, forcing bad guys to stop their actions, and more.

    What makes this flick stand out is its intense study into what having such an incredible power does to a person, whether for good or ill. This is something we seldom see in standard superhero cinema as usually you got the hero or villain get their powers and already start using them based on their personality or because of how they’re raised, or they are used a certain way because of a recent event. This flick asks the question—even answers it—does absolute power corrupt absolutely?

    I’ve never seen a documentary-style superhero movie before. Correction: I’ve never seen a documentary-style superhero/villain origin movie before and I am curious if others exist. Will have to track them down because I thoroughly enjoyed Chronicle, was captivated by it, and it brings a level of realism to the material that even your most-seriously-attempted-at-realism superhero movies can’t portray. It’s about everyday people suddenly getting a powerful ability with everyday people reactions, temptations, and usages.

    Such a well done flick. So good. You need to see this. What Blair Witch did for horror Chronicle does for the superhero genre.

    Highly recommended.

    This is your review of Chronicle (2012).


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  • Canister X Movie Review #23: Catwoman (2004)

    Posted on by A.P. Fuchs

    Catwoman (2004)

    Catwoman
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    Catwoman (2004)
    Written by John Brancato, Michael Ferris and John Rogers
    Directed by Pitof Comar
    Runtime 104 min.
    2 out of 5

    Patience Phillips overhears news of the terrible side effects of a skin cream that is being manufactured by the company she works for, Hedare Beauty, and is quickly silenced—fatally—for her eavesdropping. However, she comes back from the dead thanks to an Egyptian Mau cat and discovers she has cat-like abilities. Disguising herself as Catwoman, Patience seeks to learn the truth behind her own death.

    Do you have any idea how excited I was when I heard they were making a Catwoman movie? I mean, it could be the greatest cat-burglar movie of all time loaded with super slick espionage, martial arts, sneaking around, Batman mythos references and/or cameos, strong-female-led action, cool costume(s) and more.

    And then they made the movie they did.

    Almost wish I could make this whole review two words—“no comment”—but that’d be cheating you guys.

    This movie was not a Catwoman movie. I just don’t understand what they were trying to do here. Had this been a fan film and some attempted new take on the character, okay, fine, whatever, put it online and let people decide, but this was supposed to be the real deal. She wasn’t even called Selina Kyle in this. Instead, she was “Patience Phillips.” They tried to jazz up what is supposed to be a very down-to-earth origin and give it a mythology of its own. Okay, points for trying something new and superhero or supervillain origins are often tweaked or changed for the big screen. What makes Catwoman as a character awesome is the fact that she’s human, like Batman, and is basically his opposite. Not so in this one. She’s got cat-powers and while it was visually cool to watch her jump around and scale buildings and stuff, it’s just not who she is.

    Halle Berry playing Catwoman is just fine. She’s sleek, sexy and pulls off the part. The problem is the story is not very good, the costume is terrible—how slinky and impractical can you get?—and there’s really nothing in this that ties it into the Batman universe. This is supposed to be a spin-off, but even spin-offs have a connection to the main source. i.e. the Elektra spin-off movie from Daredevil. Regardless of how you feel about that one, it’s still a spin-off and is known as such.

    This was definitely a comic book movie in that they went for “comic booky” as the feel of it. Felt more direct-to-video to me, seemed rushed and just fell flat.

    Catwoman is an awesome character and was resurrected in The Dark Knight Rises in a much more real world way. I hope that someday—hopefully sooner rather than later—another Catwoman flick is made and they really try to get it right. It has huge potential. Sadly, it was missed with this version here.


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  • Canister X Movie Review #22: Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

    Posted on by A.P. Fuchs

    Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

    Captain America The First Avenger
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    Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
    Written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely
    Directed by Joe Johnston
    Runtime 124 min.
    4 out of 5

    It’s World War II and the US Army needs to up its game in its war against the villainous Nazis under the command of Adolf Hitler.

    Enter Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), a little guy from Brooklyn with all sorts of health problems, but who has possibly the strongest sense of morals and courage than any man on the front line. Unfortunately, due to his fragility, Steve is not allowed to join the American army despite multiple tries. A scientist experimenting in a super soldier serum for the US army notices this and offers him a chance to take part in a dangerous procedure that, if it goes well, will grant Steve superhuman-like abilities and enable him to be an ultimate man, athlete and warrior. Steve accepts and transforms into the world’s first super soldier: Captain America.

    Meanwhile, the first test subject of the serum, Johann Schmidt—aka the Red Skull (Hugo Weaving)—has come into possession of the Tesseract cube, a powerful energy source rumored to be from Asgard. His plan? Nothing less than overthrowing Hitler himself and taking over the world.

    If only we had a super soldier to stop him. Wait . . . we do.

    His name is Captain America.

    Like all good fanboys, I saw this movie in the theatre. Having grown up on the cheesy Captain America movies starring Reb Brown and, later, the 1990 version with Matt Salinger, a part of me, I admit, was waiting for a repeat of the 1990 film (in the general sense). I was more interested in how Captain America: The First Avenger would tie into the then-upcoming The Avengers and this movie didn’t disappoint.

    The introduction of the Tesseract—which would be key in The Avengers—was real smart on the filmmakers’ part because not only did it point to the forthcoming ensemble film, but also gave a quick link to the Thor movie as well.

    Watching Chris Evans as Steve Rogers was fantastic. He really suits the role and played it perfectly. I wasn’t sure how the once-Human Torch—all witty and sarcastic—would fare as the famous super soldier, and I’m glad Chris Evans proved he can play a kind of Superman-like character as well. Seeing him play both the small, frail Steve Rogers (facially, anyway, as someone else’s body was used), to playing the suped-up Steve made the film truly a story about how our greatest power lies within as opposed to externally.

    Likewise, Hugo Weaving as Red Skull did a great job, especially since playing villains is no strange task to Weaving (Agent Smith, anyone?). Even with the German haircut he looked different never mind later when his red skull visage was revealed.

    The story was simple and, like the first Spider-Man movie, I left the theatre underwhelmed. After seeing it a second time, I saw it for what it was and really enjoyed it. Unfortunately, the end battle was anti-climactic. It didn’t need to be an all-out brawl between Cap and Red Skull, but it felt brief considering these two are the heads and tails of the same coin. Some sort of super soldier/titan clash would have punched up the ending. Speaking of which, the ending of this movie has one of the best last lines to a flick ever. It was the kind of line I try to end my own novels on, one that finishes the tale but also has a punch to it.

    As far as superhero stories go, the World War II setting gave the genre a breath of fresh air movie-wise as, thus far, pretty much every super flick to come out recently is all set in the modern day. Alternate times and/or worlds with a superhero figure are few and far between. The Spirit is the only one that comes to mind in this regard.

    After this movie and The Avengers, I’m excited to see Captain America: Winter Soldier, which is presently set for 2014.


    Movie Reviews Superhero Movies 📎and tagged

  • Canister X Movie Review #21: Captain America (1990)

    Posted on by A.P. Fuchs

    Captain America (1990)

    Captain America 1990
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    Captain America (1990)
    Written by Stephen Tolkin
    Directed by Albert Pyun
    Runtime 97 min.
    3 out of 5

    Taking part in a secret super soldier experiment in the 1940s, Steve Rogers becomes the American icon Captain America. After an altercation with the Red Skull, he is trapped in ice for fifty years before being thawed out in 1993. Upon awakening, Steve must come to grips with being a man out of time and also that the Red Skull is still alive and is leader of a powerful crime family. Steve must track down the Red Skull, with each clue giving more insight into his own past and bringing him one step closer to his arch enemy to settle a fight that began half a century before.

    This flick is your classic Captain America story, that is, his origin, his World War II beginnings, battling Red Skull, being frozen, awakening in the future and reconnecting with his old enemy who is still active.

    I remember seeing this as a kid and liking it. Saw it recently a few years back and still liked it. It’s not the greatest superhero movie, but it still holds its own all these years later.

    It’s very much Steve Rogers’s story as he’s Captain America for a little bit then isn’t for a good while, then is again in terms of him getting into costume. As a kid, you don’t care about story and just want to see the superhero. As an adult, you see the big picture so don’t mind the non-costumed parts. It’s a story about a journey, both for Steve and even for Red Skull as you watch Steve wrestle with himself for being from the past and how everything’s changed, and also the different things he finds out as he searches for his enemy.

    The Captain America costume is very rubbery, but it’s way better than the one that appeared in the 1979 movies and looks pretty good overall. The shield rocks and when Captain America throws it, it’s got that cool swooshing-through-the-air sound effect, adding to its power.

    I was totally fine with Matt Salinger as Steve Rogers. He had that all-American sensibility about him, was naïve in the right ways, learned in others, and filled out those big red boots nicely.

    This is a solid Marvel movie that was made well before the whole Marvel Cinematic Universe of today and should be on the shelves of every superhero movie enthusiast out there.

    Recommended.


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