Sure, I write about movies a lot, and I discuss them on the occasional podcast. But I'm not sure how much of that qualifies as reviewing.
Mark Radulich loves talking about movies and the Craft of filmmaking. Yes, when he refers to craft, I kind of feel like it needs to be capitalized. I get that. And while I do believe there are objective standards by which movies can be judged, that's not how I like to judge them.
You don't have to tell me “Armageddon” was not a great movie. I can list a number of its flaws. But I don't care. I love it. Back when I had enough channels to flip through, before the vast majority of what I wanted to watch was streamable on demand, if I was flipping through channels and “Armageddon” was on, chances are, I would stop and watch it.
If I enjoy a movie, that's going to elevate it above an objective review of its technical strengths and weaknesses. And if I love a movie, well, it's liable to get a 10 from me on IMDb, regardless of whether that matches up with my assessments of other, almost objectively better movies.
Which is how all of this ties in to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It would have seemed natural for me to write about new MCU movies as they came out, but, with a few exceptions, I haven't really done it. And that's because... I'm probably going to like them. And there's a good chance I'm going to really, really like them, if not outright love them.
I do have my thoughts on which ones are better. And there is one I absolutely can't stand. But we'll get into all that as this project rolls along.
I doubt I'm completing a rewatch – and writing about the experience – before everybody and their dog returns in “Avengers: Doomsday” later this year. But maybe, maybe, I can get pretty close before “Avengers: Secret Wars” next year.
That's if I stick to the movies. Don't get me wrong – I'm almost as in the tank for Marvel TV shows as I am the movies. I don't think “Ironheart” stuck the landing, but it had its moments.
But do I just stick with the Disney+ shows? I still maintain “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” is MCU canon. And with Vincent D'Onofrio and Charlie Cox cameoing in other shows even before “Daredevil: Born Again,” don't I have to include the Netflix shows?
So, like other series on here, I'm making up the rules as I go along. I saw someone started their pre-Doomsday rewatch with “Blade,” which is technically correct, but I'm not going there either – even if I would have “X-Men: The Last Stand” and “The Wolverine” already checked off thanks to #StuckInAMoment and another one grandfathered for a future #DollarTreeCinema.
I also came up with a sort-of format of specific points I'll hit and something to make it a little different, for me anyway: I'm watching them in timeline order, rather than release order. One entry in and I'm thinking release order is the preferred way to go, but this lets me think about them from a different perspective.
Along for the ride is my eldest daughter, who somehow is more insistent than me about rewatching the MCU. I've secured her permission to acknowledge her existence and even share her short assessment of each movie.
My intent is for this to be more conversational than a straight-up review. I like/love almost all of these movies, sometimes with good reasons to back it up. In other cases, the best I've got is, “Well, it's Marvel.” That doesn't mean I won't be critical in places, but I'd rather focus on the fun than dwell on stuff I don't like. And when that one I really don't like comes along, hopefully I'll have something more constructive to say than, “It sucks.”
So, without further ado, let's kick things off with the first Avenger* himself:
Captain America:
The First Avenger (2011)
Starring Chris Evans, Hugo Weaving,
Hayley Atwell, Sebastian Stan
Directed by Joe Johnston
Screenplay by Christopher Markus and
Stephen McFeely
Rated PG-13 for
intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action
What I Thought Originally: This was a fun movie that showed us who Captain America was and advanced the burgeoning Marvel Cinematic Universe, but always remained a step or two behind not only the Avengers but the second and third entries in its own series.
What I Think Now: I’ve grown to appreciate the first Captain America more over the years, even if I would still rank it third in that particular subsection of the MCU. It’s nowhere nearly as complex as “Winter Soldier” and “Civil War,” but it didn't need to be – and shouldn't have been.
The filmmakers’ decision to set the movie almost entirely in World War II was correct. The all-but-forgotten 1990 Cap movie** starting Ned Beatty and J.D. Salinger’s son introduced the character in World War II, then had him go into the ice and wake up in the modern world all in the same movie. Also, the Red Skull was Italian.
Unless they read the Captain America comics coming out in World War II, I bet many folks are like me and met Cap as the man out of time, a great hero from the ‘40s adapting to a world he never made. But in this movie, we got to see how the legend was built and why he was so inspiring to folks like Phil Coulson in modern times.
I don't know if Kevin Feige and company were confident they would keep making Cap movies or if they just knew we would get to see him adjust to the 21st century in “The Avengers.” Either way, the result was a strong movie that felt true to Cap but maybe wasn't what everyone was expecting.
As for being less complex, even that worked thematically. While Avengers, Winter Soldier and Civil War dealt with gray areas, thorny moral questions and complicated conspiracies, this was a man whose inherent kindness and compassion helped America and the Allies stand against the Red Skull and Hydra, who even the Nazis found too extreme. I doubt the world really was that black and white back then, but it sure feels that way sometimes.
And while this helped make Evans an even bigger star and synonymous with the character, don't sleep on the rest of this cast. Tommy Lee Jones plays Col. Phillips as Tommy Lee Jones leading men in World War II, and I’m here for it every time. Stanley Tucci as Dr. Erskine delivers the movie’s moral foundation with his belief in Steve Rogers and makes the character so much more than the footnote he always was, to me anyway, in the comics. And Atwell is tough and imposing as Agent Carter, while leaving no question about how Cap fell so hard for her.
Stan Lee: Stan appears as a general who misses out on seeing Cap after he goes from war bond mascot to true super soldier, remarking when a less imposing physical specimen rushes to tell a senator Rogers isn't there, “I thought he’d be taller.” (7/10)
Easter eggs: The android Human Torch at the Stark Expo remains a fun inside nod to Marvel’s first hero, and Arnim Zola's first appearance looks more like his comic version than almost any other moment we get with him.
Credit scene: An excerpt from Avengers followed by a teaser for the movie we’d all been waiting for. It was obviously more significant then than it is now, but even the first time, I think I was a little disappointed that it felt more like a trailer than bonus story material.
Time travel: References to the Tesseract and Odin and the appearance of Howard Stark and the Stark Expo have slightly less impact when they come before the first two Iron Man movies, “Thor” and even “The Incredible Hulk.” But I don't know how many people will start their MCU journey here – outside of my oldest’s friend, who's a bigger fan of Kenneth Choi (Jim Morita) than anyone else in the cast.
Next Up: “Captain Marvel”
* - Though the star of our next installment might have something to say about that...
** – Wait, in the multiverse, is THAT part of the MCU too?
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