Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

Scrawny Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) just wants to heed the plea of Uncle Sam and join the United States Army to fight Nazis in World War II. Due to his frail body, he is rejected at every enlistment camp he goes to until he is eventually recruited as part of a super-soldier experiment. As a result of the serum, Steve Rogers is transformed into Captain America - a perfect specimen in both mind and body - in the best glow-up since Princess Diaries. Captain America goes on to fight the Third Reich, take down terrorists and inspire millions of Americans to fight for what they believe in.

This movie was met with a lot of excitement as the buildup for the Avengers was going down. It was a great strategy by Marvel - all of the after-credits scenes, all of the anticipation leading up to the big meet & greet where these iconic superheroes could join forces against greater evils.

I loved being a part of the anticipation. I loved seeing the pieces come together while the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe was unfolded. Captain America was fun because it gave a precedent - a backstory to not just the hero himself but to the entire Marvel story. It was the last released before "The Avengers" but chronologically it comes far before the others. Seeing him interact with Howard Stark and watching his frozen body be uncovered by S.H.I.E.L.D. brought an "a-ha!" to tip over the filling cup of Avengers anticipation.

While watching a superhero fight Nazis provides for an interesting backdrop - a nice break from the usual New York City Skyline - I find that the sense of urgency ranks very low when we all know that the world is still okay 60 years later. Watching it again, I found it a little boring and a little slow. In fact, in many ways it feels like an extended promo for "The Avengers." The name suggests, after all, that as "the First Avenger" Captain America would set the tone for the super-group with his unfaltering sense of duty & leadership. As the last origin film released, he is deemed to be the glue that will bond them all together.

A superhero film is only as good as its villain and in this case, I am unimpressed. Perhaps I'm playing too much to my preferences but I just ~don't like Red Skull very much. Hugo Weaving plays him very menacingly with a kind of cartoonish side to his devilry. It's a trope, however, that I don't find very compelling. He's evil, of course, but his story lacks depth and emotion which prevents me from connecting to the action. Too much to ask for in a superhero movie? Perhaps. But if it wants to rank up there with "Spiderman 2" or "The Dark Knight" then certainly it's possible.

These things do not make this movie bad. It's still a better film in many ways than "Thor" or "The Incredible Hulk" (though not "Iron Man" - never "Iron Man"). Chris Evans brings an earnestness to the Captain that makes him feel like a real American hero with a heart. He has integrity and loyalty and he exudes these wonderful qualities that everyone is looking for in the super-leader of the free world. His character arc only grows in subsequent movies, but this is a great beginning to his story.

Where some other superhero movies lack focus and a contained story, "Captain America" does not falter. Director Joe Johnston ("October Sky," "Jumanji") makes it a cohesive story which plays on the war-time patriotism and includes some vibrant side characters such as the gung-ho Colonel Phillips (Tommy Lee Jones), the curious scientist Dr. Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci), Captain's best friend and soldier Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), and the beautiful but serious officer Peggy Carter (Haley Atwell). These characters are all likable and add something tangible and relatable where Red Skull brings only over-exaggerated villainy. The film feels complete.

Overall, "The First Avenger" is the weakest of the Captain America films being less enjoyable the second or third time around, but it is not a bad film. It brought a great hero back to the screen and propelled him to prominence in the hearts of all watching. 7/10

This is a part of a series as Lauren takes on the MCU 2k17

The Perfect Score (2004)

A bad knock-off of The Breakfast Club?  I think so.

The Perfect Score is about a mismatched group of stereotypes: the brain, the rebel, the stoner, the loser, the jock, and the “good guy” who all decide that the SAT is the only thing standing in their way of achieving their dreams.  So they decide to go for the ultimate teen-heist and steal the answers.

The cover says it’s The Breakfast Club meets Ocean’s Eleven. Yeah, maybe the worst possible version of John Hughes’ classic and all of the corny elements of Ocean’s.  The Breakfast Club is one of my all-time favorite movies.  It defines high school, it’s far more than stereotypes.  The Breakfast Club could have EASILY failed.  It could have been awful, cheesy, and cliché because, let’s face it, the plot is very basic and it IS full of stereotypes.  But those characters are real, the dialogue is witty, and it has heart.

The Perfect Score is like someone placed Breakfast Club on a platter, stabbed it forty times, threw in some new amateur actors, and tore out the heart that everyone connected with.  This movie is dead.  It has no heart, nor soul.  It’s a two-hour detention, not two hours playing hooky.

The only reason I watched the entire thing was because I had just finished with my last final exam for the semester.  I definitely agreed with the injustice that standardized testing is to humankind or whatever, so I fell for the premise.  And, I’ll admit, it did start off well.  Stylized introductions to the characters, planning sessions, etc.  But then one too many characters got involved.  I mean, all that Kyle (Chris Evans) and Matty (Bryan Greenberg) really needed was Francesca (Scarlett Johansson) since she’s the one with access to the building.  I guess Roy (Leonardo Nam) can get into the computer, and that’s cool.  But even if you did have a crush on her, would you really tell the smartest girl in school that you were planning on doing ANYTHING unethical?  That’s how Anna (Erika Christensen) got involved.. and then she just decided out of the goodness of her heart to tell “deprived” BASKETBALL STAR Desmond (Darius Miles) about it.

Here’s the thing though.  Even if Brian Robbins was going for a heist movie – it’s far from satisfying.  I guess their sense of right and wrong got the better of them, or whatever, but they don’t use the answers.  Sure it makes me feel good inside that teenagers can have some ounce of integrity, but that wasn’t what I watched this movie for.  All I saw, was an intelligent and strong girl turn into a slut, an insecure rebel go for a fat-boy loser with no backbone, and an Asian druggie being controlled by a domineering black woman.  I don’t know, everything just goes too far to try and teach a lesson. “A lot of people would think these questions are difficult… not me.”  “No?”  “No. Because these questions have answers.”  Touching.

It has further lame attempts to be Breakfast-club-esque:  “What would you do if you had all the money in the world” kind of questions.  “There’s this one video game, blah blah blah.. it was so cool, this one character was cool…” “Oh, so you want to design video games?” “No, I want to be that one character!”  It goes for laughs, but all I could muster was half an eye roll.

The acting was amateur at best.  Some say that Johansson isn’t half bad – and she isn’t – but I don’t really like her that much anyway.  Everyone’s lines are forced, their interactions with each other are fake.  As improbable as Claire and John’s relationship is in Breakfast Club, they at least had some ounce of chemistry – and they interacted well together.  Nothing in this is real.

Stereotypes at its worst, The Perfect Score is as far from perfect as I am from being a millionaire.  Please watch bThe Breakfast Club instead. 1/10