Genre Character of the Week: Steve Rogers

On Monday I went with my mother, brother, oldest niece, nephew, and youngest daughter to see Captain America: The First Avenger.

I really liked this movie.

It’s kind of funny, as the Superhero genre has had a pretty big summer this year, that the two films I was least interested in to start, this one and Thor, actually came out well ahead of the others.

The movie is great and honestly this comes down to just a few things:

1) Chris Evans, seriously, he really had me invested in the character quite early, and after finding out that he didn’t use a body double for the “before” part of his character (instead it was some pretty amazing CG), I was even more impressed. As cocky as he was as Johnny Storm in the Fantastic Four movies, he is earnest, kind, and decent in this role.

2) The story focuses on character development – yes there is a lot of connections to the modern Marvel universe (Thor-related items, Howard Stark, etc.), but the focus in the film is very strongly placed on the characters.

3) I loved the relationships Steve had in the film, from his best friend Bucky, to the love interest and especially to the doctor who decides to take a risk on this kid.

Seriously, the film felt like a wonderful throwback to the great pulp classics, but as it had a nice storyline on its own it didn’t look like a series of set pieces waiting for action sequences (and yes, I’m looking at you Green Lantern).

Honestly, this movie was great, and as I said before, a huge part of that goes to the character of Captain America himself, Steve Rogers.

Bookmonkey's Top 5 Films to see in Summer 2011

Superheroes. This summer sure can’t seem to get enough of them and I’ve got to admit I’m feeling in the mood for some super-heroic films myself, hopefully I’ll try not to limit myself to only one sub-genre, but let’s see what’s coming out.

As with previous lists I’m trying to avoid listing the films I’ll probably see due to my kids, like the final Harry Potter Film or possibly Spy Kids 4 (oh, who am I kidding, I’m a big Robert Rodriguez fan at heart) or my BFF Mike (I think if I skipped Green Lantern it may irreparably damage our friendship) or the ones I’ll see but only if they are playing nearby (like August’s Don’t be afraid of the Dark, co-written and produced by Guillermo Del Toro).

Here they are, in order of release, my top five must list for theatre viewing this summer:

Thor: Here’s the thing about Thor, I started out wanting to see this movie simply because it’s directed by Kenneth Brannagh. Then I actually checked out some Thor comics (the ‘80s stuff by Simonson and the more recent run by Straczynski), and you know what, this movie just looks really fun. I’m hoping I won’t have to eat my words in a couple weeks, but for right now, I’m really excited about this movie.

Super 8: After seeing the first actual trailer, this movie looks like a nice throw-back to Close Encounters, but made by the guy who did the recent Star Trek reboot I liked so much. It looks like exactly the kind of alien-related fun I’m into.

X-Men: First Class: Here’s the thing, I just spent my last few months watching The Avengers, and one of the things that The Avengers helped influence was the Hellfire Club and specifically Emma Frost in the X-Men universe, both things that are going to be in the next film, add to that the movie has Nicolas Hoult, who I liked a lot in About a Boy and was really impressed by in Skins, and you’ve got a movie I’m going to be checking out.

Captain America: The First Avenger: I love the idea of setting a superhero movie in the Second World War. One of my favourite sub-genres of speculative fiction is alternate histories, so the idea of adding superheroes to a war movie seems like a really great cross-genre idea for me.

Fright Night: I loved the original of this, and in a way that makes me both excited and in fear for how this movie is going to go down. The original was both funny and scary, and the fact that this film will have previous Doctor Who David Tennant in it (doing the Roddy McDowall role from the original) has got me pretty intrigued into what this film will end up looking like.