OK, I don't want to sound overly cynical and full of bile, but Bob's gushing review has instantly got the anti-hype hairs on the back of my neck raised like a lion's mane. Maybe it's because I only really enjoy the 'ironic' comics he seems to be lambasting in this review, maybe it's because I've never understood the appeal of Captain America beyond jingoism and propaganda, but there are a few specific points I'd like to address:
The idea that a lack of irony makes the film better. While I agree that not all films need to portray a cynic's view of life, and that there is room for more optimistic, 'naive' output, I'd say that the superhero genre is hardly worthy of such an appraisal. I realise I'm going to anger a lot of hardcore comics fans with my next few statements, but oh well. The biggest reason most superhero movies are rubbish (and most of them, when you look past the special effects, are rubbish) is because the fundamental idea behind superheroes and their antics is a bloody stupid one. This is a point that has been made by critics, commentators, and even comic writers themselves. As Alan Moore himself said, "Watching your parents get gunned down in front of you would probably lead to a lifetime of therapy. It wouldn't lead to someone dressing up as a bat and beating up criminals."
The only reason comics have the standing they do currently is a) because they're a relic from an era decades gone where inconsistent characters and nonsensical plots didn't stop them from geing read by practically every boy in America, and b) they provide good movie-fodder. The actual ideas behind most superhero comics are laughably naive, highly illogical, and often times flat-out bizarre. A guy gets bitten by a radioactive spider, somehow develops mutant powers from this, so decides to spend his life fighting anthropomorphised lizards and scientists with robot arms? Wha...?
Conversely, it is my opinion that cynicism and humour are the best things that ever happened to comic-book superheroes. The minute writers stopped trying to take their overpowered characters seriously is the minute they can instead start taking their stories seriosuly instead. Super-heroes are an inherently dumb concept. Highlighting how dumb that concept is, and using that as a foundation from which to tackle other concepts, is what's allowed super-heroes to be taken seriously in the mainstream, both as characters and as stories. The Ur-examples in comics are of course Watchmen and The Dark Kinight Returns. Both comics were built out of irony and cynicism, and in doing so, were able to tackle storytelling with a maturity and a level of thematic content that simply hadn't existed before. Christopher Nolan has been equally cynical and 'ironic' with his interpretation of Batman: the Dark Knight is essentially a crime film with a couple of genuinely psychotic costumed characters involved. And it is immeasurably better than any Batman film of the Nineties. On the other hand, Kick-Ass is a film with just as many ironic sensibilities. However, instead of trying to play it sombre, it plays everything for laughs. The main character is a hero-wannabe who repeatedly gets his arse handed to him, and his cohorts are psychos who dispatch bad-guys with all the subtlety of a Kill Bill picture. And up until the end, it works.
So when Bob says that Captain America is 100% 'irony free', it makes me worried that instead of investing in a narrative that actually has any weight, emotion or meaning behind it, the producers have simply elected to base their film around the same kind of soap-opera trash storytelling that make comic-books ridiculous for so many. It's a story based around American involvement in World War II, which instantly lends itself to both the onscreen action, but also the kind of strong-storytelling that can have a real emotional impact on audience members. Not only that, but it's a movie about America fighting back with a blonde haired, blue-eyed, stupendously buff super-soldier leading the fight against the Nazis. That right there is the definition of irony, and it provides all sorts of potential to examine the nature of icons, ideals and propaganda, and how they can all be subverted.
I don't mean to go off on one, but Bob said he couldn't really fault the film, which to me means he's putting it up there with films like The Dark Knight: Super-hero films which transcend the genre to become generally great films. If Captain America is simply an excercise in carrying over comic-book logic and storytelling onto the big-screen, then I'm going to call bullshit on his statement. And I don't care how many Marvel/DC fans I've angered by saying so.
