Though it hardly qualifies as “big news” in most circles, this past Sunday marked the television debut of the 30 second Captain America: The First Avenger teaser:
Oh yeah, and something called “The Superbowl” happened too.
The Packers won, the Steelers lost, and balance has been brought to The Force; at least until the next season.
Anyway, given that the Captain America preview was a trim 30 seconds in length, and was intentionally edited so as to keep most of the major details of the film foggy at best; here are my thoughts on what I saw:
The CGI used to reduce Chris Evan’s heroic physique to that of the undersized pre-Project Rebirth Steve Rogers appears fairly convincing at this point.
Well okay fine, it doesn't look perfect, but it looks better than young Jeff Bridges in Tron Legacy.
While most likely a minor element of the film, technical gimmicks like this have always fascinated me; particularly when they work, I.E. Lt. Dan’s amputated legs in Forrest Gump.
We’ll see how it turns out on the big screen.
Moving on, I’m pleased to note that nothing looks cheap about the movie as of yet.
Some of the costuming for Thor had an unfortunate, plastic-y look, but the period elements, and overall production design of Captain America seems pretty slick thus far.
Of particular note was the set for the Project Rebirth sequence, not only because it’s the only set we really get a good look at in the teaser; but also because it genuinely looks pretty good.
One thing I was afraid of seeing in a Captain America film, was gaudy or needlessly extravagant production design.
Thankfully, and remember this is just me going by what we’ve seen thus far; this seems to be a non-issue in The First Avenger.
Most everything in the teaser points to an almost Rocketeer-esque (also directed by Joe Johnston) marriage of the pulpy comic book aesthetic and appropriately utilitarian, or at least practical, design elements.
Truth be told, I loved The Rocketeer back in the day, so if Captain America can capture that same gleeful energy, I think we’re in for a good show.
Another thing worth noting in the teaser, is the brief glimpse we get of the Red Skull, as played by Hugo Weaving.
Red Skull is a character who has undergone a great deal of variations in his design.
In his early appearances, as well as the current Steve Epting version of the character; Red Skull had what I like to call a “toad face”.
TOOOOOOAAAADDDD FAAAAAAACCCEEE!!!!!
His eyebrows were exagerrated and protruding, like a neanderthal; but the “toad face” part of his design came from his broad, perpetually frowning mouth.
My personal favorite design of the character, was the one featured prominently in the early 90’s (go figure) that featured a very straightforward skull-shaped, well, skull.
In the case of the movie, it would appear that the design was designed primarily to capitalize on Hugo Weaving’s unique facial structure, while retaining some of the classic “toad face” features:
...And he tears off his normal face mask to reveal... A hideous skull mask!
In other words, expect a bug-eyed, big forehead-ed Red Skull that looks more like Agent Smith than, well, a skull.
I already voiced my opinion on the design decisions for the Captain America suit, as posted here; however there’s one last little detail I’d like to add to that, in the form of a comment from a friend of mine.
“Chris Evans in the Captain America suit looks like Shaq from Steel.”
No Caption Necessary.
While I was (sadly) inclined to agree in some respects, I still remain hopeful that Captain America will turn out to be a better film than the almost ludicrously ass-tastic Steel.
Even so, if ever there was a comic character that was easy to fuck up, it’d have to be the Cap’n…
At this point, Captain America (along with Green Lantern) is poised to be my big summer movie this year, so keep your fingers crossed people, The Azn Badger commands it!
Filed under: Comics, Movies, Uncategorized, Agent Smith, Avengers, Captain America, CGI, Chris Evans, Comic Book, DC, Forrest Gump, Hugo Weaving, Jeff Bridges, Joe Johnston, Lt. Dan, Marvel, movie, Red Skull, Shaq, steel, teaser, The Matrix, The Rocketeer, trailer, Tron Legacy
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