I honestly knew nothing about Captain America in advance, except for what Stephen Colbert said on his show.
And also, the movie did not even examine the basic idea of there being an uber mensch, and it could have done that. You have Red Skull saying he no longer fits Hitler's ideal (when Steve CLEARLY does), you have him saying he and Steve are now above everyone else and then...nada. Steve has guts and heart, but everything he does after the procedure is about his physical beauty/capabilities. We see him as clever with the flagpole when he's scrawny, but then he just punches things. The movie is not saying it's wrong to try to create the ideal man. It's saying the ideal man is an American. So...Hitler was right? I mean, just, what. His sidekicks are less than window dressing--Bucky exists to be killed--everything he does, he does. The movie basically validates the whole Nazi uber mensch idea, while simultaneously pushing American weapons-creation onto Nazis and it just bothers the HELL out of me.
Yes, I know the uber mensch thing is also a general comic book super hero thing, but this setting draws specific attention to it in a very disturbing way.
If you can ignore all the baggage, it worked pretty well as a movie. But all I see is baggage.
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And also, the movie did not even examine the basic idea of there being an uber mensch, and it could have done that. You have Red Skull saying he no longer fits Hitler's ideal (when Steve CLEARLY does), you have him saying he and Steve are now above everyone else and then...nada. Steve has guts and heart, but everything he does after the procedure is about his physical beauty/capabilities. We see him as clever with the flagpole when he's scrawny, but then he just punches things. The movie is not saying it's wrong to try to create the ideal man. It's saying the ideal man is an American. So...Hitler was right? I mean, just, what. His sidekicks are less than window dressing--Bucky exists to be killed--everything he does, he does. The movie basically validates the whole Nazi uber mensch idea, while simultaneously pushing American weapons-creation onto Nazis and it just bothers the HELL out of me.
Yes, I know the uber mensch thing is also a general comic book super hero thing, but this setting draws specific attention to it in a very disturbing way.
If you can ignore all the baggage, it worked pretty well as a movie. But all I see is baggage.