[Writer Post] Captain America and Cowboys & Aliens
I go to movies for the same reason I read fiction – to be entertained and to escape the heat or stress or whatever is happening at the time. I don’t necessarily go ready to pick apart the movie and hate it on sight. This is particularly true of Summer Blockbuster movies which I expect to be heavy on explosions and light on story. In this regard, I’m rarely disappointed. I’ll let the professional critics and comic book guys tell you why the movies are bad.
The last weekend of July was an unusual 2 parter. My husband and I saw Captain America on Friday with our friend, Renee, from Austin. Then we hit up Cowboys & Aliens on Saturday – knowing most of our friends were going to see it at some point in the weekend and didn’t want to stick fingers in our ears and go, “LALALALALALALA” all NEXT weekend.
I liked both, but for completely different reasons – the most obvious: one has superheroes and the other horses. There was something to like in each movie. There were problems in both movies. I’ll let the professional critics and comic book guys tell you why the movies are bad, I’ll tell you why I had fun watching them.
[asa]B004EPYZSK[/asa]I’m going to start with Cowboys & Aliens – one of the few movies I was still excited about even with the year of hype since last year’s San Diego Comic Con. Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford? What wasn’t to like? Well, until about the 2/3 mark – Harrison Ford. I’ve never seen this actor in a role where I hated the character and was rooting for the aliens to get him, as I was for Woodrow Dolarhyde.
It was what it seemed to be…a Western with Aliens. Aliens with a serious design flaw – I mean seriously? In what evolutionary cycle would ANY critter have their hands come out of an exoskeleton and EXPOSE THE HEART??? They did, however, have an interesting way of mining and smelting gold all in one process, that was efficient. Olivia Wilde’s character was – as with most women in these Summer Blockbuster – almost superfluous. But what amused me most was the subtle nods to SLIVERADO, my all-time favorite Western – there was a Jake, an Emmett, an Evil Rancher, a dog – and an inordinate amount of hat love.
[asa]B003Y5H59W[/asa]Captain America: The First Avenger had Nazis and the least useless leading lady of any of the Summer Blockbusters. And to admit my bias – the 1940s is my favorite modern historical period – if you can call a horrifically war torn era a “favorite” – so I was predisposed to like Captain America. It was more the classic WWII war movie than full on superhero, which appealed to me. I liked the USO tour. I liked the little guy getting the best of the bully. Hugo Weaving makes a darned good Evil Villain.
The flaw? How freakin’ OLD was Howard Stark when he finally settled down and had Tony Stark? We discussed that all the way across town. Keeping Captain America in his roots and bringing him into the future was…improbable but not impossible. But keeping him and those around him true to WWII and then pulling into 2011 made us all think Howard Stark must’ve been Tony Stark’s GRANDPA instead of Dad — or Stark Sr lived a VERY LONG and ACTIVE life and had Tony when he was about 70.
But did I like them. Yes. I have to admit I liked Captain America just a little bit more than Cowboys & Aliens. Captain America was more “fun” than Cowboys & Aliens. It definitely had better wardrobe and musical interludes. But, note to writers and Hollywood, take a lesson from Captain America women can do lots of stuff. You should let them -Agent Peggy Carter shows us that, and she looked darned good doing it, too.
1 Comment
I’m hoping we’ll get to see both….but I doubt it. ;o)