Synopsis: When former Marine Steve Rogers is in an accident, his only hope for recovery is an injection of the FLAG superserum – created years ago by his own father – which enhances each of his senses, as well as gives him great strength and fast reflexes. And to help him bring his attackers to justice, a government agency outfits him with a motorcycle and powerful shield, then turns the newly formed Captain America loose on the nation’s enemies.
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When I was a kid, there was a Quickie across from my school that had a VHS copy of this film for rent. I didn’t have a VCR and I didn’t know anyone with a membership card so all I could do was stare at the box endlessly and daydream.
Well, the dream is over. Um… what I mean is: I’ve finally watched this film – some 25 years later!
I’ve since discovered that it was originally made as a TV movie. And it shows. It kind of reminded me of a lengthy episode of the Lou Ferigno vehicle ‘The Incredible Hulk’, only slightly better. It also feels like it was a pilot for a full series. For good or bad, it only spawned a second TV movie.
I was reading online comments to this first film and a few people referenced ‘The Six Million Dollar Man’…
You know what? They’re probably right. It’s supposed to be a superhero character, but in this version his life’s been saved by a special formula that’s made him superhuman. And now he works in tandem with a government agency to get the baddies, with the help of a few gadgets.
So maybe they were trying to combine the more successful elements of ‘The Incredible Hulk’ and ‘The Six Million Dollar Man’, then?
Well, they did alright.
Sure, it doesn’t resemble the comic book character much, but TV shows from that era (i.e. Hulk, Spider-Man and Wonder Woman) rarely did. And while they changed a heck of a lot of stuff, the slow pacing, production values, acting and story were probably par for the course back then – unremarkable, but not especially bad. Of course, it’s easy to keep things under control on only one movie, versus a whole series…
Their new take on the character is that Steve Rogers is the son of the original Captain America (!) and he only finds out about his father’s secret identity in this film. Steve gets powered up after an accident almost kills him and he uses his new abilities to find the baddies who have been hounding him and a scientist friend of his. It’s not much of a super adventure, but it’s alright.
What irks me the most is there are only two action sequences with Captain America in it. There are a few anaemic “action” pieces along the way, but Steve Rogers doesn’t become Captain America until MUCH later in the film. And his scenes are quite boring (they were produced on a TV budget, after all):
The first one has him riding around on his bike, being chased by a chopper. He rides for a long time, just riding. Whooptee-doo. The other has him climbing aboard a sixteen wheeler to get to the main bad guy. He climbs and gets in after twisting an exhaust pipe. Excitement galore. The fact that the 1944 serials are more energetic than this say quite a lot!
I hope there’s going to be more superhero action in the follow-up. While it’s relatively justifiable to have less superhero fun in an origin story (mind you, the 2011 film has a balanced approach and succeeded marvellously), there’s no reason to not give us a full tilt Captain America in the next one. There better be (and I will find out soon enough)
I will also discover if Captain America’s uniform is proper or not. You see, not only does it take half the film for Captain America to appear, but he starts off looking like a blue Evel Knievel, complete with a motorcycle helmet with wings painted on it (and stupid @$$ aviator glasses). It was distressing to see, quite frankly! By the end of the film, Steve Rogers asks to get a suit more resembling his father’s, and he ends up looking more like the comic book character. Except that he still has a motorcycle helmet! I just hope that his mask is underneath. We’ll see…
And I hope that he uses his shield, for once. Steve Rogers has been shown the potential of his shield (which looks suspiciously like fibreglass, as it’s transparent oO), but he only kept it nestled at the front of his motorbike, presumably for its aerodynamic qualities 😛 He better take the darned thing and chuck it a few times in the next TV movie. Even if he misses his targets, it looks lame and/or he breaks it, I just want to see him do his thing like he oughta.
Stay tuned for more thrilling adventures of Captain America.
thecriticaleye 