Alas, the most nationally treasured superhero ever to be sket
ched in American comic books is finally being transposed into cinema. Those of us who don’t make pilgrimages to Comic-Con (and more importantly, those of us who don’t know what Comic-Con is) can finally experience the full story behind this cultural icon in 2011’s “The First Avenger: Captain America.” Marvel Studios just needs to place this beloved character in the right hands and the star-spangled badass will have his glory.
But oh, how Marvel Entertainment loves to take risks…
First, the studio has hired the king of sub-par filmmaking, Joe Johnston, to direct the film. While Johnston has flexed his epic cinema muscle a bit with “Hidalgo” and wowed critics with 1991’s “The Rocketeer,” his last foray in revamping tradition (this month’s “The Wolfman”) was one of the most unnecessary remakes I’ve ever seen. Treating Lawrence Talbot’s character development as an afterthought and perpetuating the film with self-referential jokes in order to tell a 30-minute story in an hour and a half, Johnston took a poorly written script and remarkably made it worse.
Fortunately, he might have a good script to spoil this time around, as screenwriting duo Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely were hired to pen the screenplay. Having received much acclaim on the “Chronicles of Narnia” series and 2004’s “The Life and Death of Peter Sellers,” the writers just might be able to strike the balance between edginess and profundity that has marked great the few great films based on superhero franchises.
Producer David Feige indicated that the character of Steve Rogers (Captain America) will most definitely be explored in this picture, with about half of it dedicated to the WWII era (during which Rogers partook in the life-changing top-secret defense experiment of creating super-soldiers) and the other half dedicated to present day America. Such character context has been the one common denominator of praiseworthy superhero films, such as “Batman Begins” and “Iron Man.”
Additionally, producer Avi Arad (responsible for nearly every tank and triumph from Marvel Studios) described the refreshingly interesting and new direction that the production team and the writers are taking the character: “The biggest opportunity with Captain America is as a man 'out of time', coming back today, looking at our world through the eyes of someone who thought the perfect world was small-town United States. Sixty years go by, and who are we today? Are we better?”
However, let’s consider how Marvel Studios, in their infinite wisdom, is going about casting Steve Rogers/Captain America. A list of casting considerations has been released, including Chace Crawford (“Gossip Girl”), Scott Porter (“Dear John”), Mike Vogel (“Cloverfield”), and Michael Cassidy (“Smallville”). But most notably in this list of heartthrobs is John Krasinski, better known (solely known, really) as Jim from NBC’s “The Office.” Krasinski’s homely charm and lovably sarcastic effervescence on the show has what made him the TV personality that he is today. With word spreading of a positive screen test he had for the role, he has garnered the most buzz of all aforementioned candidates. It just might happen.
I’m not the sort of person to dictate actor’s destinies, but John Krasinski is so nationally identifiable as Jim Halpert that I honestly don’t believe that American audiences know how to take him seriously. Despite the range of characters he has played in feature films, from “Leatherheads” and “License to Wed” to “Away We Go” and “It’s Complicated,” Jim Halpert is all we see. Inevitably Krasinski resorts to the straight-man smirks and monotonous aplomb that always let Steve Carell hilariously make an ass of himself as the comedic life on the hit show. Can we really expect Krasinski to vigilantly pursue justice with a straight face, laying ruin to villains in the process?
Be sure to check out the Reel Deal next week for more info. Until then, here’s a fan-made image that perfectly contrasts Krasinski’s “Office” personality with the stoic determination of the crime-fighting patriot.
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