Captain America (IMDB)
Superhero movies are a ten a penny these days, and this slice of franchise partly-entertained me one evening in a hotel in Basingstoke before Christmas.
Essentially, the second half conforms to the genre: action, explosions, travel, resolution of secondary plots with mechanised predictability, and a respected thespian cutting loose as the baddie.
But what really got me hooked was the great character relationship between the professor and the scrawny hero-in-waiting, who asks, ‘why me?’
The professor explains that only he, of all the candidates, knows what weakness is like. ‘They’re all bullies; they will take their new power for granted.’
That’s such a great set up and I would have loved to see it explored in greater depth. While I don’t know the history of the Avengers, and maybe that’s the role he goes on to take amongst their ranks, this seemed much richer and more fertile territory than that which the film went on to bulldoze its way through. I guess the rights and privileges of inherited benefit are difficult to discuss when Hugo Weaving is peeling his face off opposite you, and there’s a multiplex queue behind you. But what a great iconic debate for the Captain of America: from weakness to strength in one bound. (Which reminds me, I must remember to check out Chronicle)
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The Bush of Goats 