I’ve been reading a fair amount of Captain America comics, and I had looked up Strucker on Wikipedia. There, I saw that Strucker had been portrayed in this movie, which I had no idea existed. This is remarkable. It was straight to TV, released in May of 1998. While Blade is usually credited with kicking off Marvel’s movie success, Blade was released theatrically in August. Even more amazing is that both of these movies were written by David S. Goyer, who went on to write Batman Begins, the story for Dark Knight, Ghost Rider, and strangely, Dark City.
This movie continues the tradition of superhero movies that started back with the 80s Captain America movie. It’s disappointing for the fans of the subject. But it’s actually a bridge between that point, and the fan service and budget needed to safely realize the subject matter. There are supporting characters - Dugan, Viper, Strucker, Arnim Zola. We get to see the Helicarrier. Life Model Decoys! But the weakness is that the story focuses on pleasing the cheap action flick fans, but doesn’t have the budget to do that.
The plot has to do with Hydra wanting to release a biological weapon in New York. Fury has to track down the Hydra headquarters while another group has to find where the weapon is being transported into NY from.
It’s deeply flawed, but it hits all of the expected beats, so it’s strangely satisfying, even as it struggles to be interesting. The highlight of the movie comes near the end, as the action gets a little more satisfying, even though the pacing is still very slow.
I’m amazed this movie exists, and I’m surprised it isn’t more widely known. It isn’t a high point for Marvel, but it’s probably more watchable than the 80s Captain America movie.
And I love the tagline “The Last Superhero!”
No comments:
Post a Comment