8! Monday, July 25, 2011 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 'Breaking Bad' breaks the mold "No, the 'A' does not stand for asshole!" Aye, aye 'Captain' Marvel infuses heart and soul into 'The First Avenger' By KAVI SHEKHAR PANDEY Senior Arts Editor Captain America shouldn't work in the 21st century, neither as a comic book character nor as an action movie hero.* Alongside his superhuman C abilities, he's super demure, America: Te super whole- First Avenger some and idealistic to At Quality16 the point of and Rave naivety - a propagandis- Patamoant tic product of the 1940s that doesn't fit in today's jaded, post-ironic, post-everything world. But look around at America nowadays - embroiled in three unpopular wars and facing a debt crisis machinated by politicians more concerned with their own futures than the country's - and the entrance of Captain America and his unsullied righteousness into the public's consciousness has never been more appropriate. And that's just the character - in our grim cinematic climate, where summer blockbusters are defined by CGI running reckless with abandon, the old-school filmmak- ing of "Captain America: The First Avenger" is exactlywhatthe indus- try needs right now. The great, creative victory of "Captain America," brought to you by the quality-cognizant execu- tives at Marvel Studios, was stick- ing to the character's true origins and setting the film in the midst of World War II. It was a time when bad was bad, good was good, and the best of them was Steve Rogers (Chris Evans, "Push"), a scrawny kid from Brooklyn with the eye of the tiger, the heart of a lion and the physical prowess of a 12-year-old child. For his intangibles, Rogers is chosen as the prototype for the government's "Super-Soldier" pro- gram, which transforms him into, well, a super soldier destined to lay the smackdown on those damn, dirty Germans. Yes, those dastardly Nazis are at it again (technically an uber- evil faction of them), making this a retro story in the best sense of the word, filmed in an exception- ally retro way. Director Joe John- ston, who was the art director for "Raiders of the Lost Ark," per- missibly cribs from Indy's great- est adventure with minimal use of CGI, elaborate sets and grandly choreographed action sequences that graciously subvert the trend of shooting action like a chimpanzee- on-crack-with-a-camera would. When Captain America thwaks fools with his star-spangled shield, every millisecond of the combat is seenin all of its full-throttled glory. Old-fashioned action has never felt so refreshing. Marvel movies have an uncanny ability to fill out its cast with Hol- lywood's finest character actors, and for the first time, the pres- ence feels justifiable. "Captain America" struts out Tommy Lee Jones ("The Fugitive") and Stan- ley Tucci ("The Lovely Bones"), who bring their standard gravitas to pivotal roles, peppering the film with quality quips. Hugo Weaving ("The Matrix") plays the Red Skull of every neck-bearded comic book fan's dreams, seething menace, but creating a whole new monster than his iconic Agent Smith. The Red Skull's quest for global dominance with his secret weapon is where the film notably falters. It's a fairly nonsensical plot device that is never acceptably explained, severely diminishing the stakes throughout the movie. But the stakes are stabilized by the ter- rific love story between Rogers and Peggy Carter (Hayley Altwell, "The Pillars of the Earth") the va- va-voom British soldier who does her part to make the phrase "dam- sel in distress" obsolete. Evans brings a lot to what is essentially a perfect depiction of Captain America, and his earnest relation- ship with Peggy is one of the best. among all comic book adaptations. As the final tile in the Marvel movie mosaic, and though it clear- ly sets up for next year's team-up "The Avengers," "Captain Ameri- ca" stands on its own. As enjoyable as "Iron Man" and "Thor" were, "Captain America" is the only one of the lot with the heart and soul characteristic of the Avengers' leader. When asked why he wants to fight, Steve Rogers responds, "I don't like bullies," reflecting the unequivocal steadfastness of the United States in the '40s. Now, 70 years later, global perception is clear that we've become those bullies. If we want to change as a country, we're all going to have to find a little captain inside of us. Are y fillment sion idi Then some where and a Men" served drive-th McDona dumb c televisio eight s now. Of, like you HBO. R rage" an ing into this sou definitel ing Bad nuanced morally, still man A hig er diagn cer begi chemica his fami therapy] title is a ring to a to thec By DAVID TAO himhe sends Pinkman his replace- Daily Film Editor ment's home with a handgun. The new premier gives us most- ou a fan of petty wish-ful- ly falling action. We see White, ? Do you like your televi- ever the "I'm-smarter-than-you" otic and inconsequential? educator, lecturing his captors on watch why - now that his replacement CBS, has a hole where his brain used to "Two be - he's as indispensable as ever. Half We see White's family, wonder- has Breaking Bad ing where he is and why his car is as the Season Four parked in the driveway. And we rough Premier see Pinkman, scarred after his ld's of first murder, stumbling around in omfort Sundays at10 p.m shock, eyes red, face numb. n for AMC Still, it all bubbles along, slowly easons but surely, due mainly to Crans- if you ton's sheer thespian brilliance. As r stuff a little edgier, get Pinkman also is found by White's umor has it that "Entou- captors, we can almost see the d "True Blood" are turn- inside of Walt's mind, as Crans- things you might like. If ton conveys a mixture of surprise, nds like you, what you're disbelief and pragmatic calcula- y not looking for is "Break- tion. As the minutes tick by slowly, ," a show that, while as White's protests become louder, as "The Sopranos" and as more frequent and more desperate, ambiguous as "Mad Men," tempering his pretentious chemist ages to kick like a mule. fagade with increasing quantities h school chemistry teach- . of "please, please, please don't kill nosed with terminal can- us." It's realistically understated, ns cooking sweet, sweet, yet simultaneously ominous. It's illy pure meth to support not entirely surprising when the ly and pay for the chemo- show finally decides to tear open he can't afford. The show's a sickening gash into a character's Southern expression refer- throat with a box-cutter, but it has person going bad, and true the same cinematic intensity as a colloquialism, the fateful hammer to the nuts. decision to cook transforms for- mer teacher Walter White (Bryan Cranston, "Malcolm in the Mid- dle") into a criminal mastermind, a walking id and a wannabe Scar- face. He turns down his friends' charity in favor of his jury-rigged meth lab, lies to his wife and son, hides in plain site from his DEA agent brother-in-law and misses the birth of his daughter due to his newfound fondness for criminal enterprise. Over the course of three seasons, White's life takes deeper, darker turns, as he and his accomplice, Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul, "Big Love"), ride their wave of crystal through multiple drug lord clients. White chillingly deflects the col- lateral damage of his actions, such as a wife who wants a divorce and a brother-in-law targeted by the cartel, with cheap excuses ("I'm a manufacturer, not a dealer!"). And when his boss decides to replace Four seasons, so much meth. There's no show without White, so it's not really a spoiler to say that the dead body isn't him, though he6 and Pinkman are stuck cleaningup the mess. But these aren't the same starry-eyed entrepreneurs we saw years ago. They've broken bad for good, and disposing of bodies is becoming routine. As the show's latest corpse dissolves in a barrel ofO hydrofluoric acid, a throwback to an earlier, fatal mishap, they brush off their employer's concern about the acid's effectiveness with some of the most disturbing words of the episode. "Trust us."