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Released by: MGM Limited Edition Collection
Released on: 8/15/2011
Director: Albert Pyun
Cast: Matt Salinger, Ronny Cox, Ned Beatty, Darren McGavin
Year: 1990
The Movie:
Directed by the mighty Albert Pyun and based on the long running Marvel Comics series of the same name, Captain America stars Matt Salinger as Steve Rogers (a role that was supposedly offered to Val Kilmer, Dolph Lundgren and Arnold Schwarzenegger before going to Salinger), an incredibly patriotic American soldier serving his country during the Second World War. Rogers is enlisted to take part in the Super Soldier program, in which he's a guinea pig for some experiments which turn him into the ultimate fighting machine. Once the experiments are complete, and successful, he serves his country as Captain America, a guy in a rubber suit with wings on his head who is able to wield a star spangled shield with deadly precision.
Unfortunately for Captain America there exists a German supervillain named The Red Skull (Scott Paulin) is way too keen on launching rockets at the good guys. He heads off to beat the Skull before it's too late and winds up being frozen in the ice of Alaska, locked in suspended animation for the better part of fifty years - and then he wakes up. Unsure of what has happened since his hibernation, Rogers understandably goes out to look for the woman that he was engaged to marry while being tailed by a noisy reporter named Sam Kolawetz (Ned Beatty) before coming to the attention of the current President of the United States, tom Kimball (Ronny Cox). Kimball remembers Captain America from his childhood and has nothing but respect for him, unlike a current military big wig, General Fleming (Darren McGavin), who may know more about the Captain's past than he lets on. What Rogers soon learns is that the Red Skull is still around and still up to his old tricks. Sure he may have had plastic surgery and wear designer suits instead of a Nazi uniform, but he's still evil - and this time he wants to take out the President himself.
Widely regarded as a serious cinematic turkey, Pyun's Captain America is… messy. Very messy. Beatty's character serves little purpose, removed from the film before his various conspiracy theories can really add much to the already muddled plot. For some reason the Red Skull is an Italian in this movie, why that is remains a bit of a mystery to this writer, and in the 90s era scenes, he's not so much a red skull as he is a pink goof. As to Cap himself? He's a bit grumpy, really, upset that the Japanese make things that America does not and unhappy about the way that the modern world has evolved without him. You could read this as a missive about the degradation of American values between the decades that passed, of you could just figure Cap is a curmudgeon. Either way, Salinger at least looks right for the part, even if the rubber suit he runs around in is even goofier than the Red Skull's costume.
As hokey as all of this is, however, the movie is completely watchable, fun even. Paulin is obviously having a blast playing the bad guy here, throwing himself into the role with seemingly no regard whatsoever for the ridiculousness of what is being asked of him in the part - and so much the better. There are some fun action scenes here and some interesting shots of Cap in action - and there's a cool rat monster thing in the opening scene that's kind of spooky in a nifty practical effects sort of way. Pyun has gone on record saying that the production company who backed this movie (which included such luminaries as Stan Lee and Menahem Golan, formerly of Golan Globus fame!) so that's probably why the movie feels incomplete, almost like a work print more so than a finished product.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Captain America is presented in a 1.33.1 fullframe transfer that looks like it was taken from a good master tape source rather than a film print. As such, it's a bit on the soft side and some of the darker scenes are very dark indeed. So while those expecting a pristine remaster are surely going to be bummed out by this news, well, the good news is that this version does look quite a bit better than the various grey market versions and bootlegs that have been making the rounds at conventions and on torrent sides. You can see what's going on without having to look past tracking lines and drop outs and everything is perfectly watchable - just keep your expectations in check.
The only audio option is an English language Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo track, there are no dubbed alternate language options provided nor are there any subtitles. Clarity of the track isn't bad, there are some noticeable left to right pans that help add to the action scenes and dialogue is generally pretty clear. There are a few scenes where the effects and the score bury the performers a bit but outside of that the movie sounds fine.
Extras consist of a static menu and a trailer for the feature.
The Final Word:
This one really would have benefited from an Albert Pyun commentary or some sort of contextual extra features but that didn't happen - hey, at least the trailer is here. The presentation is better than what's been available previously, and on top of that it's also authorized and legal, so that's a plus. As to the movie itself? It's good, goofy entertainment, emphasis on goofy.
