Warning: This article contains spoilers
Captain America 4 was released, but the discussion on social media was so low that it was almost negligible. This is no wonder. I saw it with my own eyes in the cinema. The big screen was only showing the trailer of Nezha 2, and some children couldn't take their eyes off it or move their legs. "Haven't you seen it?" Even though their parents said so, the children still begged their parents to watch it for a while longer.
As popular as "Nezha" is, "Captain America" is as lost as he is. There were few people in the theater, but the next door was full of noise. As soon as you hear it, you know it's because of the cute "demon boy". It is said that superhero movies are gradually becoming lonely, but now, they don't even have a sense of existence.
Captain America 4 poster
Captain America 4 has a Douban score of only 5.3
But to be fair, this film is not as "bad" as imagined. At least it can be seen that the director still hopes to make some explorations on the artistic level.
Why do superhero movies make audiences feel aesthetic fatigue? The answer is of course that they are too routine and lack novelty. So, "Captain America 4" strives to make new attempts. Don't you all think that superheroes are too "great and glorious" and too stereotyped? This time, I will create a new protagonist who is very ordinary and always doubts himself, and then give you a new villain who looks very bad but is actually not that bad and is finally whitewashed. How about it, we can no longer say that superhero movies have no "depth", right?
However, the audience may not buy it. In the movie, the new Captain America, Sam Wilson, is like Xianglin Sao, who keeps telling others that he should get the super soldier serum like Steve Rogers. The implication is that I don’t have superpowers and am not as “powerful” as other superheroes, but at least I am brave, hardworking, and tenacious.
Stills from Captain America 4
Of course, we can understand the director's intention - the image of Captain America in the first three films is so classic and unforgettable that it is almost impossible to surpass him. Since he can't match him, he should honestly admit his weakness and find another way - to make Sam Wilson a superhero who represents all ordinary people, which is not glorious but down-to-earth.
However, this attempt is doomed to fail. In the Marvel Universe, Captain America has never been the most powerful one, but he was able to gather so many teammates with different personalities and tempers around him and condense the "Avengers" into a real team, relying on his unparalleled personal charm. In this case, how can a protagonist who is always entangled in questions such as "Can I be the Captain America" and "What kind of Captain America should I be" convince others?
By the same token, how can a villain who is wavering even in his own life philosophy resonate with the audience?
Stills from Captain America 4
It was a brilliant move to cast Harrison Ford in the role of General Ross. The stilted and pretentious father-daughter relationship in the movie would have been horrible without the acting support of this veteran superstar. But his efforts could not cover up the contradiction in the character's behavior logic - since he always emphasized that he wanted to be a "good man", why did he persecute Samuel Stern in such a cruel way? Since he always talked about "dedicating everything to the country", how could he provoke conflicts between countries and not take national security risks seriously?
Rather than saying that the failure in character creation mentioned above is due to the director's lack of skill or the inherent defects of the script, it is better to say that "Captain America 4" is the most vivid portrayal of the current dilemma of superhero movies - the creative team has fallen into serious confusion, and has become hesitant and timid under the backdrop of such subject matter being criticized.
Therefore, the new Captain America can only rely on self-deprecation to resolve embarrassment, and on sensationalism to win the audience's approval. Even the final battle was won by talking instead of strength. Such a protagonist who works hard but is cowardly, brave but weak, naturally finds it difficult to escape the public's complaints.
Superhero movies have reached a dead end, and the once golden brand "Captain America" is already in jeopardy.
Stills from Captain America 4
Compare it with the hero Nezha who shouts "My destiny is in my own hands", resolutely implements his life philosophy, and accurately hits the emotional demands of modern people; and then compare it with Ao Guang who appears to be aloof but loves his son dearly, and Shen Gongbao who seems insidious but is actually kind-hearted, and everyone will understand that "Captain America 4" did not lose unjustly.
In comparison, the rough scenery, cheap special effects, and substandard action scenes in this film all seem less important. The two so-called "highlights" in the film, the naval battle between the US and Japanese fleets and fighter planes, are very plastic; the duel between Captain America and Red Hulk is very perfunctory. It is said that the film received extremely bad feedback after the preview, so a large area of reshoots had to be carried out, but from the final effect, everyone felt a little absent-minded and uninspired.
Marvel movies are released one after another, with lower ratings and worse box office. According to public reports, the filming of the new "Avengers" is not far away, and even veterans like Robert Downey Jr. have been invited to save the day. But if Marvel's attitude towards the audience does not change qualitatively, how can it "change fate"?
Stills from Captain America 4
Of course, superhero movies still have two "lifelines". One is called "parallel universe". The Marvel Universe is already bloated, and any narrative problems that cannot be explained logically are thrown into it; the other is "reboot". DC is seeing its fortunes going downhill, so it simply started from scratch, trying to win back the audience's favor with a group of fresh faces.
But none of them touch upon the fundamental flaws of superhero movies. Perhaps the lame political, spy, and palace fighting scenes in Captain America 4 can be the most vivid footnote to this. In this day and age, how can such important issues as maintaining world peace and allocating world resources be decided by a single country or a few superheroes?
In this regard, the metaphors summarized by some netizens for "Nezha 2" may be a bit far-fetched, but the emotions revealed in them are very real - the superhero is like the "Wulian Immortal" who is full of benevolence, righteousness and morality, and he should be beaten up and wake up.
