Helming Cap

After months of agonizing over who would take Captain America to new heights or new lows, the question has finally been answered. Steve Rogers and his alter ego will be brought to the silver screen by Joe Johnston, director of films like The Rocketeer, October Sky and Jurassic Park III. Still waiting on the man who will assume the mantle of one of the greatest of all superheroes, this can, I believe, be seen as good news. At the very least, it is not catastrophic news, there is no murderous intent, no crazy-eyed rage building up in my inner geek, although my feeling is less than ecstasy. Good directors have been known to make bad movies and mediocre directors have been known to make good movies. Personally I would say Johnston gravitates towards the former and he is certainly not the disaster that certain other directorial choices would have been.

For whatever its worth, I really enjoyed The Rocketeer for its fantasy and period nostalgia, an adventure with Tommy guns that took you soaring through the skies and battling, incidentally, the same kind of Nazi subversion Steve Rogers himself will be duking it out with come 2011. Johnston has also shown to be capable not just of high flying, explosive adventure but also character driven stories and science fiction/action-adventure that manages to develop and explore its characters, namely October Sky and Jurassic Park III. Johnston was also responsible for the steely eyed determination driving Hidalgo that is not that far off from the endless willpower of Steve Rogers. If he can guide the unity of man and horse to effectively triumph over the desert and enemies around every corner, I have faith in Johnston and in Hollywood for choosing him to helm the soldier boy from another age who fights for freedom and justice with every breath, to the last and beyond. Provided the rest of the puzzle falls in place, I think Captain America will be the Sentinel of Liberty he was always meant to be.