★★★★

Captain America is a fun, old fashioned, movie that is full of action. Its director, Joe Johnston (The Rocketeer), has created a movie that is unique, and nothing like you have seen, and is a “give ‘em what they want blockbuster”.

The movie has a wholesome feel to it, and is set back in 1942, during the time of Word War II, complete with Nazis, and old fashioned USO shows. Captain America is a comic super hero, first created by Marvel Comics 70 years ago. In this film, Captain America, played by Chris Evans,  is a fit, athletic, soldier in the US Army, who is becomes bionic, and soon a superhero. He has attributes that are similar to the Six Million Dollar Man, and jumps, flies through the air with his motorcycle, and beats the bad guys to a pulp. He’s a virtual one-man army, and defends himself with his shield of stars and stripes, which is made of tough metal, in fact the toughest of earth!

Prior to becoming the amazing super hero that Captain America is, the movie depicts his experiences as the typical 98-pound weakling, Steve Rogers. He’s a scrawny, 5 foot 4, runt of a man who wants to serve his country during it’s time of need, and tries to do all that he can to get enlisted in the US Army. Through cgi, Chris Evan’s face is put on the body of this teenager, who means well.

Once injected with a special serum, and then jolted with “Vita-Ray”, Steve becomes an amazing Adonis, and goes from someone the US Army would previously reject, to ready to serve. Colonel Phillips (Tommy Lee Jones), is at first unable to figure out what to do with this new “super-soldier”. (Originally, he wanted a complete army of them, but that didn’t work out well.) So, before Captain America becomes the heroic figure that he is, the army puts him to work by having him perform in stage shows, in the hopes that he’ll help sell more war bonds. This makes us want to see him break out, and become the super hero we all know he is, and kick ass.

The Nazis have created a secret weapon of their own, called the HYDRA, which they planned to drop on various American cities. Red Skull, who thinks he has harnessed the power of the gods, is the mastermind of the project, and he has all of the elements of a good James Bond villain.

Although the movie could have used more wit, and the script is pretty simple, Captain America is still a fun, old-fashioned blockbuster, that delivers.