'Captain America:The First Avenger'

'Captain America:The First Avenger'  (PG-13)  (3 stars)

Writers: Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely
Director: Joe Johnston
Starring: Chris Evans, Tommy Lee Jones, Hayley Atwell, Hugo Weaving,  Stanley Tucci, Dominic
Cooper, Toby Jones, Neal McDonough, Sebastian Stan

"Captain America:The First Avenger" is a breath of fresh air after the last few weak superhero movies and the horrendous "Transformers 3". This is what an action movie should look and feel like and I won't compare it to a classic but it reminded me of "Raiders of the Lost Ark".  I am a little tired of the action movies and fantasies this summer. Everything is either so ordinary or so cluttered with bad action scenes that are a mess and make no sense. Here is an old fashioned action adventure and it is fitting that it is set in the 40's when movies were simply entertaining instead of over stuffed.

"Captain America" is part of "The Avengers" series of superhero movies coming after the fantastic "Ironman" and the so so "Thor". "Captain America" is probably the squarest of all these Avengers but the movie is almost as good as "Ironman" and much better than "Thor" and both Hulk movies. It tells the story of Steve Rogers who is a 90 pound weakling who enlists in the army. Steve is obviously too weak for the Army but through his determination and guts he is invited into a program run by Colonel Phillips. The Colonel  does not see anything in Steve and thinks a joke is being played on him. Through a secret government experiment Steve is transformed into a hulking warrior and becomes Captain America. Captain America is born to fight a band of Nazis led by the evil Johaan Scmidt who will be transformed into an ugly and scary looking Red Skull.

One reason I love this movie is that I am a sucker for good guys battling Nazis. I also love that the movie is set in the 1940's and the look of this movie is beautiful. The cinematography is crisp, the art direction is meticulous and I love how Captain America uses his shield as a weapon. There are some compelling and rousing action scenes as Captain America uses his shield as a weapon. There is also a novel ideal here that most action movies in the past few years have forgotten, it keeps the action simple and you can actually follow what's going on. There are also some cool and awesome planes and flight sequences that are thrilling.

"Captain America" also thrives on what all great superhero movies thrive on, an effective and dangerous villain. While Steve Rogers is transformed into the beefed up and powerful Captain America, Schmidt is transformed into the manaical and creepy Red Skull. Hugo Weaving (The Matrix) is just right as Red Skull. He doesn't ham it up, he is effectively dangerous and he brings just the right amount of menace. Chris Evans plays Captain America and he is good but he doesn't command the screen and he is not as memorable as Robert Downey Jr was in "Ironman" and that cripples the movie a little. Tommy Lee Jones is as always great with his usual dry humor and coolness. Jones could play this role in his sleep and besides James Garner I can't think of any other actor that is as natural or as easy to listen to as Jones is. Hayley Atwell plays the love interest and she is attractive but like Evans she needed to make more of an impression.

So what you have here is a fun, old fashioned action adventure that has a great look and wonderful special effects and action scenes. You have the best villain out of any of the "Avengers" movies in Hugo Weaving and small, funny performances by Tommy Lee Jones and Stanley Tucci. The director Joe Johnston made another old fashioned superhero movie that I loved back in 1991 called "The Rocketeer" which I gave 4 stars to. That is a very under rated cult movie that also has Nazis as bad guys, some great cinematography and art direction and a sense of old fashioned fun. Johnston was the perfect choice to direct "Captain America". I also see a movie that is fun for the whole family to go to instead of this summer's crap that has been shoved down their throat lately.

P.S. If you stay in the theatre after the end credits you get to see a very amusing teaser trailer for "The Avengers" movie that comes out next year and teams Ironman, The Hulk, Thor and Captain America with a few others.