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After Evans’ turn as the obnoxious Human Torch in the lame Fantastic Four films, I was deeply skeptical that he was right for Cap, but he steps into the role like he was born for it. Startlingly persuasive computer effects allow the powerfully built Evans to play the scrawny Steve as well as the bulked-up Cap, but the technology is secondary to Evans’ appealing performance, which anchors the character through his transformation in a way that wouldn’t have worked swapping out different actors. Although the WWII milieu is filtered through comic-book sensibilities, the sci-fi elements feel as much like 1940s’ futurism as modern retro fantasy, accentuated by a World Fair-style “Modern Marvels Pavilion” technology expo featuring a strangely familiar Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper), whom you can easily see being the father of Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark. In some ways, Captain America is as gratifyingly old-fashioned as its hero, channeling 1940s’ Hollywood by way of Raiders of the Lost Ark, which director Joe Johnston worked on as an art director and visual effects professional, and which is overtly referenced a number of times. It’s easily the most satisfying origin story since Batman Begins, and the best chapter yet in the films of the “Marvel Cinematic Universe” converging on next year’s Avengers movie. Nimbly avoiding origin-story doldrums, the filmmakers whip up a consistently entertaining blend of period piece, war movie, sci-fi action flick and James Bond thriller that never feels like they’re just setting up pieces or plodding through predetermined plot points. Things do not go according to plan, and the upshot is that the Americans and the Germans each wind up with one super soldier apiece: Steve Rogers, who becomes Captain America, and Nazi officer Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving), the Red Skull.

military hopes to create an army of enhanced “super soldiers.” Naturally, the Germans, with their whole eugenic Aryan master-race thing, want the same thing. and brought with him research with which the U.S. Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci), an expatriate German scientist who defected to the U.S. That’s what brings Steve to the attention of Dr. Steve has all the responsibility in the world it’s the power that he lacks. Even Peter Parker, as nice a guy as he may have been before that spider bit him, had to learn the hard way that with great power comes great responsibility. What’s special about Steve is that he stands up for what’s right no matter how many times he gets knocked down.Īfter a rash of immature, bad-boy cinematic superheroes for whom responsibility is a bigger challenge than taking down supervillains - think Iron Man, Thor and Green Lantern - a hero for whom decency, humility and self-sacrifice come naturally is a breath of fresh air. Oh yes, that’s why more of us don’t object.īut this is what separates Steve from the rest of us: not that he’s bigger and stronger - on the contrary, he’s a proverbial 98-pound weakling with a host of health problems who keeps getting slapped with a 4-F classification (unfit for service), no matter how many times he tries to enlist. It’s a plea that falls on deaf ears: The next scene finds poor Steve in an alley behind the theater, enduring a nasty beat down from the noisy bully. His appeal is a plea for respect not only for other audience members, but for the nation, for the war effort, for the soldiers dying overseas. Steve’s agitation is compounded by what’s on the screen: a patriotic World War II newsreel celebrating the nation’s efforts to pull together for the war effort, down to children collecting scrap metal. Why don’t more of us object to that sort of behavior? How can any film lover resist such a hero? How many ringtones will echo in theaters showing Captain America this weekend? How many flashing handheld screens will distract viewers while their neighbors text or tweet about the movie or about what they had for dinner? A hero who champions respect, civility and silence in movie theaters is surely a hero for our times, even if the year is 1943 and there are no mobile phones yet.

“Hey, you wanna show some respect?” he appeals, not too hopefully. Early in Captain America: The First Avenger, we find Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) in a darkened movie theater unhappily protesting the boorish, disruptive behavior of another patron.