Captain America Throws A Mighty Shield

Captain America: The First Avenger
Currently Playing At AMC Fullerton
Paramount (125 min.)
Directed by Joe Johnston
With Chris Evans, Hugo Weaving
125 min.; PG-13
Four Scoops of Bosco

If anyone ever needed a superhero to step in and save the day — well, it’d probably be the people making superhero movies during this not-exactly-inspiring year.

So here — hooray! — comes “Captain America: The First Avenger.” The film is currently playing at the AMC Fullerton Theaters. See our movie section in the sidebar for Showtimes.

And while he can’t quite vanquish our bad memories of “The Green Hornet,” at least he can remind us of the genre’s original, innocent appeal.

Perhaps that’s because, although there’s a brief framing sequence, the script doesn’t try to immediately update the good Captain to 2011. This is a ’40s story, as a draft-board reject volunteers for an experiment — and finds himself turned into a super-strong soldier, and a celebrity.

But he soon abandons his stage show (although he keeps the costume) to take on the one-man German army known as the Red Skull.

The mix of WWII style and flashy modern eye candy is no surprise coming from director Joe Johnston. The former effects guy directed the retro cult fave “The Rocketeer”; he’s also helmed modern big-ticket movies such as “Jumanji.” He’s comfortable in both worlds.

Style and action are the main parts of this movie, too, and true to what many fans found in those Golden Age comics to begin with — awesome inventions, and wild clashes between pure-in-heart heroes and sadistic villains. (The angst and trauma and gray areas — those came later.)

Where the film falters a bit is the casting.

Most of the supporting actors are fine. Tommy Lee Jones is quietly funny as the Captain’s superior officer; Hugo Weaving plays the fierce Red Skull without a wink. (Only German scientist Stanley Tucci — coasting on und corny accent, yah? — seems content to merely cash his check.)

But while he’s sympathetic as the “98-pound weakling,” once he becomes our pumped-up Captain, Chris Evans is pretty much just a simple cut of prime rib. And Hayley Atwell brings nothing to the part of the British agent who’s supposed to be Captain America’s great love.

That’s a real failing for this film — although some fans kvetched about “Thor” and “Green Lantern,” you couldn’t say their love stories disappointed. But the romance here — which is an important part of who Captain America becomes — has no fire.

In fact, the strongest love visible on-screen is Johnston’s for his own work — and sometimes it gets a little cloying.

To have a character offhandedly refer to other Nazis looking for occult relics in the desert is appropriate and fun; Johnston did effects on “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” To steal a major scene from that film for an ending, though, isn’t an homage; it’s like showing your hostess how much you liked her party by pilfering a teaspoon.

But if you stop looking for what you’ve come to like about superhero films as an adult (dashing leads, sly wit, bittersweet romance) and concentrate on what you liked about comic books as a kid (good guys, bad guys and action), “Captain America” won’t disappoint.

And for once, that obligatory last-minute appearance by Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury does what it’s supposed to do — put you in the mood for next year’s all-star superhero ensemble, “The Avengers.”

Reviewed by Stephen Whitty
Whitty writes film reviews for the Star-Ledger