CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER is an exciting, riveting movie about the origin of the first Marvel superhero. It’s surprisingly romantic and bittersweet at times, but there is some foul language, however.

The movie opens in present day with a group of men uncovering a strange aircraft in the snow with Captain America’s shield inside. Cut to Norway in 1942, where Johann Schmidt, the ruthless leader of Hydra, Hitler’s advanced science program, finds a power cube that supposedly belonged to Odin, the legendary Norse god.

Cut to New York City. Scrawny Steve Rogers is turned down once again for the Army. He even gets beaten up in the alley, until his friend, Private Bucky Barnes, comes to his rescue. Bucky asks Steve to help him escort two ladies to the exposition and a dance afterwards. Steve reluctantly goes, but then he runs out to the nearby recruiter’s station to try getting into the Army again.

Steve tries to change his name, but they figure out who he is and lock him into a room. There’s he’s visited by Dr. Abraham Erskine. Dr. Erskine recruits Steve to take part in a super soldier program. Steve’s tenacity and guts not only impress Erskine. They also impress Lt. Peggy Carter, a beautiful British female agent, and the reluctant general in charge of the program.

They pick Steve to be the first soldier to get a serum that will turn him into a muscular soldier with extraordinary abilities. The serum works perfectly on Steve, but a double agent kills Dr. Erskine, takes one serum bottle while destroying the rest and runs out. In a terrific chase scene, Steve goes after the spy. He eventually captures him, but serum bottle is destroyed and the German spy crunches a cyanide pill while muttering, “Hail Hydra!”

Since the Army can’t really use only one super soldier, they put Steve into the propaganda machine selling war bonds as “Captain America.” The government thinks Steve will do more for the war effort there than anywhere else.

Steve grows to like his job, but, when he goers to Italy with the USO, he finds that all the soldiers want to see is the dancing girls in the show. Then, Steve learns that Hydra has virtually wiped out his friend Bucky’s unit and Bucky is missing. With Peggy’s help, and the help of Tony “Iron Man” Stark’s father, Howard, Steve secretly goes behind enemy lines to rescue Bucky and any other soldier held prisoner at the nearest Hydra facility.

There, Steve finds Bucky and a lot of other POWs. While releasing them, Steve encounters Johann Schmidt. Schmidt reveals that he had received a prototype of Erskine’s super solider serum, which has disfigured his real face and earned Schmidt the nickname “Red Skull.”

Steve successfully rescues Bucky and the other POWs. Steve, Bucky and some of the other POWs form a special commando team to destroy Hydra and defeat Red Skull’s plans to rule the world himself, without his fuehrer, Hitler.

CAPTAIN AMERICA is super exciting. The filmmakers focus on story and character. They take the time to develop their characters. This tactic pays off big time later when the action goes into hyper drive. It also gives their ending a lot of heart. Chris Evans does a fine job as Captain America, and the rest of the cast is also practically perfect. There is some foul language, however. Also, when Red Skull reveals his deformed face, younger children may find that scary.

That said, CAPTAIN AMERICA delivers an inspiring patriotic punch. Steve Rogers is a hero for everyone, a hero to cheer. It will be fun to see Captain America in action again.