ACTION; 2hr 4min
STARRING: Chris Evans, Hugo Weaving, Hayley Atwell
Captain, my captain! From left, Evans, Ronan Raftery and Atwell
Steve Rogers (Evans), the archetypal Mr Feeble, wants only to fight in World War II. Slipped a chance by a visionary scientist (Stanley Tucci), Rogers is a predictable physical disaster during training. But he plainly has a hero’s heart, hence his selection as a test subject for a cellular enhancement serum, from which he emerges in an electrified blaze as hunkily buffed and impressively speedy.
After a brief and awkward spell hyping the war effort in tights and boots as showman Captain America, Steve, who still hankers for the real stuff, is off on an unauthorised rescue mission that pits him against a crazed Nazi, Johann Schmidt (Weaving, stupendous in a fierce prosthetic), and his state-of-the-dark-arts weaponry.
Directed by Jumanji ’s Joe Johnston, Captain America isn’t out to dig deep: it’s more than happy as a solid chunk of Good vs Evil with a bunch of neat machines. And good for it! Nowhere but in the turbo-charged domain of Marvel Studios does a 90-pound asthmatic Brooklyn weakling sprout instant brawn, save a bunch of lives, right unspeakable wrongs and get the perma-lipsticked girl (Atwell), all while maintaining his sangfroid in the sort of camptastic getup only a Real Man could pull off.
