Director Joe Johnston (The Wolf Man) and screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (who previously collaborated on all three Chronicles of Narnia movies) have their work cut out for them in updating the good Captain to something more accessible and acceptable in a more cynical, post-9/11 era. Interestingly, they change virtually nothing about the character or his origins, sticking with the same basic scenario first cooked up at Timely Comics (Marvel’s predecessor) back in 1941 where, presciently anticipating eventual U.S. involvement in World War II, they wanted to create a blatantly political, jingoistic superhero. Instead of dialing down or somehow complicating Captain America’s fervid patriotism, Johnston and company actually accentuate the character’s old-fashioned decency and resilience while also amping up the nostalgia factor via the film’s sepia tones and digital Brooklyn backdrops that effectively evoke Golden Age movie memories (the cinematography is by Shelly Johnson, who previously worked with Johnston on The Wolf Man, Hidalgo, and Jurassic Park III). Of course, costume designer Anna B. Sheppard (who recently dressed Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds) knows enough to avoid directly recreating the Captain America costume, with its blue tights, red pirate boots, U.S. flag torso, and silly headpiece with the little wings on the temples. The only time that get-up makes an appearance is during an amusing mid-film development in which Rogers assumes the propagandistic mantle of U.S. Bond spokeshero in a series of gaudy USO song-and-dance shows. When he finally goes into real battle, he dons a modified blue U.S. Army helmet and leather-and-canvas duds that are visually reminiscent of the original costume, but are more organically connected to the rest of the military gear around him.

The villain is Johann Schmidt, also known as Red Skull (Hugo Weaving), who, like Captain America, is a product of scientific experimentation resulting in superhuman power, albeit in his case with the bad side effect of a crimson, skull-like visage--a visual literalization of his moral rottenness. Schmidt, who conducts scientific research for the Nazis before breaking free of the Third Reich and creating his own army known as Hydra, is obsessed with an ancient artifact that gives him and his weapons frightening levels of power that he plans to aim at all the major capitals of the world. Thus, it is up to Captain America and his renegade team of rescued soldiers (including his childhood friend “Bucky” Barnes, played by James Buchanan) to stop him in appropriately spectacular fashion. Johnston stages some effective action sequences, including an aerial battle and an assault on a high-speed train tearing through the snowy Alps, and he also throws in a little color via an impressive line-up of actors not normally seen in superhero movies, including Tommy Lee Jones as a gruff colonel (is there any other kind?), Toby Jones as Red Skull’s bespectacled righthand man, Stanley Tucci as the German scientist who transforms Rogers from a weakling into a heroic slab of beef, and Dominic Cooper as the brilliant industrialist Howard Stark, who comic book fans know is the father of he-who-will-become-Iron Man.

There is a requisite love interest in Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), a perfectly lip-sticked British officer who appreciates Steve’s fundamental human decency, and their attraction actually carries some poignancy due to Steve’s continued awkwardness in the romance department despite his new Charles Atlas body. In this regard, one must note the effectiveness of the Benjamin Button digital wizardry that reduces actor Chris Evans (who previously played the egotistic Human Torch in the two Fantastic Four movies) by more than 100 pounds and a foot in height during the film’s opening sequences; seeing the same boyish face on both scrawny and bulky bodies reminds us that, despite his transformation, Steve is still the same heartfelt, determined nerd who wants to fight against bullies of any stripe (in this respect, Evans performance is quite good, even though he’s essentially playing the world’s strongest Boy Scout). It’s all very upstanding and moral, but one wishes that Captain America had some kind of flaw, some kind of weakness or challenge or at least an inkling of self-doubt, to make him feel a little bit more like he’s one of us.

Copyright ©2011 James Kendrick

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