Movie Review: Captain America: The First Avenger

As far as I'm concerned, there aren't enough superhero and comic book movies, so when a new one comes out, I'm as happy as a hairless cat on a warm radiator. At least, my experience with hairless cats is that they are often very cold so they really, really enjoy a warm radiator. However, I also know that radiators can get very hot, but I just want everyone to know that I would never put a hairless cat on a hot radiator. I'm just saying that, under normal circumstances, a hairless cat is extremely happy on a warm radiator, which is how I felt about "Captain America: The First Avenger".

Chris Evans stars as the World War II superhero and he's the hunkiest hunk of hunkdom this side of Chris Klein and Christopher Nolan , which is absolutely awesome because everyone's first name is Chris. One of my favorite things about this movie is how it uses special effects to graft Chris's face on some guy's small, bony body. This is how we first meet Steve Rodgers because he tries to enlist during World War 2 and is rejected for being too small and too weak. You know who else was too small and two weak? The Mixed-up Chameleon. But he dreamed that he was a polar bear and Steve Rodgers dreamed his was a superhero and both of them made it so.

In Steve's case, he ends up in a special unit where Tommy Lee Jones is his commander and eventually he gets turned into the super-soldier, Captain America. Now, Captain America doesn't have any special powers except a whole heaping helping of American pride and a cool shield made out of Vibranium which has all sorts of cool properties, like bullets bounce off of it and it makes hot female scientists swoon. Anyway, Steve pops out of this machine, which is where the special effects come in because now he's all hunked out. So I suppose his super power is that he's a hunk.

Steve battles the Red Skull (Hugo Weaving) who's this sinister Nazi agent. The movie opens with the Red Skull leading Hydra troops to attack a Norwegian village where he believes a powerful object called "the Cube" to be. We get the sense that the Red Skull, otherwise known as Johann Schmidt, has become unhappy with the Nazis and is looking to make himself more powerful with this cube thing. The movie is wonderfully directed by Joe Johnston, who hasn't done a lot lately except for "Wolfman", but directed "Hidalgo" and "Jurassic Park 3", so he's a big-time director who knows what he's doing and it's great to have him back. We missed you, Joe!

Everyone will almost certainly enjoy the chemistry between Captain America and his sidekicks: Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), Union Jack (JJ Field) and Dum Dum Dungan (Neal McDonough). Steve is friends with Bucky before he hunks out, so it's great that fame doesn't ruin their friendship. They're just so wonderful together, providing not only physical support, but emotional support too. It's really a rare film that not only allows men to be men, but to also show their caring, understanding side. It's nice when you can go out and kill Nazis and then come back and have a male shoulder to cry on and discuss your PTSD.

Another great thing about this movie, especially if you're into comic books, is how it ties together elements of the Marvel universe so that "The Avengers" will make sense. For instance, the Captain's shield is made by Stark Industries, which is, of course, the same company that Robert Downey Jr. runs in "Iron Man". I love great movies that make you think of other great movies. It's like taking a great movie shower. I left the theater dripping in great movies feeling extremely wet.

So you're probably wondering how the Captain will make it to "The Avengers" if he's alive in the 1940's and "Iron Man" is in the present day. Well, the Captain is frozen and the Incredible Hulk shakes him loose in the arctic (not in this movie, but it's on the Incredible Hulk DVD in a cut scene). The movie actually opens in present day with the discovery of a bomber frozen in the Arctic. I won't say anymore and ruin things for anyone, but as you can see, the filmmakers have been planning this all out and it sounds awesome.

While you're waiting for "The Avengers", "Captain America: The First Avenger" will make that time pass so quick, you won't even realize there's a gap between the two. I wish there was a word that doubled the value of awesome because that's the word I'd use to describe "Captain America". For right now, I'll just have to use awesomeawesome.