CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER

(12A) 124mins

Director: Joe Johnston

Starring: Chris Evans, Hayley Atwell, Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving

ANOTHER of the summer’s big blockbusters has arrived. providing plenty of action and a decent storyline that sticks pretty close to the original concept.

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For those of you who aren’t comic fans, Captain America has been going since 1941 and was a big success during the second world war with his patriotic costume and perfect lifestyle that symbolised the very best of the USA.

After the war his character fell out of favour and he only gathered new momentum as leader of The Avengers - a gang of super heroes.

The movie is, of course, a lead up to next year’s Avengers film (with Thor, Iron Man the Hulk etc) but it’s a good introduction to the ‘First Avenger’.

Evans has the right amount of humility and bravado to make the character believeable and he’s helped by some excellent support from the likes of Tommy Lee Jones as his grizzled Army superior, Sebastian Stan as his friend ‘Bucky’ and Hayley Atwell as English spy and love interest Peggy Carter.

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We follow Steve Rogers (Evans) as he attemts to join the Army during WWII, but he’s too weak.

However, he is determined to sign on the dotted line despite being turned down every time.

But he is spotted as having some excellent qualities and becomes part of a secret experiment that transforms him into a ‘super soldier’.

Enter baddie Red Skull (Weaving) who wants to rule the world and the result is a thrill a minute ride.

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There’s a nice touch of humour throughout which relieves the tension superbly.

As with all these recent Marvel Comic movies there is an added extra after the credits but on this occasion it’s mostly a trailer for The Avengers.

four out of five stars

Steve Payne

Screening courtesy of Cineworld Crawley