Comic book fanboy salutes Chris Evans' turn as 'Captain America'

Captain America': Stand and salute

Captain America avenges summer's sodden comic-book adaptations like Green Lantern and deadening combat spectacles like Transformers with a jaunty, retro style and stirring World War II story.

Yes, the characters are cartoonish (they're comic book heroes, after all), but this is the kind of old-fashioned popcorn entertainment summer is made for.

As the titular comic book character, Chris Evans has an appealing, earnest quality, whether he's playing the digitally enhanced (reduced?) scrawny Steve Rogers or the well-muscled super-soldier dubbed Captain America. Evans provides just the right human anchor to the flash and dazzle of director Joe Johnstons's production. The movie wouldn't work without Evans' likability and the sense of integrity he projects, as well as his all-American good looks.

• VIDEO: Preview 'Captain America'

But before we even meet our hero, the story focuses on a group of present-day soldiers who find a shield frozen in the Arctic. The timing switches to 1942, where we meet renegade Nazi Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving), who has found an extraordinary power source he plans to use for personal global domination.

Cut back to the USA.

Captain America: The First Avenger

Stars: Chris Evans, Hugo Weaving, Sebastian Stan, Hayley Atwell, Tommy Lee Jones, Dominic Cooper
Director: oe Johnston
Distributor:Paramount Pictures
Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action
Running time: 2 hours, 1 minute
Opens Friday nationwide

The diminutive Steve (Evans) desperately wants to serve his country. But try as he might, the skinny, pint-size fellow can't transcend his 4-F status. Steve's plucky courage is rewarded by military scientist Dr. Erskine (Stanley Tucci), who enlists him for an experiment that will transform the puny guy into a brawny soldier with superhuman strength and speed. Throw in an indestructible Vibranium shield to fend off bullets and a superhero is born.More....