Review: Captain America: The First Avenger (12A) ***

Admittedly, director Joe Johnston has an arsenal of state-of-the-art digital effects at his disposal to spruce up the old-fashioned ideals in Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely’s script.

However, there’s something rather charming about the underlying themes of self-sacrifice and valour, and a chaste romantic sub-plot between the strapping hero and his feisty dame that never strays beyond a kiss. Only the sadistic killing spree of the central villain – a power-hungry Nazi officer with a burned-off face – warrants the 12A certificate that makes Johnston’s film unsuitable for very young audiences.

Captain America opens in the present day with the discovery of the wreckage of a gargantuan craft, then flashes back to 1942 Norway. Diabolical German officer Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving) steals a Cosmic Cube belonging to Odin and charges mad scientist Dr Arnim Zola (Toby Jones) with harnessing the Cube’s power as part of his plans for world domination.

Meanwhile in America, German defector Dr Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci) is spearheading a secret programme to create the ultimate soldier. He chooses asthmatic weakling Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) as the perfect candidate for the treatment. As if by magic, Steve is transformed into a muscle-bound hunk and he enthusiastically does his bit for the Allied effort by portraying a fictional character called Captain America at war rallies.

When good friend James Buchanan (Sebastian Stan) is presumed dead behind enemy lines, Steve joins forces with playboy inventor Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper) and officer Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) to parachute in behind enemy lines as Captain America and single-handedly take on the Germans.

Captain America: The First Avenger is an entertaining introduction to the iconic characters, action sequences are orchestrated with aplomb and as the title credits roll it seems unlikely that this will be the last we have heard of him.