REVIEW: CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER: PG-13

I'm pretty unaware of anything Captain America as far as comic books wise, so I went into the theater only knowing a few things: Captain America is Steve Rogers, who used to be a 90 lb. weakling, but during WWII they needed a supersoldier for the army. There was a bad guy named Red Skull and he had a sidekick named Bucky. That's literally everything I knew.

Unlike the Harry Potter series, you don't need to have read the source material to understand the film. "The First Avenger" plays out like any normal superhero film...and that's exactly what it is: a normal superhero film. It doesn't go beyond your expectations, it's not a below par film like I heard "Green Lantern" was. It plays exactly like "Thor" did actually; establishing the character's backgrounds, setting them up for what's to come, taking time to reveal the main villain.

One could argue that that's the set-up for anymovie superhero movie, but if you're going to do it, do it BIG. "Batman Begins" did it BIG. "Superman: The Movie" did it BIG. "Iron Man" did it HUGE, but that movie's in a class of its own. Make the backgrounds interesting and a little sophisticated if need be, to give the characters a little more level and dynamic. Captain America, played by Human Torch Chris Evans is exciting and likable, but most other characters are fairly 2-D.

Speaking of dimensions, you HAVE to see "Captain America" in 3-D. Maybe it's because I haven't seen in a 3-D movie since "Avatar" and haven't gotten sick of it, but I was really impressed by the clarity of the film, and yeah, the Captain America shield flies at you once or twice.

"The First Avenger" is what the subtitle suggests, a prequel to the forthcoming "Avengers" movie heading out next summer for what will likely be one of 2012's biggest hits. I look forward to it too, the combination of the Marvel universes have tied themselves together pretty well. "Captain America" is good for at least one thing: to show what superhero movies can be, not what they should strive to be, like "Dark Knight" for example, but at least should be: thrilling popcorn entertainment that lets you switch the old noggin off for a few minutes.

Rating: 7.5/10

P.S.: The other Marvel movie that looks great coming out next summer is "The Amazing Spider-Man" reboot of the Spider-Man franchise. Too soon? Maybe. It's only been a decade since the 1st live-action adaption came out. But Andrew Garfield showed tons of talent and promise in "Social Network," so I wouldn't be surprised if he bested Tobey Maguire as America's favorite version of the web-slinger.