Drags for Certain Duration

Rating: 5/10 (18 January 2015)

Captain America while begins. Now the image of an all-American soldier, Steve is dressed up in a star-spangled Captain America outfit and paraded around the country with dancing girls and a Hitler stand-in he repeatedly knocks down. The desire to fight for his country is still Steve's goal, however, and his rescue of friend Bucky (Sebastian Stan) and hundreds of other prisoners convinces gruff Colonel Phillips (Tommy Lee Jones) that Steve will be an asset in the battle to stop emerging villain the Red Skull (Hugo Weaving). There's time for a dash of romance, of course, with Hayley Atwell's British agent Peggy Carter falling for the muscular superhero.
With its World War II setting and devilish German villains, Captain America immediately brings to mind Raiders of the Lost Ark and director Joe Johnston's earlier effort The Rocketeer. As composer Alan Silvestri does his best to emulate John Williams, the movie strains desperately to match the efforts of Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones saga. Yet Captain America lacks the deft humor or breakneck Saturday morning serial momentum of Indy, instead delivering its outlandish premise in a dull, straight-faced and earnest manner.