'Captain America' is Captain Obvious

In the superhero line of work, the clothes don't always make the man.

In the case of "Captain America: The First Avenger," our titular hero has ditched the red, white and blue spandex for something a bit more rugged. The colors remain but the new suit is built for combat, with a Kevlar torso and a gun. He looks like a vintage paratrooper. Which is to say, he looks kinda cool.

The updating mostly stops at the costume. Captain America might be the newest superhero to punch his way onto the big screen, but he's actually one of the oldest. The comic-book version first appeared 70 years ago, created to capitalize on the country's entrance into World War II (the cover of the first issue depicted Captain America knocking out Adolf Hitler).

In "Captain America," the character is acting his age. In other words: This is your grandpa's Captain America.

And he's a darn wholesome one. By today's superhero standards, Captain America might as well be Archie. Batman tossed gangsters off buildings in "The Dark Knight." The hero in "Thor" is an egomaniac who prefers preemptive strikes. "Iron Man's" Tony Stark is a drunk.

This Captain America isn't even sure he wants to kill Nazis. The year is 1942, and this is his reason for enlisting: "I don't like bullies," he says, "I don't care where they're from."

Even in his own time period, he sounds dated.

As the film opens, German and American militaries are racing to design a serum that will give its soldiers super powers. A sickly 85-pound Steve Rogers is chosen to be our first super soldier. The actor behind the mask is Chris Evans, a blonde beefcake who played the Human Torch in Marvel's "Fantastic Four" franchise. After providing comic relief in those films, his transition to iconic lead role is adequate but less than stunning. Regardless, the military doctors juice him up, his muscles explode and, as Captain America, he starts kicking Nazi butt.

The Nazis have their own super soldier -- the Red Skull (basically a guy with a red skull). He's in charge of the Führer's "deep science" division, i.e. he blows stuff up. And he wants to blow up the world. Captain America's objective: stop him. Explosions and 3-D carnage ensue.

The action is shot with precision and clarity. The jokes are funny. The side characters (particular Stanley Tucci as a German scientist and Tommy Lee Jones a gruff colonel) are well cast .

Here's what's missing: tension, drama, and most of all, a sense of wonder. This is a superhero movie, isn't it? In this summer's "Thor," we got the feeling that the movie's god-like hero might actually lose on Earth. "Captain America" director Joe Johnston spends so much time making the period costumes and the World War II tanks look perfect that there's no room for surprises. Everything is expected. We know exactly when Cap is going to save the day, tell a one-liner and kiss the girl.

This is the part of the review where we acknowledge that the film was presented in 3-D. The 3-D looks good. Things -- yes, things like water faucets and poles and trees and flying shields -- appear in the foreground. These visual tricks add nothing to the story.

For the sequel (yes, there will be many sequels), the filmmakers would be smart to write in more scenes for Jones. Or better yet: Do they make a Captain America suit that'll fit a scene-chewing 65-year-old grump?