Captain America : The First Avenger

With its star spangled coming attraction posters, there was a concern among non-US jingoists that Captain America: The First Avenger would arrive in cinemas wrapped in red, white and blue, accompanied by the vague scent of apple pie. Fearing the 'Uncle Sam needs you' mantra would get lost in translation, director Joe Johnston has delivered a different message: that of the little guy.

In the days of WWII in a New York of red bricks and dusty lanes, we find a weedy wannabe soldier (an expertly digitally emaciated Chris Evans) with the heart of a lion volunteering for the Super Soldier program. Out of the process emerges Captain America, first as a propaganda-peddling war bond salesman before he risks it all to save his captured comrades and take on the Red Skull (Hugo Weaving).

The First Avenger is, ironically, the last to arrive in the preamble to next year's mega movie The Avengers and, though it primarily serves as a bridging device, it's a fine slice of wartime adventure. In keeping the action fast and loose with humour peppered throughout, Marvel's most amusing film to date is reminiscent of Johnston's 1991 sophomore feature The Rocketeer. It's retro futurism charm reminding you just how fun comics, and the movies, can be. [Thom Atkinson]