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Taking a deeper look at current and past films and how they relate to the world today.

Jonathan Kim is an independent film critic who writes and produces film reviews for Uprising and other outlets. He is a former co-producer at Brave New Films.

Read his reviews online at ReThinkReviews.net. Watch his videos at www.youtube.com/user/jsjkim, and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ReThinkReviews. ReThink Reviews’ theme song is by Restavrant.

Captain America

Considering the current state of America with our elected officials unwilling, unable, or downright against meaningfully improving things for average non-wealthy, non-corporation citizens, true patriotism that rises above knee-jerk jingoism is a pretty hard sell. And with a glut of comic book-based movies, some of dubious quality, the once-reliable superhero genre is far from a sure thing.

So some skepticism around the new film ‘Captain America: the First Avenger’ is more than understandable, especially since this film — as well as ‘Thor’, ‘The Incredible Hulk’ and the ‘Iron Man’ movies — are essentially prequels to ‘The Avengers’, a movie slated for 2012 which will unite several of the superheroes from the Marvel comics universe into one gigantic megafilm.

But before cynicism gets the best of you, you should know that ‘Captain America’ is actually a terrific film, and is the best superhero movie I’ve seen since ‘The Dark Knight’. It’s a true origin story with engaging characters, not a necessary pit stop on the way to a bigger blockbuster. And for a movie whose title and main character may garner eye rolls, ‘Captain America’ examines the true nature of courage and patriotism instead of just waving a flag. Or, in this case, a shield.

The film starts in World War II-era Brooklyn, where every able-bodied man has been called to serve. Unfortunately, that doesn’t include Steve Rogers, a scrawny, sickly asthmatic with a fighting spirit played by Chris Evans, whose normally beefy body has been digitally shrunk in an impressive and seamless display of technical wizardry.

After multiple rejections, Rogers is finally given a chance to serve when he’s chosen to participate in a secret military program to create super soldiers, run by Dr. Abraham Erskine (played by Stanley Tucci) and Howard Stark, with Dominic Cooper playing the eventual father of Iron Man Tony Stark. After demonstrating that the size of his heart dwarfs his scrawny body, Rogers is chosen as the first to undergo the super soldier procedure, transforming him into a smarter, faster, musclebound dynamo, yet with the compassion and humility of the weakling inside.

But after a chase scene where Rogers gets to try out his new body on the streets of Brooklyn, ‘Captain America’ smartly avoids dropping Rogers behind enemy lines to ratchet up the action. Deemed too valuable to be allowed to fight, Rogers is reluctantly assigned the job of celebrity spokesman, traveling the country as Captain America with backup dancers and a fake Hitler to sell war bonds and boost morale.

While Rogers understands his contribution to the war effort, he feels that he can and should be doing more. So while in Europe with the USO, Rogers decides to go on a dangerous solo mission to rescue captured soldiers, going from a symbolic hero to a real one as he and a ragtag group of soldiers take on Hydra, a fanatical, mystical wing of the Nazi party led by Schmidt, a Nazi officer played by Hugo Weaving who’s obsessed with harnessing the power of the gods.

Virtually all of the performances overachieve, including Tommy Lee Jones as a crotchety colonel, Hayley Atwell as a British officer and love interest, and Toby Jones as a German scientist. Humor is organically woven throughout the script, and the action, effects and art direction are all high quality. Perhaps the film’s biggest flaw is it’s ugly 3D conversion, which looks unfinished and, like most 3D, is totally unnecessary and takes away from the film’s period charms.

In ‘Captain America’, patriotism isn’t measured by what you say and how many flags you wear, but through actions and sacrifice. It’s a refreshing sentiment at a time when Republicans like to believe they hold the monopoly on patriotism, yet preach that greed and selfishness are the highest virtues.

‘Captain America’ is rated PG-13 and opens today.