MOVIE REVIEW: Captain America: The First Avenger (14A)

STORY:
Steve Rogers is just a normal-sized man, but he wants to fight in the war that's going on (WWII) but's too thin to be a soldier. That is until he meets a doctor who has a machine that turns him into a huge body-builder, who becomes known as Captain America.

POSITIVE ELEMENTS:
It's shown that Steve Rogers had a lot of bravery even before he was pumped up, he stands up to bullies and later jumps on what he thinks is a live grenade. The guy who created the machine; Erskine tells him. "And knows compassion." And before the procedure begins, Erskine makes Steve promise one thing: "That you will stay who you are. Not a perfect soldier, but a good man." Steve does just that, striving to be a "good man" through the entire course of this movie—capping his efforts with an act of heroic sacrifice.

SPIRITUAL ELEMENTS:
Schmidt is in possession of an energy cube of awesome power—one supposedly the stuff of Teutonic myth. We hear several times that the cube is a power that comes from "the gods." Those who saw Thor earlier this year know that the cube comes from Thor's home planet of Asgard, and that he and his kin actually aren't gods, they were just perceived to be such by ancient humans. But that doesn't wholly mitigate the references we hear here.

SEXUAL CONTENT:
USO girls wear skimpy sequined outfits and dance in short skirts. Other women sport blouses that accentuate their breasts. After Steve undergoes his transformation, he walks out of the contraption shirtless—obviously impressing Peggy.

VIOLENT CONTENT:
Schmidt guns down a civilian, spattering bright-red blood. We also see a small exit wound in the man's back. Another unfortunate ends his screen time in the blades of a propeller. (There's a brief blood spray visible.) Folks fall from great heights, and one man is sucked into a weird energy vortex. Another is crushed by part of a building, and we see a bit of blood on his head. People are zapped from a giant energy gun and disintegrates right there.

PROFANITY:
Hell shows up several times, as well as ass, jeez, b--ch, damn, and a Brit interjects 'bloody'. We don't see it, but it's implied that one of the soldiers makes an obscene gesture, aiming it at Cap.

OTHER NEGATIVE ELEMENTS:
In trying to get into the army, Steve falsifies his records. He later leaves base against orders (but does so in order to rescue 400 men from certain death, and when he comes back he gives himself up for disciplinary action). Schmidt shows disregard for the prisoners he's forcing to build weapons. "Use up what strength they have, doctor," he says. "There are always more workers."

CONCLUSION:
Since it is a superhero movie and also a war movie, there is a lot of fighting going on, and quite a few profanities, so I give it a 2 out of 5.