Movie Review: ‘CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER’

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Captain America’s first film, let’s face it, didn’t exactly seem like something that spelled out a franchise. Not only did it not feel like any of the other Marvel films prior, it didn’t feel like a superhero film. The time period and the war setting took it out of any contention for comparison or relation, and let’s not forget what the subtitle The First Avenger spelled out plainly: It was designed as a prelude to The Avengers so people knew who Captain America was, and to give a background to the tesseract. The Avengers itself wasn’t Steve Roger’s film either, as the story was much bigger than he was. I thought of the group he was actually the weakest link in terms of individuality and definition, though he definitely did have a few moments. Now with The Winter Soldier, Marvel has created a story that banks off what was built with the first two Cap appearances, while also standing alone as a new direction for the overall storytelling. It’s an incredibly smart play, and as a result The Winter Soldier is Marvel’s best film to date.

Post-Avengers, Steve Rodgers (Chris Evans) became a major player in SHIELD’s enforcement and covert-ops division. While working with various SHIELD agents, including Natasha “Black Widow” Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) and Brock “Crossbones” Rumlow (Frank Grillo), Cap starts to discover that what he once thought was a continuation of service to his country plays with surveillance and pre-crime prevention which clashes with his morality. Largely to blame appears to be the man in charge, Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson), who insists to Cap that this is a different world than he once knew and his ideals and morals have to catch up with the times.

After an attempt is made on Fury’s life by unknown forces, including the titular Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) a face from the past who now sports a creepy facemask and a robotic arm, Rodgers and Romanoff become fugitives from SHIELD — hunted and pursued by the same agency they trusted, an agency that now seems to now have connections to Hydra. In Fury’s absence, his mentor Alexander Pierce (Robert Redford) heads up the hunt. With nobody to trust, Rodgers turns to a military vet he met, Sam “Falcon” Wilson (Anthony Mackie) to find out the truth behind SHIELD, their newly developed, massive warships, and the shadowy assassin, Winter Soldier.

The best surprise for me was the assured hands of the Russo brothers’ direction. Veterans of TV directing, most prominently on NBC’s geek-tastic Community, and with only a lousy feature film on their resume (You, Me and Dupree), Marvel’s choice had many completely baffled. From TV shows to major-budget tentpole isn’t something we see very often. All that can be said is that between he team they assembled, the cast they have, and a really solid script, the result is incredibly good. How much of this is them and how much other people is, as always with large-scale films, debatable…but when the outcome is this good, who really cares? This is the best action we’ve seen in a Marvel film, surpassing even the heights of the massive war in New York from Avengers. Of note first is the attempt on Fury’s life in his extremely well armored SUV which turns what could have been a standard chase into a really thrilling battle. Combat is exceptionally well choreographed and shot throughout, and we FINALLY get to see Cap use his skills and his shield to use the way I’ve always envisioned. He’s fast and extremely agile yet efficient and brutal in submission.

All of the acting is spot on, the casting perfection. We learn a bit more about Black Widow and feel a good chemistry and camaraderie between her and Cap, while Falcon is a really solid character who is a great choice to introduce here, and Mackie owns him so well. We don’t learn as much about Winter Soldier as I would have liked, but there’s just The only character I felt was unnecessary was Agent 13 (Emily VanCamp), a SHIELD agent who’s introduced as a love interest for Cap then barely mentioned for the rest of the film. I can’t remember if it was just speculation that she was Peggy Carter’s daughter or if that was actually the unspoken case. It didn’t make much sense to include her when the movie simply doesn’t have time for anything other than intrigue, espionage, and action. The tone of the movie is rather serious with just the right touch of humor here and there. Marvel has grown up a little, and while I guess there’s entertainment for the kids, they’ll either be bored or overwhelmed for the most part. Avengers was for the kids, his one’s for the grown-ups.

There are some major shake-ups and ramifications for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as it’s called, by the end of The Winter Soldier. Without giving away the surprises of the story it’s really hard to go into much detail of what and why, but it’s going to be most instantly felt on ABC’s progressively better Agents of SHIELD on the April 8th show and through the rest of the season. There are two tags at the end of the film, one which sets up next summer’s Avengers: Age of Ultron and the other presumably the third chapter of Captain America which Marvel wisely already reenlisted the Russo’s to helm. In the meantime, I can’t wait to watch this one a few more times while I wait for James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy in August. Hell, I might just start back from Iron Man again, each time I watch the series I pick up more and enjoy the next film even more because of it. I love everything Marvel and Disney are doing together, and I can’t recommend Captain America: The Winter Soldier any higher if you feel the same.