Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Directed by: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
Written by: Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely; Concept & Story: Ed Brubaker; Based on the Comic Book by Joe Simon & Jack Kirby
Starring: Chris Evans, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Robert Redford, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Cobie Smulders, Frank Grillo, Maximiliano Hernández, Emily VanCamp, Hayley Atwell, Toby Jones, Stan Lee, Garry Shandling, Georges St-Pierre
Action/Adventure/Sci-Fi/Thriller - 136 min
Written by: Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely; Concept & Story: Ed Brubaker; Based on the Comic Book by Joe Simon & Jack Kirby
Starring: Chris Evans, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Robert Redford, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Cobie Smulders, Frank Grillo, Maximiliano Hernández, Emily VanCamp, Hayley Atwell, Toby Jones, Stan Lee, Garry Shandling, Georges St-Pierre
Action/Adventure/Sci-Fi/Thriller - 136 min
Captain America (Chris Evans) is the Superman of The Avengers. I do not mean this in a capabilities sense because we all know Superman would wipe the floor with Captain America; I mean it in more of an attitude, goody-two-shoes kind of way. Steve Rogers is a Boy Scout always looking to accomplish the next good deed, just like Clark Kent. They can’t help it; deep down, they are just good guys. Just as Batman is bit more interesting than Superman, because of all the inner demons and personal anguish, Captain America is that much less interesting than Iron Man. Tony Stark arrives strapped with sarcasm and most likely a bottle of booze. Steve Rogers would be his designated driver.
I am not arguing Captain America films are boring or he is less deserving of the screen time, but they arrive without that extra punch or jolt of an Iron Man. Even Captain America’s weapon is essentially nice; a shield is historically a defensive weapon and Steve spends far more time deflecting bullets than employing it as an offensive boomerang discus. The extra spice in Captain America: The Winter Soldier comes from Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), one of the lesser Avengers with minimal fighting contributions and no movie of her own. She throws out enough snark and cheeky one-liners to fill the void of Captain America’s choir boy tendencies.
The presence of a second Avenger also brings the inherent glitch in solo Avenger movies straight to the foreground. Technically, the Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, and Captain America films exist in the same reality; so when the entire world is threatened, and the entire universe in Thor’s case, skipping over the glaring fact of the absence of the rest of the gang to ensure survival is getting harder and harder to accomplish. Marvel really wants us to believe that no other superhero would stop by and lend a hand to ensure the continuity of our way of life; they must have something better to do that day.
Moving on from this before you label me a stickler, this iteration of Captain America is subtitled after the villain, The Winter Soldier, contrasting with the 2011 film subtitled after the hero, The First Avenger. The Winter Soldier is an anti-Captain America; an evil twin villain. He is just as physically adept as Captain America and there are hints he underwent the same procedure Steve Rogers did to make him super human. Who created and controls the Winter Soldier is part of the overall mystery.
While there are still bountiful scenes showcasing action, chases, and explosions, the comprehensive feeling of the film is of a suspenseful conspiracy. S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) has a gut feeling something is rotten in his organization. Confiding in his mentor and boss, S.H.I.E.L.D. overseer Alexander Pierce (Robert Redford), about his suspicions, it is really up to Captain America and Black Widow to work the jigsaw puzzle. A new semi-hero, Sam Wilson, known as Falcon (Anthony Mackie), is also along for the ride. He is more of a useful sidekick employed for transportation and peripheral fighting, sort of like Hawkeye from 2012’s The Avengers.
Set in Washington D.C. where some scenes were shot while the rest of the film was shot in Cleveland as a stand-in for D.C., two main themes pop up from contemporary news media including mass public surveillance and the enabling technology capable of gathering and analyzing significant personal data. Dig a little deeper and Captain America explores political theory territory of order and peace maintained through fear. Nick Fury represents the realist and pragmatic side; remove the anticipated threat and accept the world the way it is. Steve Rogers is an idealist and believes in the old-fashioned ideas of innocent until proven guilty and punishment after the crime.
These are weighty issues for a superhero film complete with fireballs the size of buildings. Yet this is why I recommend it. There is more to consider and chew on rather than the fists and biceps of the comparable strongmen. Perhaps the fresh ideas flow from the unlikely director duo, brothers Anthony and Joe Russo, previously known for their work on TV sitcoms and two half-forgotten comedies, 2006’s You, Me and Dupree and 2002’s Welcome to Collinwood. Odd choices to helm a blockbuster event film, they succeed and create a more effective Captain America film than the first installment.
S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters is located on and underneath the Potomac River between Rosslyn and the Pentagon. Perhaps I liked the movie more because they started blowing up my real world commute to work and therefore am not as objective as I should be. No, that couldn’t be it. I did not recommend Captain America: The First Avenger because it came across as a bland, live-action comic book. I recommend Captain America: The Winter Soldier not because of the action, you really have seen it before, but because of the scheming, behind the scenes treachery that permeates a feeling of unease. Something is wrong and we need good guys like Steve Rogers to step up and root it out.
I am not arguing Captain America films are boring or he is less deserving of the screen time, but they arrive without that extra punch or jolt of an Iron Man. Even Captain America’s weapon is essentially nice; a shield is historically a defensive weapon and Steve spends far more time deflecting bullets than employing it as an offensive boomerang discus. The extra spice in Captain America: The Winter Soldier comes from Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), one of the lesser Avengers with minimal fighting contributions and no movie of her own. She throws out enough snark and cheeky one-liners to fill the void of Captain America’s choir boy tendencies.
The presence of a second Avenger also brings the inherent glitch in solo Avenger movies straight to the foreground. Technically, the Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, and Captain America films exist in the same reality; so when the entire world is threatened, and the entire universe in Thor’s case, skipping over the glaring fact of the absence of the rest of the gang to ensure survival is getting harder and harder to accomplish. Marvel really wants us to believe that no other superhero would stop by and lend a hand to ensure the continuity of our way of life; they must have something better to do that day.
Moving on from this before you label me a stickler, this iteration of Captain America is subtitled after the villain, The Winter Soldier, contrasting with the 2011 film subtitled after the hero, The First Avenger. The Winter Soldier is an anti-Captain America; an evil twin villain. He is just as physically adept as Captain America and there are hints he underwent the same procedure Steve Rogers did to make him super human. Who created and controls the Winter Soldier is part of the overall mystery.
While there are still bountiful scenes showcasing action, chases, and explosions, the comprehensive feeling of the film is of a suspenseful conspiracy. S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) has a gut feeling something is rotten in his organization. Confiding in his mentor and boss, S.H.I.E.L.D. overseer Alexander Pierce (Robert Redford), about his suspicions, it is really up to Captain America and Black Widow to work the jigsaw puzzle. A new semi-hero, Sam Wilson, known as Falcon (Anthony Mackie), is also along for the ride. He is more of a useful sidekick employed for transportation and peripheral fighting, sort of like Hawkeye from 2012’s The Avengers.
Set in Washington D.C. where some scenes were shot while the rest of the film was shot in Cleveland as a stand-in for D.C., two main themes pop up from contemporary news media including mass public surveillance and the enabling technology capable of gathering and analyzing significant personal data. Dig a little deeper and Captain America explores political theory territory of order and peace maintained through fear. Nick Fury represents the realist and pragmatic side; remove the anticipated threat and accept the world the way it is. Steve Rogers is an idealist and believes in the old-fashioned ideas of innocent until proven guilty and punishment after the crime.
These are weighty issues for a superhero film complete with fireballs the size of buildings. Yet this is why I recommend it. There is more to consider and chew on rather than the fists and biceps of the comparable strongmen. Perhaps the fresh ideas flow from the unlikely director duo, brothers Anthony and Joe Russo, previously known for their work on TV sitcoms and two half-forgotten comedies, 2006’s You, Me and Dupree and 2002’s Welcome to Collinwood. Odd choices to helm a blockbuster event film, they succeed and create a more effective Captain America film than the first installment.
S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters is located on and underneath the Potomac River between Rosslyn and the Pentagon. Perhaps I liked the movie more because they started blowing up my real world commute to work and therefore am not as objective as I should be. No, that couldn’t be it. I did not recommend Captain America: The First Avenger because it came across as a bland, live-action comic book. I recommend Captain America: The Winter Soldier not because of the action, you really have seen it before, but because of the scheming, behind the scenes treachery that permeates a feeling of unease. Something is wrong and we need good guys like Steve Rogers to step up and root it out.
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