I need to state that I love comic book movies - was not particularly thrilled with Daredevil or Thor 2 though - so my bias is evident. I am not, however, a complete comic book geek. The only one I quasi owned was my oldest brother's DC book of Superman's death. It was awesome and sad at the same time...
Having stated that, I enjoyed most of Marvel's movies. The Fantastic Four films were C-s and Eric Bana is the best Hulk. Despite that, The Winter Soldier is pretty good. It picks up after the incident in New York that formed the Avengers. Cap' is at S.H.I.E.L.D. doing work with Natasha Romanova - aka the Black Widow. Before this goes any further, I want to state how awesome of an actress Scarlett Johansson is. She nailed this role when first introduced in Iron Man 2. She is as versatile as they come. Fantastic.
To summarize the movie, Hydra was never truly vanquished and infiltrated SHIELD. It got to a senior official of SHIELD Alexander Pierce. Through a former Hydra scientist Arnim Zola, SHIELD developed an algorithm to wipe out twenty million people off the earth through three helicarriers that are linked to spy satellites. If Rogers, Romanova, and Sam Wilson - former military guy who apparently can fly with a falcon wingpack, do not stop them, Hydra wins. I am sure you can figure out how it ends.
Why is it called the Winter Soldier? The Winter Soldier is a hired assassin SHIELD executive Alexander Pierce used in an attempt to kill Director Nick Fury and Captain Steve Rogers. Turns out, Winter Soldier is Bucky Barnes, Rogers' oldest and closest friend. He too was salvaged during the war but by Hydra and it turned him into brainwashed muscle. Consequently, Rogers immediately recognizes Barnes and refuses to take him out but Barnes does not reciprocate the feelings and actions with Rogers.
What was so interesting about this to me? Firstly, Rogers holds on to his WW2 mentality. After assimilating in the 21st century for a significant amount of time, his black and white perspective of the world is evident. When he found out about the helicarriers from Fury, he stated his opinion on freedom and oppression. Another instance was Rogers' refusal to end Barnes. He reflected back to their friendship and clearly was uncomfortable with confronting him. He hoped Barnes would not attack him but was mistaken.
One other interesting aspect was Rogers met Peggy. She was the woman in the first movie who was his love interest. The audience becomes aware that Peggy was a founding member of SHIELD and that is the reason Rogers stayed with the agency. Viewers are set to believe Rogers and Peggy got their closure and they often visit. Audience also sees Peggy is victim to Alzheimer's disease.
One negative aspect about the movie is its speed in developing the story. The Winter Soldier starts slow and the plot does not really thicken until forty - five minutes in. I could see those who may not care that much about the movie falling asleep.
There are two scenes - one in mid credits, the other after credits - after the movie ends. That leads the audience to believe a third Captain America movie will be made. Doesn't bother me that much.
Good acting, decent story, good action, too long. Grade: B
Has anyone else seen it?
Didn't read, but the first Captain America received a D or F from me.
ReplyDeleteI've been meaning to see this in theaters, but I haven't got around to it yet. I really liked the first one, and I've only heard good things about the sequel. Bryan, care to expand on why you so disliked the first one? I thought it was a lot of fun.
ReplyDeleteFinally saw this yesterday. I'm going to eventually write a longer review for my Letterboxd account, but I'm somewhere between an A- and a B+. So less than The Avengers, but better than every other Marvel movie thus far (only counting those made by Marvel studios). The real-world parallels completely worked for me, I buy all the characters, and the action was kinetic and impressive. The only negative was a missed opportunity at the very end. I'm riding a wave of Geoff-based depression at the moment, so I wanted some real vulnerability from Cap at the very end when he won't fight the Winter Soldier i.e. here's a dear friend Cap was sure was dead and then here he is in front of him again. That's more powerful than masculine posturing, and if played the way I pictured the scene in my head, we'd be in A territory. That criticism is on me more than the film, but it is what it is. Very strong outing and a great start to summer movie season, which now starts in April apparrently.
ReplyDeleteDrew, did you catch the Pulp Fiction reference? It made me laugh inappropriately, such that I got looks in the theater.
Yeah, Jon, I noticed that. I smiled when I saw it. Made me want to yell, "say what one more time."
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