Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

Director: The Russo Brothers

Cast: Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Robert Redford, Frank Grillo, Anthony Mackie

Country: United States

Rating: PG-13

Run Time: 136 minutes

I maintain a pretty controversial opinion that Iron Man 3 is the best film from Marvel Studio's Phase Two bunch of superhero films. It's an immensely underrated superhero film with some of the wittiest and tightest writing of any PG-13 superhero film to date. However, the dominant opinion points to Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy as Phase Two's stand out features. Both films essentially represent the two sides of Marvel Studios: the dramatic and serious side (Cap) and the fun and adventurous side (Guardians). And while I enjoy a funny and adventurous film every now and then, I prefer a tonally serious and grounded action film like The Winter Soldier over a comedic romp through space. Therefore, I thought that I would give my two cents on this critically lauded blockbuster one year ahead of its sequel, the highly anticipated Captain America: Civil War.

Joe Johnston's Captain America: The First Avenger was a fun and innocent WWII flick that celebrated old adventure serials and pulpy storytelling. It was a predictable but enjoyable superhero film that didn't take any risks and succeeded at introducing Captain America to new audiences. The film is as basic and clear as they come, right down to its heroes and its villains. If Captain America is the hero, than the Red Skull is the villain. If the United States Army is good, than Hydra is bad. However, these clear as day villains and heroes are harder to spot in The Winter Soldier, a bleaker and politically charged sequel that brings Cap into the modern age.

Old friends become enemies.

Whereas The First Avenger was a pulpy WWII flick, The Winter Soldier is a full blown political thriller. It is a bold and mature sequel that takes elements from its predecessor and twists them into a story about trust, privacy, protection, friendship, and deception. From a purely thematic stand point, The Winter Soldier is richer than any Marvel film to date. The film also has a pretty solid palate of action, relying mostly upon practical action set pieces over the computer generated garbage that plagues modern day blockbusters. However, some awful camera work and a few poorly written and performed characters plague the film from the being the pitch perfect Marvel film that many die hard fan boys decry it to be. While I will never agree with the Marvel fan boys (and I am sort of one myself) that The Winter Soldier is the best Marvel film to date, I will admit that this could have been the best Marvel film to date if its technical merits and character work were greater.

We first meet Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) in The Winter Soldier as he goes on a mission with S.H.I.E.L.D. to retrieve hostages and intel from rogue pirates. In an action scene straight out of Under Siege, Cap lays waste to an entire ship full of henchies, only to realize that Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) lied to him about the mission's true intentions. After settling Rogers down, Fury reveals that S.H.I.E.L.D. has developed a new array of helicarriers outfitted with large cannons that will be able to gun down any criminal on the planet from up in the air. While Steve believes that the helicarriers violate society's privacy, Fury argues that these helicarriers are the way of the future and necessary after the events of The Avengers.

Fury soon finds himself under attack by corrupt S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and police officers. When Cap arrives home later that day, he finds a bloody and beaten Fury who tells him that S.H.I.E.L.D. is compromised and that no one can be trusted. When Steve expresses his opinion on the matter with Alexander Pierce (Robert Redford), the senior leader of S.H.I.E.L.D., he quickly finds himself to be public enemy number one in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s eyes. They believe that he is withholding information on Fury's assassination and want him taken down. However, the reality is that S.H.I.E.L.D. has been corrupted by former Hydra agents who infiltrated the organization in the 1950s. It is than up to Cap, Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), and The Falcon (Anthony Mackie) to take down the newly corrupt S.H.I.E.L.D. and their deadly assassin, the Winter Soldier.

Scar Jo tries but fails.

Even though The Winter Soldier has a lot going on within its two hour run time, the film is thankfully focused and to the point. It's clear that the screenwriters and the Russo Brothers wanted to pay tribute to the political thrillers of the 1970s as much as possible. The Winter Soldier is very much in the vain of both Three Days of the Condor and All the President's Men, two classic political thrillers that both happen to star Robert Redford. I must say that it was a masterstroke by Marvel to cast Robert Redford in the role of Alexander Pierce, the shadowy villain of the picture. The legendary Redford adds major acting cred to the film and helps round out the film's impressive cast.

The Winter Soldier is a fantastic story about political corruption and the old fashioned man, Steve, who stood his ground and fought against it. The sequel confronts themes of freedom versus fear and privacy versus protection in a story all too relevant to todays' society. Even though S.H.I.E.L.D. wishes to protect the citizens of Earth, it chooses to do so by creating large helicarriers that can snipe anyone in the world. However, these helicarriers can spy on anyone in the world, thereby eliminating the concept of privacy in order to ensure protection. While we don't have massive killer helicarriers in our skies, there is a problem concerning privacy and protection in relation to the NSA in our society. Therefore, The Winter Soldier rings true because its themes are relevant and its plot remotely realistic to today's day and age of government protection.

However, the Russo's were kind enough to also include a very powerful story about friendship amidst their gripping and dark political thriller. As fans know, Bucky, Steve's good friend, fell off a train and to his death during the events of The First Avenger. However, comic book geeks knew that Bucky's "demise" would only lead to his rebirth as the Winter Soldier, a cyborg-like assassin for hire who has done Hyrda's dirty work for decades. The Winter Soldier's inclusion in the sequel adds another layer of conflict to the film, that between Cap and his old brainwashed friend Bucky. Therefore, Steve must not only take down Hyrda, but also combat his old friend even though he loves him. It's a wonderful dynamic that adds further juiciness to the film's thematic meat and acts as a proper continuation of the events from The First Avenger.

Fury finally gets to kick ass after being wasted for several films.

Chris Evans is great as Steve Roger as usual. He carries all of boyish charms and good looks from the previous Marvel films into this sequel that forces his All American do-gooder character into his bleakest situation yet. The most refreshing performance in the film is actually Samuel L. Jackson's umpteenth turn as Nick Fury. While Fury has appeared in nearly every Marvel film to date, The Winter Soldier is the first film to finally make good use of his character beyond a walk on cameo. Fury gets an entire action sequence devoted to him and him alone to show off his bad ass chops and survivalist sensibilities. Every walk on cameo of Fury's since The Winter Soldier's release has done nothing but let me down after being exposed to the greatness of his character found here. Sebastian Stan and Robert Redford also do great work as the film's dual villains: one a confused and trouble killing machine and the other a shadowy and covert snake in the bushes. Other supporting highlights include Anthony Mackie as the lovable Falcon, Emily Van Camp as Cap's future love interest, George St. Pierre as a bad ass French kickboxer, and Frank Grillo as the future Crossbones.

Unfortunately, The Winter Soldier is nearly brought to a screeching halt by two of its female characters, Black Widow and Agent Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders). I am sorry people, but I think that Johansson and Smulders are two of the lamest and dullest actresses to put in such roles. The delivery of their "bad ass" lines is purely groan worthy and entirely stagey. Not a single line out of their mouths feels natural. I also can't stand the way that Black Widow takes time to be humorous during intense moments when Cap is nothing but flustered and frustrated. And Maria Hill might as well be the most useless character of them all. She adds nothing to the film and could have easily been excised from the picture altogether. 

I guess one could say the same about Anthony Mackie's turn as The Falcon, but I personally believe that his character has a more natural back and forth with Evans as opposed to either Johansson or Smulders. I don't mean to sound sexist, but I personally believe that both Johansson and Smulders come off as imitations of bad ass characters instead of the embodiment of said characters. Read my review for Dredd if you want to read more on this matter and how Olivia Thirlby's turn as a bad ass character in that film is infinitely more satisfying and natural than a moment of Johansson's forced nonsense. And if any feminists read this, understand that I am going after the actresses for their performing abilities, not their feminity. So please don't hate me, I'm trying my best not to offend.

The gang's all here fellas. 

The Winter Soldier delivers the greater kind of set pieces that one expects from a sequel. For the most part, The Winter Soldier contains a wealth of practically driven action scenes. Set pieces range from a fight upon a boat, to a car chase in a city, to a close quarters brawl in an elevator, to even a chase a top a freeway that leads into an intense one on one fight between Cap and the Winter Soldier. Despite the film's massive $150 million plus budget, these set pieces are made far better thanks to their small scale and grounded realism. 

Unfortunately, the Russo Bros. mess up the whole thing with some lousy camera work. The two rarely opt for clear wide shots and constantly either move or zoom their camera in on the action, rendering some fight scenes fairly incoherent. It's not Taken 3 bad, or even Taken 2 bad, but it's not great. The editing could have also been improved if less cuts were incorporated during the action sequences. There's nothing worse than tons of cuts and shaky camera work to disorientate and confuse the viewer.

The Russo Brothers also betray the film's mostly practical action pedigree with a lousy finale that relies almost entirely upon computer graphics. No Marvel Studios film can be made without a huge computer generated finale that runs for too long and lacks all tension or suspense. It's just a shame because the first two thirds of the film was on a roll with its practically driven action sequences. Unfortunately, the finale is a over long mess that does nothing but bore me. However, I do love the scene within the finale where the Winter Soldier lays waste to several S.H.I.E.L.D. pilots on a run away in an extremely brutal massacre.

Ah, the good old days.

I've struggled with contextualizing an opinion for The Winter Soldier for some time now. I gravely disliked the film upon my first viewing because of its ultra tame violence and shoddy camera work. However, I enjoyed the film far more the second time around because of how excellent its thematic and narrative substance was. This might be one of the few action films I have ever seen where the substance outweighs the style, a rarity in action cinema. 

As a sequel, The Winter Soldier is everything that you ask for. It ups the stakes and the set pieces, providing a larger scaled story with a greater sense of danger than its adventurous and fun predecessor. Unfortunately, the film features shoddy camera work, unnecessary computer graphics, and the ever present and always annoying Scarlett Johansson and Cobie Smulders. The Winter Soldier should earn a six or a seven out of 10 for these reasons. However, its themes and characters are so well written, that I can't help but bump up the film a few numbers. One of the best blockbusters of 2014 for certain.

Rating: 8/10 - A realistic and mature sequel that holds up despite a few flaws in the action department.

Franchise:
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011, dir. Joe Johnston)
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014, dir. The Russo Brothers)
Captain America: Civil War (2016, dir. The Russo Brothers)