Should you watch this at weekend movie ticket prices? Yes.
Secret ending? Two! (one mid credits, one post credits)
Running time: 136 minutes (~ 2.25 hours)
“Captain America: The Winter Soldier” is a superhero movie that follows the exploits of the titular Captain America and his mysterious foe, known only as the eponymous Winter Soldier, as the good Captain unravels a plot that threatens to destroy the (you guessed it!) world. It stares Chris Evans (Captain America), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Cobie Smulders (Maria Hill), Samuel L Jackson (Nick Fury), Robert Redford (Alexander Pierce), and Sebastian Stan (Winter Soldier).
(Image from Geeks with Wives)
Captain America battles the Winter Soldier
I liked it very much. I like superhero movies in general, but I was honestly prepared to be bored for this one – Captain America doesn’t have very exciting powers. He has a nifty shield, but other than that he has the standard suite of super powers, and that’s about it. Unless he has a team to lead, of which then his leadership super power comes to the fore.
But this movie surprised me – not just with its execution, but also that it didn’t lose its momentum and just made it a fun ride all the way. Let me elaborate.
Action
There’s a lot of action, and it’s executed very well. The fight scenes are engaging things to watch. Not spectacular – Cap doesn’t quite have the super powers to have huge bombastic fights – but with enough complexity and odds to make you wonder how Cap, or any other hero, is going to get out of that scrape. And they don’t let up – there’s at least 10 fights in there!
Not afraid to blow up the status quo
By the end of the movie, all that has been established about the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been torn up and fed to the dogs. And it’s done in a way that, on hindsight, is the logical (if not extreme) conclusion of what has come before. In a way, this destruction of the status quo makes me more excited to see what exactly they have planned for Avengers 2 and subsequent Marvel movies.
(Image from Business Insider)
Captain America (Chris Evans) & Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) ponder
Well paced
When it’s not dangling physical tension (in the form of action sequences), it’s leading you on with dramatic tension. The movie is very evenly paced – there’s no point where you’re kind of bored and wondering what you’ll have for dinner later. In between fights there are always reveals, shifts, and conflict between characters – and once that wears thin, a fight erupts. I kid you not.
Lots of cameos
As a pop culture fan, this is awesome. Let’s see, we have – Batroc the Leaper, Arnim Zola, Falcon, Sharon Carter, Red Skull, Stan Lee, and the Howling Commandoes.
But seriously, Batroc the Leaper! A C-lister comic relief villain (at least on Ultimate Spider-Man) appearing on the silver screen? Props. Many props
Special effects
It’s good to see that no special effects go to waste in the Marvel Cinematic Universe – here, they’re improved upon and trotted out in spades. If the action isn’t enough to lure the 5-year-old in you to the cinema, let the special effects draw you in. You won’t be disappointed. Helicarriers and Quinjets, oh my!
(Image from ScienceFiction.com)
The Captain America costume worn for most of the movie
But, of course, no movie is perfect. So what could have been done better about “Captain America: The Winter Soldier?”
The reveal of the Winter Soldier has no impact
The problem is that there isn’t enough set up in the rest of the film to create the necessary drama when you finally see the Winter Soldier’s identity. True, to have gone into too much set up would have given away his identity too early. But still, there wasn’t enough emotional resonance built up between Captain America and the Winter Soldier’s human identity, resulting in a reveal that falls flat on its face.
You don’t know where the plot is going
To be sure, there’s a lot of twists and turns. The problem is, you don’t really know what’s the end game, so you’re not entirely sure what to be rooting for or what to expect until the last Act. The final objective keeps changing throughout the film, such that when you actually get there, you only know it because the action set pieces have gotten so much larger.
No love interest
I found this mildly irritating, but I like my heroes to have a love interest. For Captain America to have nobody, even though Sharon Carter is standing right there, irks me. Where’s his happy ending?
(Image from Marvel Wikia)
The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) has Captain America’s shield!
For all my gripes, “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” is a pretty good film. Catch it in cinemas before it’s gone!
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