Movie Review: Captain America - The Winter Soldier

As I stated in my Thor review, Marvel movies are kind of hard to judge because, well, they’re comic book movies. They’re goofy, over-the-top, and ridiculous, yet they normally look and sound great making them your perfect “turn-off-your-brain” experience. I’m not saying that all comic book movies are like this. For example, the original Batman, Batman Begins, and The Dark Knight are all rather serious comic book movies that, while they have over-the-top moments, also sport a lot of subtlety and well-written characters. I’m just saying that your average comic book movie is probably something that you watch without thinking too much. I remember sitting in the theater and watching an interview prior to the movie with Anthony Mackie, the guy who plays Falcon in the movie. He says, and I quote, “This is a character-driven action movie.” My dad, who was sitting next to me, said, “Yeah, right,” and I’m pretty sure that emulated the reaction to that statement of everyone who was paying attention. I also had my doubts, because the first Captain America movie, while still entertaining, was incredibly textbook when it comes to comic book movies. So, was I ever so surprised to walk out of the theater thinking that this was one of my favorite comic book movies. Sit back, relax, and read on as I review Captain America – The Winter Soldier.

The Setup:

The movie takes place after The Avengers, following, well, Captain America, or Steve Rogers if you want to go by his real name. He’s now working undercover for SHIELD, the organization that basically runs The Avengers. The movie starts off with the Captain invading a ship where French Terrorists have taken people hostage, including a shield officer. The Captain manages to save everyone, but Black Widow nearly jeopardizes the mission by downloading some information onto a hard drive. When they get back, not everything is as it seems, and honestly that’s where I have to end the setup section because, if I go any further, I will be going through spoiler after spoiler.

The movie begins with Captain America and Black Widow stopping a hijacking...only to kickstart something much bigger than the two of them

The Characters:

The characters in this movie were so likable and developed, much more so than the last Marvel movie that I saw, Thor: The Dark World (with the exception of Loki, the rascal). Chris Evans plays Captain America perfectly, giving him much more of a personality than in the first movie, and his character development makes sense and is very well handled. Without spoiling too much, let’s just say that he feels much more like a real person in this movie than most movie characters could ever achieve. Speaking of feeling more like real people, Black Widow, played by Scarlett Johansson, is also fantastic. In the previous movies she’s been in, she’s kind of been that typical tough girl without much more of a personality. Granted, she was awesome then, but I think that she is especially amazing in this movie because she does show sorrow when SPOILER happens, which really surprised me by showing how much she really cared and relied on SPOILER. Speaking of SPOILERs, Robert Redford as Alexander Pierce was perfect. I really liked how they actually gave the villain in this movie a personality, goal, and reasons for doing what he does beyond the typical “because he’s evil” reason, and is the best Marvel villain since Loki…which isn’t really saying much, but whatever (Venom from Spider-Man 3 doesn’t count). The Winter Soldier is also a great and mysterious character, but if you’ve read Entertainment Weekly or some other website then you probably already know who he is. Finally, there’s Sam Wilson, or Falcon, played by Anthony Mackie. First off, watching his power in 3D was plain awesome, and his character was well done too, and is the perfect partner for Captain America. The other side characters do their parts well and are memorable, so no complaints from me there.

When a certain someone dies, Black Widow shows some other emotion besides, well, showing no emotion

The Story:

Oh boy…this story has so many twists and turns that it’s impossible to count them all. While some are kind of predictable, there are others that genuinely had you guessing. My favorite aspect about the story, however, had to do with its presentation of the argument, “Should the government have surveillance over everything that we do? Is that really freedom?” This is what gave the villain his depth, because it does really get you thinking about the subject. I also have to give props to this movie’s pacing, because it is impeccable. The movie knows when to feed you some of the most suspenseful and well-executed action scenes that I’ve ever seen period and when to give you quieter moments with character development, allowing you to breathe. I was never bored at any point watching this movie, which always gets props from me.

The story was well-paced and had balance

The Presentation:

I would normally say that the movie’s presentation is typical Marvel fare and move on, but, well, I’d feel like I’m doing this movie a disservice if I just left it at that. The movie sports a lot of action scenes (obviously), and they all look fantastic, but not just because of the effects; it’s because the fighting choreography is freaking astounding! I have no idea how many stunt doubles or how much computer animation was used in this movie, but dear Haruhi, these guys deserve an award or something! Directors Anthony and Joe Russo, if I was wearing a hat I would take it off and applaud you until the end of time. You somehow made a man who fought with a shield awesome. As for the music, it fits. I have yet to listen to the entire soundtrack, but I remember it being well-done, so no complaints here.

The movie looks fantastic, with some of the best fighting choreography that I've ever seen

Final Judgment:

Overall, I think Captain America – The Winter Soldier is one of the best comic book movies that I’ve ever seen. It has a perfect balance of everything that makes comic book movies entertaining, along with adding its own special flair of thoughtfulness and interesting characters to the mix. I give Captain America – The Winter Soldier a 4.5 out of 5, and a recommendation to watch it the next chance you get. Trust me, despite some of its goofier moments, this is a movie that is so good on so many levels, and I can’t recommend it enough. But, like always, it’s up to you to decide your own opinion.
ScoreCard: 

Further Recommendations:

The Dark Knight

While much darker than Captain America – The Winter Soldier, this movie does share some of the same traits, including a fantastic villain character, fantastic plot, well-developed characters, and is overall just epic. If you haven’t watched it already, you probably should.

The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

For those who don’t know, Spider-Man is my favorite superhero, and the new reboot movie was great. I’m also recommending this because its sequel comes out in a month, so you should probably watch it before then.