Captain America, The Winter Soldier:
After the events of The Avengers, Captain America and Black Widow have been doing special ops missions for Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. They've been building a friendship, and Cap has been trying to get reacquainted with the world, considering he's missed over 70 years of history and pop culture. He's also become friends with an ex-soldier named Sam Wilson. Unfortunately, Cap soon finds out that S.H.I.E.L.D. may have been compromised, and that he can trust no one, not even Nick Fury or Black Widow. He also finds himself a fugitive on the run from corrupt politician Alexander Pierce and many S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives. All the while, Cap must face his past when a mysterious figure known only as "The Winter Soldier" (who bears a striking resemblance to someone from his WWII days) attempts to assassinate him and his colleagues on several occasions. Cap and Black Widow must hide out from S.H.I.E.L.D. and unravel the mystery of who's behind this government conspiracy, and, even more interesting, who is this Winter Soldier? This movie was surprisingly good. After the satisfying but also somewhat lackluster Iron Man sequels and the disappointing Thor: The Dark World, I was curious how they were going to follow up to the first Captain America, which I initially was indifferent towards but have grown to like over the last three years. Somehow they did it. In my opinion this is the best sequel in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and my favorite of the "Phase Two" films so far. It's the best of them besides Iron Man and The Avengers. It's more of an espionage thriller with some superheroes thrown in the mix, a sort of Jason Bourne and Skyfall meet Marvel. The cast were excellent. Chris Evans continues to show he is the ideal person to play Captain America. He's humorous, heroic, charming, quick-witted, and all around bad-ass, and he has that aura of an action hero from an old movie that you kind of need for Captain America (which is kind of obvious considering he's a hero from days gone by). Scarlett Johansson is always great as Natasha Romanoff, aka the Black Widow. She honestly made the movie ten times better, not just for her looks (but those definitely helped, too) but because she has a really great personality and wit in this movie. She and Evans have excellent on-screen chemistry, despite that she's kind of a tease, as she leads him on while also telling him to date other women. On another note, I liked how the filmmakers didn't go with the route from the comics, where she turns out to be a secret HYDRA operative, because I felt that would have been a bit dumb considering how this film universe has been set up. Anthony Mackie was fantastic as Sam Wilson, aka the Falcon. Although you could say he's just a rehash of Rhodes from Iron Man (i.e. the hero's cool black friend/sidekick), I thought he was a great addition to the series and he and Evans genuinely seemed like good buddies on screen. Sebastian Stan reprises his role as Bucky Barnes, Cap's best friend from his WWII days, now long dead. He appears in flashbacks and archive footage (the latter of which is shown in the fictitious Captain American exhibit in the Smithsonian). Cobie Smulders reappears as Maria Hill, Fury's right-hand woman and a dedicated S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. Emily VanCamp appears in a supporting role as Sharon Carter, aka Agent 13, another tough female S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who is assigned to look out for Captain America. Frank Grillo portrays Brock Rumlow (known as Crossbones in the comics), a member of Captain America's elite team of S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives. He's a pretty bad-ass character, actually, whether or not you agree with his decisions is a completely different story. Hayley Atwell reprises her role as Cap's former lover interest and British secret agent Peggy Carter, now an elderly woman. It was nice to see their relationship have closure. Veteran actor and director Robert Redford portrays the film's main antagonist: Alexander Pierce. A supporting character in the comics who is loyal to Nick Fury, in the film he is portrayed as a corrupt politician working withing S.H.I.E.L.D. who betrays Cap and Black Widow and brands them as fugitives. He's one of the few Marvel Cinematic Universe bad guys (besides The Mandarin, Loki, and Obidiah Stane) who wasn't all that disappointing and was actually a real threat. He's not the first character to be completely changed for the Cinematic Universe, but I think he's the first major villain to be based on a completely non-villainous character. Of course, you can't deal with S.H.I.E.L.D. without dealing with it's director. Samuel L. Jackson returns in full-force as the bad-ass, one-eyed, stern, and secretive Nick Fury. He's honestly one of the best supporting characters in the series, and he never ceases to be cool. Eagle-eyes may spot a cool easter egg: near the end of the film, something belonging to Fury has a quote from the Bible on it (Ezekiel 25:17), the very same he quote he famously recites in Pulp Fiction (which is 20 years old this year). Toby Jones reappears as Arnim Zola, Red Skull's Swiss scientist partner, who is closer to his comic book counterpart this time around. Maximiliano Hernandez appears as Jasper Sitwell, a higher-up in S.H.I.E.L.D. Having appeared in numerous Marvel "One-Shots" and in The Avengers, he should be a familiar character with many fans by now. Garry Shandling reprises his minor role as smug politician Senator Stern from Iron Man 2. Georges St. Pierre appears as Georges Betroc, a French mercenary and skilled martial artist who has an intense fight with Captain America in the film's opening action sequence. He is based on the classic Captain America villain Batroc the Leaper. Callan Mulvey appears as Jack Rollins, one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s best counter-terrorism strike force operatives and Rumlow's colleague. The World Security Council are portrayed by Bernard White, Chin Han (The Dark Knight), Alan Dale, and Jenny Agutter, who is the only one to also appear as a council member in The Avengers. Gary Sinise has a voice-over cameo as the narrator of the Smithsonian's Cap exhibit, and Stan Lee cameos as a museum security guard. Ed Brubaker, the creator of the Winter Soldier, cameos as an evil scientist working with the assassin. Joe Russo (one of the directors) appears as a doctor, and the writers cameo as interrogators. This movie is actually one of my favorite films of the year so far. It feels fresh and new for a Marvel film, and is tied in directly with The Avengers: Age of Ultron, but doesn't feel forced, like in the way Iron Man 2 shoved the upcoming Avengers down the viewer's throat. It has enough superhero action and sci-fi tech to keep fans of the series and comics happy, but also enough intriguing spy fare and twists to keep general audiences entertained. The music by Henry Jackman may be very similar to the score of The Avengers, but it does a good job getting you excited during an action sequence or just before a huge action set-piece. Speaking of which, the action and fight sequences are stunning and exhilarating. The mind-blowing special effects blend in seamlessly, too. From the opening sequence on a shipping freighter, to the well-choreographed one-on-one fight between Cap and Batroc, to the car chase between Nick Fury and some corrupt cops/S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, to the close-quarters fight between Captain America and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in an elevator and his subsequent escape, to the gun battle between the Winter Solider and Cap & Black Widow, to the final battle sequence aboard the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarriers and inside The Triskelion (S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ), every one of the these sequences is entertaining and explosive, with tons of intense hand-to-hand combat and fire-fights. Joe and Anthony Russo are mostly known for their work on comedy series such as Arrested Development and Happy Endings, so I was surprised they could pull off a violent and fast-paced superhero film so well. The writers (Stephen McFeely and Christopher Markus) do a great job adapting the material to the big screen, and putting their own original twist on it. I also felt they got the tone right. As much as I love The Avengers (and don't get me wrong, I really fucking love it), you do get the sense it's too light-hearted at times, example: putting jokes in inappropriate places (like having a character say a funny line moments after Agent Coulson is stabbed by Loki), this one was closer to the original Iron Man (and the intended tone of the series before Disney took over): has humor and fun flashy visuals, but knows too much will drown out the more serious parts. It also realizes that when shit gets real, you can't put jokes in immediately afterwards, you have to let the seriousness of the situations at hand sink in, or else you'll be accused of not taking the material seriously yourself. Captain America: The Winter Soldier just got it right. It's got a great cast, a surprisingly intriguing plot, a darker tone, more mind-blowing action set-pieces, a decent musical score, and some excellent writing for an action film. The only problems: a few logical flaws (which are common in action films), but mainly it's the release date. Why early April and not May like usual? What the fuck, Marvel Studios? That's almost as bad as Thor 2's November release date. 4.5/5 stars.
My reviews of the original film and the other Phase One movies: http://mattcottermovies.blogspot.com/2012/05/avengers-movies.html
http://mattcottermovies.blogspot.com/2012/05/avengers-movies-part-ii.html
My review of "Iron Man 3": http://mattcottermovies.blogspot.com/2013/05/iron-man-3-is-it-possible-to-really.html
My review of "Thor- The Dark World": http://mattcottermovies.blogspot.com/2013/11/thor-dark-world-marvels-latest.html
(SPOILERS BELOW POSTER)
(Image: Wikipedia)(SPOILER SEGMENT): About halfway through the film, Captain America discovers The Winter Soldier is his best friend Bucky Barnes, who, after having "died" during WWII, has been genetically enhanced, cryogenically frozen, and has had his memory wiped. He is now a stone-cold killer and an unstoppable force. For people like me, who've read the comics, this was not a surprise, but I figured I'd put it down here anyway in case people who haven't read into it want to see the film. Also, Cap and Black Widow discover Red Skull's right-hand man Arnim Zola had transported his consciousness into an old supercomputer before he died in 1972. He reveals he was recruited by the SSR after WWII to found S.H.I.E.L.D. Unfortunately for the heroes, he used this as an opportunity to regrow HYDRA (Red Skull's Nazi-supporting terrorist organization) and that's why most of the agency has been compromised. He developed a genius "algorithm" to detect people who could possibly be threats to S.H.I.E.L.D./HYDRA, and had the hypnotized Bucky/Winter Soldier dispose of them. It is implied he is responsible for the "accidental" deaths of many of Cap's old friends, including Howard Stark. This is closer to his comic book counterpart than in the previous film, as in the comics he is a disembodied head inside of a robotic body who controls other organisms using his knowledge of biology. Here he is a disembodied mind inside a computer who used his intellect to control an entire organization. He is accidentally destroyed in an explosion meant to kill Cap and Black Widow. Characters such as Senator Stern, Rumlow, Rollins, and Jasper Sitwell are revealed to be secret HYDRA operatives, and Sitwell is brutally taken out by Winter Soldier for revealing Zola and HYDRA's plans to the heroes. By the end, the villains are stopped, S.H.I.E.L.D. is shut down, Cap, Hill, Widow, and Wilson look for new occupations (Hill applies for a job at Stark Industries), the remaining HYDRA supporters (including Senator Stern) are arrested, and Nick Fury fakes his own death so he can live a peaceful life away from all this government conspiracy and espionage stuff. Cap and Black Widow have a moment, and Cap and Falcon vow to track down Bucky and save him from his horrible existence as the Winter Soldier. In a mid-credits sequence, we see an underground facility run by the villainous HYDRA leader Baron von Strucker (played by Thomas Kretschmann). He is talking with one of his associates, who is concerned about them being exposed as HYDRA operatives. Strucker tells him not to worry, as they have something valuable. They look on as scientists study the staff used by Loki in The Avengers. They also discuss the dangers of genetic experimentation, and discuss disposing of the bodies of failed test subjects. They also discuss what will happen to the "Twins", the two surviving test subjects: Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch (played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olson, respectively). Strucker looks on with evil glee as they experience their strange new powers while locked in containment cells. (They are no longer Magneto's mutant children as in the comics, but rather the product of experimentation, as Fox has the rights to X-Men). The second end-credits sequences shows the confused and traumatized Bucky in casual clothes looking at pictures of him and Cap from the 1940's in the Smithsonian museum exhibit, and begins to realize the gravity of the situation he's in. The film then has a text that reads: "Steve Rogers will return in The Avengers: Age of Ultron". I personally feel the Bucky one should have gone first, because it feels lackluster after the Strucker one. But it was still really satisfying and leaves me super excited for Guardians of the Galaxy and The Avengers 2. (END OF SPOILERS)
No comments:
Post a Comment