CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER - A Retro Review

We're now one week away from the US release of 'Captain America: Civil War' and to celebrate this highly anticipated superhero smashup, let's take a look back at the best film in the MCU - 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier'

Spoilery Alert - This movie came out two years ago, so there actually may be a few of you who haven't seen it. Well, that's still your fault, because it's damn good, but whatever. You're warned. Spoilers are mentioned all up in hurr. 


Prior to the release of 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier', Phase 2 of the MCU had gotten off to a rocky start; 'Iron Man Three' was a disaster, 'Thor: The Dark World' lacked much of the fun as well as the character development that made the original work. But when the trailers for Captain America 2 started to drop, anticipation started to build, and the feeling was that this film would put Phase 2 and the MCU back on track.

And man alive, it succeeds. It is a wonderfully intense movie, filled with intrigue, twists and turns (the first film's bad guys, Hydra, has been infiltrating S.H.I.E.L.D. for years, positioning themselves to carry out a horrifying endgame) that actually are in service to the story. There are action scenes that are among the best in Marvel's entire 12-film library. And it still has time makes a few jokes that don't detract from the overall serious tone of the picture. Brothers Joe and Anthony Russo took the director's chair from Joe Johnston, and despite only having two small comedy credits to their name, they infused Cap 2 with something truly extraordinary. With direct influences from a spate of 70's political intrigue thrillers, 'Winter Soldier' is easily my favorite film in the entire Marvel catalog and the only one that could stay in a conversation when one compares the MCU with Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy. It also manages to feel like the most interwoven of the MCU's stories, while still maintaining the ability to stand on its own. You don't need to know that Senator Stern (the late, great Garry Shandling, reprising his role from 'Iron Man 2') has butted heads with Tony Stark, but if you do, it definitely paints a clearer picture of his motivations.

Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) is back in uniform, after the events of 'The Avengers'. Still a man out of time, he's making the best of things, while working directly for Nick Fury* (Samuel L. Jackson) and S.H.I.E.L.D. He makes peace with his lost-to-time love Peggy Carter (a digitally aged Hayley Atwell) and has a semi-friendly relationship with the Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) even if he maybe, kinda, doesn't totally trust her. Once he figures out that he can, though, Evans and Johansson have such a wonderful chemistry together, that the few moments where Steve and Natasha can just quietly talk to one another work very well.

*This is easily Sam Jackson's best turn as Nick Fury; he's not being Sam Jackson-y, he's exuding both the confidence and the moral flexibility that being the head of an intelligence agency must have. For the first time since he appeared in the MCU, Fury doesn't seem like he's all-knowing and infallible. He seems like he's on his heels, and unsure both of who he can trust and where he can go. But just because he's been knocked on his ass, doesn't mean he doesn't still have a few aces up his sleeve.

Anthony Mackie also joins the MCU as Sam Wilson, aka The Falcon, a retired soldier who now helps other veterans with PTSD. Mackie's integration into the fabric of the story is nearly effortless. A shared military background gives Wilson and Cap a quick connection, and Wilson's admiration for Cap's heroics leads him to offer his help with no hesitation. Mackie is also just plain cool in the role. He comes across as genuine and friendly, but also as a very charismatic and capable ally. And his wings look totally awesome.

In addition to the principal characters, the film boasts a large supporting cast, and even though some of them don't get a lot of screen time, what they do get is used very effectively, and gives us enough insight into their character's personality that we have a clear view of where they're coming from and what drives them. Robert Redford plays Secretary of Defense Alexander Pierce, who starts off as an ally, but still exudes a faint whiff of menace, enough of which tips off Steve to his true intentions. Maximiliano Hernandez's turn as recurring/rogue S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Jasper Sitwell (he's the bald hispanic fella who usually pal'd around with Coulson before he died) not only shocks those viewers who follow the MCU closely enough to know his name, but also gives you a very efficient way of illustrating the depth of the Hydra infestation, while also undermining the trust Steve has in S.H.I.E.L.D. itself. Frank Grillo, Callan Mulvey, and Emily VanCamp also bring their own depth to the goings-on at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters.

Despite the huge cast, which can bog down lesser films, the story moves along at a brisk pace, and the action scenes in this movie are thrilling. They feel intimate and brutal, and never so big that you lose track of what's going on. The Russo brothers wanted it to look as real as possible, so they took cues from Chris Nolan and shot as much as they could practically. The resulting visuals are fantastic. Steve running down a hallway, smashing through doors and walls that seem to have real weight to them gives the viewer a useful idea of how strong Steve has become. A freeway confrontation with Hydra and the Winter Soldier is probably the strongest action set-piece in the movie. The masked-and-metal-armed Winter Soldier always seems to be just a half-step ahead of the good guys, and unlike his battles with the Nazis, Steve has to actually put real effort into just trying to stay alive, never mind escaping or defeating these goons.

Aside from the edge-of-your-seat action, this is a movie that takes its emotional realism very seriously, as well. Steve is just starting to get used to living his life after a 70-year ice nap, and all of a sudden, the ground he'd grown so comfortable on suffers a cataclysmic shift. Drawn in by their actions, Cap gets understandably pissed at Fury's and Romanoff's moral relativism, and hates being manipulated into doing their potentially illegal bidding. Yes, they're the good guys, but that doesn't mean that sometimes they don't do the wrong things. And yes, the eponymous Winter Soldier is revealed to be Cap's "dead" friend Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) but just because he's now a brainwashed assassin doesn't mean Steve suddenly hates him and will have no trouble killing him. Bucky was Steve's friend before he was Captain America, and he can't just let that go because everyone around him is saying "he's your enemy now." Cap cannot and does give up hope just because it seems like there is none.

In fact, things look so grim for Cap by the end of the film, you actually start to wonder if "jesus...are they really gonna kill Captain America??" Even if you rationally know "ok, they can't kill Cap", the fact that the story can suck the viewer in so much that you think, even if just for a moment, that he may die is quite an achievement.

For the Russos, the idea of putting the most honest superhero in the Marvel Universe in a sea of deceit and duplicity is a pretty solid plan. And most of the time, when you talk about a character arc, you're talking about a character who changes the way they are because of the events in the world around them. What makes 'Winter Soldier' so unique is that Cap's arc isn't how he changes because of the world, but how he changes the world itself, through the sheer conviction of his principles. Cap, the character, is just about as close as you can get to being an absolute force for good, and the Russos do a truly wonderful job of taking this character someplace unique and fascinating to watch.


FINAL SCORE 9/10


Captain America: Civil War is out next Friday (or really, Thursday night). The first trailer was amazeballs, so check that out on YouTube, and then go see the movie next week, because for the first time, I'm going to try write a timely review.