Captain America: Winter Soldier (2014) --- "Past Mistakes Come Back To Haunt This Genetically Enhanced Super Soldier."

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Plot Summary

 After the cataclysmic events in New York with his fellow Avengers, Steve Rogers, aka Captain America (Chris Evans), lives in the nation's capital as he tries to adjust to modern times. An attack on a S.H.I.E.L.D. colleague throws Rogers into a web of intrigue that places the whole world at risk. Joining forces with the Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and a new ally, the Falcon, Rogers struggles to expose an ever-widening conspiracy, but he and his team soon come up against an unexpected enemy. 

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Review

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Hello, Movie Buffs! 

     Now The Winter Soldier is everything a Captain America movie should be. While it maintains some of the humor that now has become the trademark of the Marvel franchise, it is way more serious than the other Marvel films. This is very different from the majority of superhero films out today. The plot, while not the most original it has a certain tone that allows for the film to be much more different from its predecessors. There are some scenes centered are political fear and information manipulation but it still remains entertaining without feeling like the film is too egotistical. The action in The Winter’s Soldier sets the bar at an all-time high for Marvel films and it is truly amazing that the film was directed by two directors, despite being brothers. One aspect is the new ways in which to use Captain America’s (Chris Evans – Fantastic Four, Marvel films ) shield, through the use of varied and rapid choreography for the actor we finally get to see the shield’s true potential. In addition, the encounters with the Winter Soldier never feel repetitive, and I feel like we learn something new every single time. With impressive and real stunt work, fights and a pleasant sight of non-superhero (the Avengers colleagues) duels this new set of characters rely solely on instincts and bullets, similarly to wild west gun fights/shootouts.

     The introduction of a few new character does not deter from some long time characters – a visit to a much older Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell – Cinderella, Marvel films), Bucky Barns/Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan – The Martian, Marvel films) memory flashbacks, and a small cameo from Natasha/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson – Lucy, Ghost in the Shell). This in tuner brings the viewers closer to the character by allowing for more characterization and logical time usage. At first, Evan’s character came out to be one of the least interesting Avengers, mostly due to his black and white view on things. Here we start to see a change, a growth, a maturity in his character. Here he still views people as black or white, good or bad but now he is starting to see some mixtures of greys. This reminds me of a famous character from literature, Achilles. In the Iliad Achilles, who is one of the many Greek kings, very many views the world as either black or white; good or evil, friend or foe. He sees his cousin Patroclus as his ally and friend, while Hector, the crown prince of Troy, is his enemy and if you’re his enemy you are considered to be pure evil. Many of you know or have heard the story from the 2004 film adaption, Troy, so I won’t explain all the details. But in the end, Achilles kills Hector in single combat. It is only until after Hector is dead and his father, King Priam, comes to beg for his son’s body, that Achilles comes to realization that Hector was not as evil as he thought. Sure, they were on two different sides of a war but Hector was without a doubt a good man; a good prince, a good soldier, a good son, a good husband, etc. We start to see this happen to Captain America both in The Winter Solder (2014) and in Civil War (2016). The rest of the cast is exemplary with enough and necessary dialogue to fill their scenes. Anthony Mackie (Captain America: Civil War) plays Falcon with enough believability that makes for a great supporting character rather than your comedic and sometimes wimpy sidekick. Shaw as the Winter Soldier manages to add some menace to an otherwise light-hearted franchise, and he does all of this mainly through his eyes rather than dialogue. 

     Overall, Captain America: The Winter Soldier is game changer in the Marvel Universe/franchise. Marvel films are famous for their vivid, amusing and not-so-serious storytelling with catchy and witty dialogues between Alpha male/female characters. However, the Winter Soldier is way more serious with a much darker plot and more close-range hand-to-hand combat. This is not the typical superhero film audiences expected but is instead it is a conspiracy and espionage thriller with characters who happen to have some special abilities. Now is this film flawless? Not exactly, nothings perfect but it does show how much time and thought the directors, Anthony Russo and Joe Russo, took in regards to the plot and how to bring that story to life. Civil War (2016) has some big shoes to film.

***Marvel Cinematic Universe (In order of how you should watch them)***

Iron Man (2008)

The Incredible Hulk (2008)

Iron Man 2 (2010)

Thor (2011)

Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

Marvel's The Avengers (2012)

Iron Man 3 (2013)

Thor: The Dark World (2013)

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

Ant-Man (2015)

Captain America: Civil War (2016)

Doctor Strange (2016)

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)

Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

Black Panther (2018)

Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)

Captain Marvel (2019)

Untitled Avengers film (2019)

Untitled Spider-Man: Homecoming sequel (2019)

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (TBA)

"On your left."

- Steve Rogers

Final Vote

Worth Seeing:  4.5 of 5 star

Worth Buying:  4.5 of 5 stars

I hope you liked this post, subscribe to my blog via email HERE, send in your comments, and watch Captain America: Winter Soldier (2014).

Movies Similar 

Ant-Man (2015)
Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)
Avengers (2012)
Avengers 2: Age of Ultron (2015)
Avengers 3: Infinity War (2018)
Avengers 4: Untitled film (2019)
Black Panther (2018)
Captain America: Civil War (2016)
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
Captain Marvel (2019)
Doctor Strange (2016)
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (TBA)
Hulk (2003)
Incredible Hulk (2008)
Iron Man (2008)
Iron Man 2 (2010)
Iron Man 3 (2013)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Spider-Man: Homecoming 2 (2019)
Thor (2011)
Thor: Dark World (2013)
Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

Cast & Crew

Directed by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo.

Writing Credits: Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely, Joe Simon, Gene Colan, Jack Kirby, Brian Michael Bendis, Don Heck, Kieron Dwyer, Don Rico, Bob Harras, David Finch, Mark Gruenwald, and Paul Neary.

Produced by 

     Victoria Alonso         ---   executive producer

     Mitchell Bell              ---   associate producer

     Louis D'Esposito       ---   executive producer

     Kevin Feige                ---   producer

     Alan Fine                   ---   executive producer

     Michael Grillo           ---   executive producer

     Stan Lee                     ---   executive producer

     Nate Moore                ---   co-producer

     Lars P. Winther        ---   associate producer

Music by Henry Jackman

Cinematography by Trent Opaloch

Film Editing by Jeffrey Ford and Matthew Schmidt.

Casting By Sarah Finn

Production Design by Peter Wenham

Art Direction by Steve Christensen, Beat Frutiger, Kevin Ishioka, Gary Kosko, and Thomas Valentine

Set Decoration by Leslie Pope

Costume Design by Judianna Makovsky

Cast:

Chris Evans                                  ---     Steve Rogers / Captain America

Samuel L. Jackson                    ---     Nick Fury

Scarlett Johansson                   ---     Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow

Robert Redford                          ---     Alexander Pierce

Sebastian Stan                            ---     Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier

Anthony Mackie                         ---     Sam Wilson / Falcon

Cobie Smulders                          ---     Maria Hill

Frank Grillo                                 ---     Brock Rumlow

Maximiliano Hernández        ---     Jasper Sitwell

Emily VanCamp                         ---     Kate / Agent 13

Hayley Atwell                              ---     Peggy Carter

Toby Jones                                   ---     Dr. Arnim Zola

Stan Lee                                         ---     Smithsonian Guard

Callan Mulvey                             ---     Jack Rollins

Georges St-Pierre                       ---     Georges Batroc

Branka Katic                               ---     Renata

Angela Russo-Otstot                 ---     Garcia

Jon Sklaroff                                 ---     Charlie XO

Chad Todhunter                         ---     Charlie Weapons Tech

Steven Culp                                  ---     Scudder

Derek Hughes                             ---     Human Resources Executive

Robert Clotworthy                     ---     Fury Car (voice)

June Christopher            ---        SHIELD Computer (voice)