Captain America: The Winter Soldier - Review

I’ll admit I didn't like Captain America: the First Avenger very much at all. That film really put me off Steve Rogers as a character. Even The Avengers didn't help, despite how fantastic that film was. This meant that by the time the trailer for Winter Soldier was released, I had just about given up on Cap. And then I watched the trailer…

The second Captain America film is fantastic. It focuses on a far more interesting aspect of the character which allows the film to go to some much more dark and surprising places. Winter Soldier is first and foremost a political thriller. It has an incredibly well developed plot with plenty of twists, turns and paranoia without forgetting that it is still a Marvel movie with certain elements that it needs to include. I’d rather not go into the specifics of the plot as nearly every moment in the film is important and if you haven’t seen the film yet I could run the risk of ruining it. To put it vaguely, the film deals with Cap’s struggles with being a S.H.I.E.L.D. operative and following orders post – Avengers.

The acting in Winter Soldier is phenomenal. Of course, Chris Evans returns as Steve Rogers and does a good job. The stars of the show however, are Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow and Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury. The character development for the two of them in the film is significant and complex. This makes their jobs as actors all the more difficult, which in turn makes their excellent performances even more impressive. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Evans. The film doesn't do all that much to develop his character which rather limits the quality of Evans’ portrayal of the Captain. Thankfully, even though Captain America is very much the central character in the film, he is not its main focus. The film introduces some new and exciting characters whilst also bringing back some old ones from the first film and the Avengers. Among the new faces is Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson/The Falcon. Mackie plays a similar role to James Rhodes in the Iron Man films in the sense that he is Cap’s wing-man (literally) and is there to provide witty dialogue as well as some really epic action set pieces. Whilst his role is not huge in this film, I would keep an eye out for him in Avengers: Age of Ultron next summer. Another new character is Alexander Pierce played by Robert Redford. Redford brings experience from 70s political thrillers and really shows that Marvel were serious about the tone and themes of this film.

Anthony Mackie as Falcon.

What really helped Captain America this time around, was the spectacle of the film. It showcased the creative team at Marvel’s true intentions for the character, as for once, Captain America felt like a legitimate superhero with legitimate powers. The abilities that come with the super soldier serum are shown to be devastatingly powerful whilst at the same time being precise and efficient. The shield as well is successfully presented as an effective and impressive weapon. This boosted my confidence in Cap as a superhero and as a character in general. This new take on Cap’s abilities played in well with the film’s astoundingly cool action scenes, the most impressive of which being those that saw Cap engaged in close quarters combat with the films villain – the faceless Winter Soldier after whom the film is titled. The choreography for these scenes is very impressive.

Cap vs Winter Soldier

I had very few problems with Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Unfortunately, there were a couple. Chief among them being the lack of character development for Cap. The other big issue was the importance of having already seen the first film prior to watching the fantastic sequel. Captain America: the First Avenger was not a great film and because of this, not that many people will have seen it. This creates a problem when many of Winter Soldier’s biggest plot points stem from the events of the first film. So, if you do intend on going to see the film, I recommend that you first watch The First Avenger.

Captain America: the Winter Soldier is amazing. It is definitely the best phase two Marvel movie by a long shot. This is a film full to the brim with a gripping plot, witty dialogue, engrossing actions scenes and throws in a plot twist that is going to have a huge effect on Avengers two and phase three. I honestly can’t think of a single reason to not go and see this film.

9.2/10