It’s occasionally meandering, and if it lost 20 minutes almost anywhere it’d come out vastly improved.After commanding a successful rescuing mission of hostages from pirates in a ship, Steve Rogers meets Nick Fury very upset since Natasha Romanoff had different objectives from his. There’s a focus on the plot over the story. The characters are there, but the emotion isn’t. Even so, it feels like a script that went a couple of drafts beyond perfect. It gets by because simply spending time with the characters is enough to make the ticket price worth it. It’s even tonally unique, with less romance and comedy than previous MCU instalments, but more tension and intrigue.Īs with Thor: The Dark World, it doesn’t need to be spectacular. If you’re a fan of the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe, you’ll doubtless be happy enough with the results: new heroes and villains are debuted, at least one old villain returns unexpectedly, and there are major story developments that’ll undoubtedly ripple into the Marvel films that follow. It might not be a perfectly-constructed film, but at least it’s trying something different with the character, rather than returning to the backdrop and themes of the first. With the possible exception of a CGI-riddled climax that’ll ring a little too familiar to Avengers viewers, it all works brilliantly. This is a film that makes Cap’s ability to leap out of a window seem as cool as repulsor boots or a magic hammer. Cap has always been a street-level hero, and though that worked against him alongside the larger-than-life members of The Avengers, it’s in his favour here where he’s the fastest, strongest person in most rooms. Given that there are so many action scenes, it helps as well that they’re varied and interesting. He makes the kind of choices you hope you’d be brave enough to. Thankfully, one thing Captain America: The Winter Soldier gets unflinchingly correct about its lead is that in a world of moral compartmentalisation and compromise, Steve Rogers always does the right thing. ![]() A mixture of corn-fed patriotism and deadpan humour are underpinned by an unspoken sense of loss. Still, it’s Chris Evans as Steve Rogers who remains the heart of the film, and if nothing else this film underscores how perfect he is for the role. Marvel’s left-field pick for directors of its films has paid dividends again. And even though Robert Redford is arguably coasting on his previous performances, he’s an entertaining presence nonetheless.įurthermore, direction, from the Russo brothers, is strong, not least for giving us action sequences that we can follow. Franchise newcomer Anthony Mackie is instantly engaging as Sam Wilson, a Cap fanboy-turned-sidekick. Scarlett Johansson’s performance is impressively at ease: warm yet guarded, deeper than the material she’s given, and proof if any were needed that she deserves a solo film. The Black Widow is upgraded almost as far as co-lead, and deservedly so. Jackson delivers everything you’d expect of him. Nick Fury gets more to do in this film than ever before, and Samuel L. Luckily, the strong ensemble makes up for the occasionally too-absent super-villain. It’s definitely a thriller – the action is tense, character loyalties are uncertain and there are plot twists all over the place – but the political elements are less developed than has been suggested. The message we’re consistently given by those in power is that good people have to do bad things to keep us safe, and the world of Captain America now reflects and challenges those areas of moral uncertainty. Punching Nazis might’ve been enough in the 1940s, but things are rarely so straightforward in the 21st century. ![]() This is, without apology, a story about Cap trying to operate in the modern world. He’s still a soldier, but more reluctantly than before. Following the events of The Avengers, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) has taken to hanging around Washington DC, running covert ops for SHIELD, staying out of the limelight and struggling to deal with the moral compromises his side seems to be making in the name of freedom. Throughout its promo period, Marvel Studios has been describing Captain America: The Winter Soldier as a political thriller with added superheroes, and from the moment the film opens it certainly looks the part.
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