Captain America: The Winter Soldier [M]

After Loki’s space invasion that rocked New York, Steve Rogers, a.k.a. Captain America stayed on to work for the espionage agency S.H.I.E.L.D. Already having trouble adjusting to contemporary society, Rogers’ naivety about whom he can trust takes a battering when, during a counter-terrorism mission to rescue some hostages, he discovers that Agent Romanoff and Nick Fury have their own secret agenda. The plot thickens as an assassination attempt is made on Fury and Rogers discovers that he can’t even trust the agency he works for. With S.H.I.E.L.D. corrupted by Hyrda as well as constant attempts to kill him off, the odds are against Rogers as he tries to bring down Hydra for good and find someone whom he can trust to cover his back. 

The third loop on the Marvel rollercoaster is the second movie in the Captain America story. I remember not really liking the first Captain America; sadly I thought it was an absolute waste of time, but it’s sort of interesting how the character arc develops in Rogers’ story, making this movie a much better and more tangible development. I found myself quite enjoying this movie, definitely more than I thought I would. 

After Loki’s space invasion that rocked New York, Steve Rogers, a.k.a. Captain America stayed on to work for the espionage agency S.H.I.E.L.D. Already having trouble adjusting to contemporary society, Rogers’ naivety about whom he can trust takes a battering when, during a counter-terrorism mission to rescue some hostages, he discovers that Agent Romanoff and Nick Fury have their own secret agenda. The plot thickens as an assassination attempt is made on Fury and Rogers discovers that he can’t even trust the agency he works for. With S.H.I.E.L.D. corrupted by Hyrda as well as constant attempts to kill him off, the odds are against Rogers as he tries to bring down Hydra for good and find someone whom he can trust to cover his back. 

I think what I really liked most about this movie was that there was still this sort of Avengers-esque camaraderie. We’ve got Nick Fury, Black Widow, and Captain America all working ‘together’ and that at least doesn’t make this movie seem as disconnected from the first Avengers movie as some of the other sequels that came out after it. Whilst we know that most of the Avengers head off and do their own thing, Steve’s story is particularly interesting because he really has no life to back to. 

The plot is beautifully balanced between an action movie and an internal struggle with one’s emotions and there is a lot of character stabilising and development that happens to Rogers that’s really nice to watch. We also get to see a relationship develop between him and Romanoff: a really nice friendship that is made all the more lovely because in, terms of background and personality, they are poles apart. Their banter is fun, fresh, and sometimes remarkably light-hearted, which really helps us relate to them and come to love them all the more. 

The action sequences are textbook classic as superhero action sequences go in this day and age, but the real power of the movie comes in the form of the Winter Soldier of the title who serves as a massive plot twist, enabler, and shock, as well as really fleshing out Rogers’ never-ending loyalty and trust issues that provide the emotional turmoil of the film. Plus the dude is hells kick-arse with a beautiful lethalness that sort of put me in mind of Predator. 

Starring Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Redford, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Cobie Smulders, Frank Grillo, Maximilliano Hernandez, Emily VanCamp, Hayley Atwell, and Toby Jones, Captain America: The Winter Solider was a good and well-balanced action movie that I was pleasantly surprised with. Filled with action, tension, drama, friendship, comedy, and a sneaky Pulp Fiction reference, I enjoyed it.