by Rick Purtha
In a year so chock-full of action-packed superhero
movies, you would think that Marvel wouldn’t be able to top some of their
greatest films, but yet again, they have created a film that pushes the
boundaries farther than ever before. “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” is
guaranteed to be a huge hit when it hits
the box offices everywhere April 4, 2014.
This second movie in the Captain America franchise picks
up exactly where it left off in “The Avengers.” Captain Steve Rogers, the
heroic Captain America, is now working for the mysterious S.H.I.E.L.D. under
the orders of the even more mysterious Director Nick Fury. Steve is partnered
up with agent Natasha Romanov, AKA Black Widow, to complete missions with the
utmost importance of protecting the secrets of S.H.I.E.L.D.
The first few scenes develop the relationships between
characters and moves the plot into position for the conflict between the sides
to begin. In the first few moments, Steve meets Sam Wilson, a war veteran who
will later become a great ally to Steve and Natasha. The plot is set in motion
when the two are sent on a mission to save hostages on a hijacked ship. Black
Widow has an ulterior motive for joining the Captain. After their mission, the
whole team is compromised when an old enemy that Steve never thought he would
see again reappears to undo the work S.H.I.E.L.D. has done. This causes Natasha
and Steve to go off the reservation and back into a position where they only
have each other and a new ally to rely on. Steve’s past comes back to haunt him
as his old friends and enemies return, but whose side they are actually on is the
question. Fury warns Steve, “Don’t trust anyone,” as the lines between friend
and foe are blurred.
There are many characters reintroduced from “Captain
America: The First Avenger,” “Iron Man,” and “The Avengers.” Some of these
characters include Nick Fury, Alexander Pierce and the council and Natasha
Romanov. When mixing the reintroduced cast with the cast of new characters to
the series, this movie has an all-star cast which helped to push the film to
its best. You can’t go wrong with a movie that has a cast of Chris Evans,
Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, and Cobie Smulders.
The cast for this movie took it that extra step to push
it that much further by doing their research and doing it well. The moments of hand-to-hand combat were no
less than flawless as both Natasha and Steve both sported new moves and
techniques that weren’t seen in any of the previous films. The camera work
definitely helped with this. They covered almost every angle during the fight
scenes with smooth trasitions between shots, which allows for the viewer to
follow along perfectly. The crew was not afraid to get up close during fight
scenes either. They captured the perfect angle, which shows the expression in
the actors faces as they throw each other back and forth across the set. This
plus a cast who knows what they are doing is a recipe for the best action
sequences seen in a Marvel movie to date. With over 15 films in the Marvel
universe so far, “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” is definitely at the
top, and possibly even the best of the ten movies linked directly to the
Avengers. The movie is action packed, fast-paced and even has a little hint of
humor mixed in within the serious story. The plot seemed to be planned out down
to every single little twist in the story, and there are a lot of them, which
keep you on the edge of your seat and constantly questioning what is going to
happen next.
With all factors considered, this is the best movie that
Marvel Entertainment has put out in a few years. When considering the vast
improvement of the special effects and camera work from the past few movies and
the detail at which the plot was written, “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”
surpasses the others by a pretty wide margin.
The only thing that was aggravating
during the film was all of the mentions of the other Avengers, but never having
any of them appear. The characters in
this movie talk about things such as people who are smarter than them (Bruce
Banner and Tony Stark), but never bring them into the story. Every time they
set up a possible cameo, they went exactly the other way with it. If the
directors are going to wave that out in front of the viewers' faces, then at
least let them see the character in a single scene.
As with all Marvel movies, when watching it in theaters,
be sure to stay through all the credits to catch both of the extra scenes
included after the film.
Score: 9/10
Rick
Purtha is an employee of AMC Theaters. The opinions expressed in this review
are his and not those of AMC Theaters. AMC Theaters is in no way liable for any
opinions expressed in this review.
