I gotta say, as an amateur fanboy critic, the Russo brothers have disappointed me. When I see a lot of problems in a movie, it gives me a chance to write a very extensive, in-depth review analyzing why everything doesn't work. I can't do that with Captain America: The Winter Soldier because I'm very happy with how this movie turned out. Those darn Russo brothers have made the movie Marvel needed right now, so as a fan I thank them. Therefore, this is going to be less of a review and more of a casual examination of some of the main elements of the movie.
Steve's growth/confidence
I've enjoyed seeing Chris Evans as Steve Rogers since the beginning, but through a combination of better writing of the character and Evans growing in the role, this is the best depiction of Captain America we've had so far. The first movie had the difficult task of introducing us to the scrawny, young, brave Steve Rogers then showing his evolution into the legendary hero before being frozen. They did a great job with the starting point, but I don't think they really achieved the goal of transforming him into an incredible leader. In Avengers, he's only recently awakened in the modern world so he's still very much a fish out of water. At times he seemed a little insecure about his role and was shaken by Tony's insults.
Winter Soldier's Steve felt more mature, secure in his actions and confident. A particular highlight for me was his speech to the the SHIELD agents at the Triskelion. I really can't believe it has taken this long for us to get a rallying speech from Captain America, but this one was very effective. Steve finally felt like the hero who other heroes look up to. In addition to this, the Smithsonian exhibit helped to make it feel more like the world sees Steve as a living legend, which wasn't quite there in Avengers.
Black Widow
It's pretty easy to notice when you watch Black Widow in this movie that she has much more personality than she's had in her previous appearances. It has been nice to see this character grow so much. In Iron Man 2, we got a very basic idea of who Black Widow is and what she can do. Avengers fleshed her out, giving her some backstory and motivation while showing us more of what she's capable of and how she works. Now in Winter Soldier, she's not just Black Widow, super spy. She's Natasha, a woman with spunk, a fun sense of humor, and a playful side.
Before I knew anything about the direction they were taking this movie, if you had asked me which other Avenger should play a supporting role, I probably would have picked Hawkeye since we've had so little time to get to know him so far. While I do think it might have been nice to take this opportunity and give that character some development, I am glad this story allowed us to get to know Black Widow better and see how her relationship with Steve has evolved since Avengers. It's refreshing to see a movie that doesn't try to force a romance between its male and female lead. Steve and Natasha start off feeling kind of like work friends, and then the trust grows between them to the point where Steve probably sees her as one of his few real friends. In the comics, Steve has said that after he woke up in the modern world, the Avengers became like his new family. I hope to see Steve's bond with Natasha carry over into Avengers: Age of Ultron so the team can really start to feel like a cohesive group with defined relationships. We've seen that Tony Stark and Bruce Banner have developed a bit of a friendship. Natasha now has relationships with both Steve and Clint to play off of in the future.
Like Black Widow, Nick Fury was also fleshed out a bit more in this film and I'm glad to see the character growing. He was written pretty well for the extent of his role in Avengers, but Winter Soldier goes a bit deeper to give us a better understanding of who Fury is and how he thinks. This was the first time we got a sense of where he came from and how he got to this point. One particular highlight for me was Fury's story about his grandfather, an elevator operator who eventually began carry a gun in his lunchbag to defend himself on his commute from work. The choice of making his grandfather such an ordinary person rather than going for something like “My grandpa was a war hero” helped to ground the character and make him feel more relatable. This more relatable story of a good man living in a dangerous neighborhood also really helped to give us an understanding of Fury's world view. Focusing on Fury's cynical preparedness made for an interesting dynamic and tension between Nick and the idealistic Steve. The conflict between two heroes like Steve Rogers and Nick Fury made the movie more interesting overall by presenting more than just one simple, clear-cut vision of how to be the good guy.
Moving forward, it'll be good to give Steve some more internal conflict so we get to see some uncertainty. With character's as strong-willed and principled as Captain America it sometimes gets difficult to make them interesting. Chris Evans himself has said that he'd be interested in seeing Steve make a mistake and be wrong for a change. I think he's definitely onto something. Putting Steve in a situation where he's still trying his best to do what's right, but struggles to decide what the right course of action is would help to keep things fresh.
Based on the vibe that I've gotten from Falcon in the comics, I don't think Anthony Mackie would have been my first choice for the role. Now that I've seen his performance, I'm very glad they chose him. He brings some nice humor to the character, while being appropriately serious, dignified, and respectable when he needs to be. Overall he's a very likable character who I'm quite interested in seeing more of. The chemistry between Mackie and Evans is quite good as well. A lot of credit goes to the script for depicting them as two guys who can really relate to each other and bond because of their similar experiences, but Mackie and Evans really made it work. Because of this combination of factors, Captain America and Falcon are already a better on-screen duo than Iron Man and War Machine have ever been. Outside of the movie, it's clear from interviews that Mackie has of energy and enthusiasm for the role, so I hope he continues to play a big part in future Captain America movies.
Although the Carters play pretty separate roles in the movie, I'll lump them together in this section since they are so closely connected in the larger story. I found Peggy Carter's scene to be one of the most emotional in the movie. Building off the foundation of Steve and Peggy's relationship in the first movie, it was striking to see a very similar looking Steve with an unrecognizable, elderly Peggy. Knowing their story, you sympathize with both characters. The First Avenger strongly implied that Steve was never romantically involved with anyone before Peggy. The movie did a good job of showing that she appreciated him for who he was even before he was the super soldier. Steve finally finds this great woman who loves him, and he has to miss out on a life with her. For him it's like one day he had the girl and the next day, she's an elderly woman who lived out her life with someone else. Peggy did find someone after Steve, but before that she lost the man she loved. I don't think she ever stopped missing Steve and there's a definite sadness in her even after she's reunited with him. So far Steve and Peggy are my favorite MCU couple, so I was quite pleased to have this scene that revisited their relationship.
I thought this was a pretty decent introduction for Sharon Carter. Her introduction as the neighbor is so subtle that I'm sure a lot of viewers just took her to be Steve's cute neighbor. While I knew Sharon was in the movie, I didn't know she would be undercover, so when she showed up, I was pretty surprised and excited. I kind of wish I didn't know so much about the movie because it would have been a nice reveal. Her role in the film is small but she makes a pretty decent impression. I'm glad they showed her making a stand when Hydra was seizing control. It helped to define her as someone brave and noble. I'm curious to see how they flesh her out in the next movie. It seemed like Steve had some bitterness about being deceived so it may take some time to trust her. I am quite surprised that (unless I'm mistaken) Sharon was not revealed to be Peggy's niece. I think that would have been a nice reveal at the end to get the mainstream audience interested in seeing more of her. Hopefully, the next movie will have a nice scene of Steve and Sharon connecting through their shared love of Peggy.
The movie does a pretty decent job of telling Bucky's part of the story. I liked how early on they established Steve as an agent who questions his organization and the morals of the people in charge. With that foundation laid, the use of the Winter Soldier as this brainwashed, completely obedient weapon provided a nice contrast. The flashback of Steve and Bucky after the death of Steve's mom was an effective way of illustrating their closeness and telling us how much history they had together. The scene depicting the procedure of wiping Winter Soldier's mind for the mission helped to clearly show him as a victim. I do feel that the story could have done better in its depiction of how the revelation of Bucky's fate took an emotional toll on Steve. In the Winter Soldier comic, the reader gets more inside Steve's head as he struggles with figuring out if there's hope of saving Bucky and is tormented by the knowledge of what has been done to his friend.
The Gray Morality of Hyrda
The goals and strategies of Hydra were a little bit more complex and interesting than the average blockbuster enemy force. They're not just motivated by greed or a desire for power. By their rationality, what they're working toward is a better world. Alexander Pierce was a decent villain who served his purpose within the movie. Fans were pretty sure that Pierce was going to turn out to be the film's villain. I was kind of hoping against that, because it seems like a lot of movies within the past few decades have had the “twist” of the older man whose in charge of the good guys turning out to be corrupt and behind all the atrocities that have occurred in the story. It's been done so much that it's not really surprising any more. Fortunately, this movie begins to position Pierce as a character in conflict with Captain America relatively early on so the fact that he's the enemy isn't presented as an unexpected, shocking twist. However, the revelation that Hydra had infiltrated SHIELD was quite surprising and made Pierce's secret agenda a more interesting reveal than the typical corrupt, greedy, motivation used so commonly in this sort of role. Brock Rumlow was a formidable foe, so I'm very curious to see how he evolves as Crossbones moving forward.
Action
One of my biggest disappointments with The First Avenger was the lack luster action, particularly the weak fight choreography. Avengers improved Captain America's agility and allowed him to do some pretty cool stuff. Winter Soldier has improved even further, finally making it very entertaining to watch Captain America fight. The choreography is great and Steve's fighting style feels perfect. The staging of the action overall is quite good and there are multiple memorable sequences. The boat rescue, elevator fight, and street fight all delivered the best Captain America combat we've seen so far. Nick Fury's chase scene, Steve's escape from SHIELD, and the bridge chase all delivered great high energy action.
My only complaint is that the camera work and editing sometimes doesn't allow us to see the fighting as well as we might want to. It occasionally does the popular shaky cam, disorienting thing in an attempt to ramp up the frantic intensity of the moment. While I understand this and I wouldn't want things to feel clean and choreographed, I think the choreography is good enough that the fighting feels real and is fun to watch without having to disorient us.
I really liked the style of action they went with for this movie. For quite some time I've felt that Marvel should try to position the Captain America franchise to compete with other secret agent franchises, with a style that mixes between Bourne and Mission Impossible. I think the style of action for most of the movie feels similar to those kind of films, which is a good thing. However, when it gets to the climax they go more towards a more typical superhero kind of spectacle. It's still good action and I enjoyed it, but I think future Captain America films may do better to avoid big, heavy CGI sequences like the Helicarrier assault. This is just my personal preference. I want that kind of big, fantastical action in an Avengers, Iron Man, or Thor movie. With a more grounded character like Captain America, I think action sequences like the street battle between Cap and Winter Soldier are where the film is most in its element.
One thing I did really like about the finale was the shot of Steve falling from the crashing helicarrier as Bucky remains onboard. This was a very cool homage to the classic version of Steve falling into the freezing waters of the North Atlantic after he and Bucky stop Baron Zemo's drone plane. Seeing this and then the aftermath of Steve falling into the water made me wonder if it might have been better for the first film to more closely adapt that classic scene. However, in that scenario we wouldn't have gotten Steve's emotional radio conversation with Peggy so maybe they made the right call.
The Script/Tone
Since reading the Winter Soldier graphic novel several years ago, I've become a fan of Ed Brubaker's writing for Captain America. That story showed me that Steve Rogers does work as a lead character on his own and that his stories can be just as interesting if not more interesting than the stories of Steve with the other Avengers. I think Winter Soldier the film may have that affect on movie goers, convincing them that this is a franchise that can stand on its own. The Russos and the screenwriting team of Markus and McFeely have found the right tone that feels grounded, gets intense and serious enough when necessary, and provides just the right amount of witty comic relief that is appropriately timed and doesn't take away from the drama.
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