I know, I know, I'm late! But to be honest I wasn't even thinking about reviewing this movie until 30 minutes ago, so cut a dude some slack, (put the knife down Soto).
Enough of my excuses! You clicked for a REVIEW !
The Review
Disclaimer: In case it needs to be said: I do not own the video above.
The Plot
The plot of Captain America: The Winter Soldier is a bit more complicated than the average comic book movie. It's not like Christopher Nolan complicated, but it's more politically complicated than anything.
There are a lot of personal plot points for the characters themselves, especially for Steve Rogers who has to deal with with elements not just from the present, but from the past as well.
There was a point during the movie, where I thought the plot might fall apart, but it didn't. Props to Russo Brothers for how they handled the direction of the movie.
The Protagonists
The protagonists in this movie were written very well. Sometimes Captain America seems like a boring character, but not in this movie. He is as deep as a character as he's ever been, and he isn't the only one I can say that about.
In Iron Man 2, Black Widow was basically Eye candy. In the first Avengers movie, she became a legit character with depth. What the Russo Bros and company did was build on that character. There was a scene I loved, with her and Cap, where they really showed Black Widow's vulnerability. And the scene that I am referring to, might seem a bit small to point that out, but to my eyes, that scene brought alot of humanity to her character.
Another great character was The Falcon, A.K.A Sam Wilson. When going in to this movie, I didn't know what to expect from The Falcon. But suffice to say, he was a badass character, and one I look forward to seeing more of in the Marvel universe.
Seeing him and Cap grow as friends in this movie was awesome. This could've been handled in a way that seemed force, but the writing, and the chemistry between Anthony Mackie and Chris Evans really makes you believe that this could end up being one of those bro's before hoes-type relationships.
The Antagonists
I can't really get too much into the antagonists in this movie without spoiling much, so I'll keep this short by talking about the antagonist that you know of.
The Winter Soldier in this movie is one of most badass, menacing, and deep characters we've seen in a Marvel movie.
I found it disappointing that he wasn't in the movie that much, especially considering that the main subtitle is his name. But when this dude is on scene, it's like seeing T-1000 in Terminator 2 for the first time.
The acting by Sebastian Stan was great also, he did a really good job at making the Winter Soldier sort of a sympathetic villain.
The Acting
Comic book movies don't require oscar-worthy acting, and although this movie didn't oscar-worthy acting, it was still pretty damn good acting.
There really isn't anyone that I would call "bland" in this movie. I thought I would walk away saying that Emily VanCamp wasn't really that good as Agent 13, but in the small amount of time that she was in the movie, I thought she was a good Sharon Carter.
The chemistry between Cap, Black Widow, and the Falcon is awesome, in large part because, the actors own their roles collectively, not individually.
For example: Whenever dialogue was spoken, it felt like they were speaking to another person, and not just remembering their own lines. It felt natural whenever they had a conversation.
Robert Redford owns his role in this movie, I'm not even sure he knows he is being filmed.
The Humor
A lot of people have had problems with how these Marvel Phase 2 movies has handled the humor.
Personally I liked Iron Man 3, but I do agree they should've cut down the humor. I liked Thor 2, and I thought it did good with the humor until the last 10 to 20 minutes where I just sat there and said "For real?".
Fortunately this movie handles the humor really well. It never really felt forced in my opinon, and this movie qualifies more a dramatic movie than a comedy. You couldn't really say that about Iron Man 3.
When the jokes hit in this movie, I laughed, when dramtic moments hit...
The Little Things
The CGI in this movie was done pretty good. Although there were moments (One in particular) with Cap, where it was obvious to my eyes that you could tell that it was CGI.
I didn't go walking into this movie expecting Avatar with Captain America, but I was hoping for a bit better in some areas with the CGI.
The Action
I can't do this review without talking about the action in this movie. Some of you may have heard, that the action in this movie is amazing.
Whoever told you that did not lie to you. The action scenes in this movie are like Bourne on steroids and speed.
A lot of the action scenes are really fast paced, but you can sort of tell what's happening, and your jaw drops. These are really well choreographed scenes and the best that we have seen in a comic book movie to date.
I love my Dark Knight trilogy, but Nolan
wishes he had fight scenes this good.
The...Emotional Moments?
There are actually a few scenes in this movie that would qualify as emotional moments, in particular, one at the end with Captain America and The Winter Soldier.
But there is one scene that Cap had with a character from his first movie that had me "in a glass case of emotion" (no need to post twice, folks). It was just a really well done scene, that I wasn't even expecting.
Conclusion (Finally!)
Everything in this movie just seemed to click well together. There are just so many things I could call this movie.
The characters are well done, the story is good, the humor is well-balanced, the action is mind-blowing. Now this movie has flaws, but can you really sit there and tell me that there is such a thing as a "perfect movie"? Put down your keyboard sir, because there is no such thing.
I give Captain America: The Winter Solider a
5/5.