With Marvel's Phase 2, Marvel had to prove moreso then anything else that the characters in their movies could exist past their standard origin films. That these characters can and would be interesting, implementing different facets of comic book lore from the countless Marvel comics stories.

The short answer to whether the adaption of the Ed Brubaker Winter Soldier arc works is a simple, yes. That said, I don't think this film is without faults, and I don't think it's a perfect film. Although I'll say overall that the strengths compensate for the weaknesses.


The Winter Soldier works on many levels. The closest analogue I can think of is The Avengers. Where the film balances itself as a comic book movie full of revelry for the character and referential ins to the universe; while also being, in the case of The Winter Soldier, a solid and smart poliical thriller.

While this film is loaded with Marvel comics characters from Black Widow, Falcon, Sharon Carter (albeit briefly), Nick Fury, and of course the titular Captain America and Winter Soldier; the story remains focused primarily on Cap, with a great theme of adapting to the times, and learning who to trust. Throughout this movie, bonds are broken and formed, but what I was most interested in was the way that these characters form a natural team through trust. It's an interesting character study for all these characters. Who can they work with? Who can they go to? It was a great dynamic between characters that was natural and never forced.


Make no mistake, while characters go through interesting trials, this is still an action movie, and a damn fine one at that. In a lot of ways, this movie carries the kinetic energy of The Avengers and manages to one-up it's predecessor in some regards. I still think The Avengers is a better movie (more on that in a bit) but make no mistake, in a post-Avengers world this is by far the best movie since then from an action sense.

*SPOILERS AHEAD, HIGHLIGHT TEXT TO SEE*


My major complaint with The Winter Soldier is one that can be levied against Phase II in general, and that's the villains. Like Malekith, and 'The Mandarin' before; Alexander Pierce and Armin Zola never really connect to the story outside of a binary and artificial fashion. Both villains service the plot, and very little else. Zola exists for a mere scene or two, delivering exposition and then simply being removed from the equation. Pierce is there for the grand set piece, but we get no reason to understand why he did what he did, his rationale is never quite clear. He's simply a beauracrat that is all of a sudden a villain. The transition isn't there, and it feels forced.

The callouts to various Avengers seen and unseen are awesome. Hearing 'Stephen Strange' brought a smile to my face. It balances being a solo film set in the MCU a lot better then any of the other MCU films. This isn't Iron Man 2, nor is it Iron Man. It rests in the middle, which is a tough task to pull off, but they do.

I felt like the story left the Winter Soldier in the best spot it could. They don't have him grabbing Crossbone's hand and yelling something like "Don't hurt my friend' but you can guess where things are going next.

Speaking of where things are going next, it's possible to see far reaching ramifications from this movie. How will SHIELD carry forward? What will HYDRA do next? It's an interesting place for the MCU to be in, and I think wherever they take the franchise going forward, it'll at the very least be engaging and interesting.




*END OF SPOILERS*

Comparisons

Is The Winter Soldier Better Then...

...Thor: The Dark World? Yes.

Has a more engaging and interesting story. Better overall character development, and (slightly) better villain.

...Iron Man 3? No.

Both movies capture the right tone for their respective characters and pull it off almost perfectly. It's like choosing between Amber Heard and Kristen Schall, both are beautiful in their own respective ways.

...The Avengers? No.

While the action in The Winter Soldier is top notch, The Avengers is better paced and handles everything just slightly better then The Winter Soldier

...Captain America: The First Avenger? Yes.

Origin stories bore me, The Winter Soldier truly gets to the core of Steve Rodgers.

...The Dark Knight? No.

Don't know where these comparions are coming from, but it's definitely not better then or even equal to The Dark Knight.

...Uncle Buck? No.

Nothing can beat a John Candy lead John Hughes comedy. Although, to be fair, The Winter Soldier has the hotter red head.

VERDICT

I give this movie, 10 Uncle Joeys out of 12.



Thanks for reading guys, as always, if you liked this review please give it a solid thumbs up. Leave a comment with your thoughts on The Winter Soldier, or on your favourite season of Full House. Also you should listen to my podcast that I do with fellow CBM-ers JD and Lozzy called the Three Angry Nerds Podcast. It's probably the best thing you'll listen to in the next 10 minutes.