I finally got to see CA:TWS last night and have had about twenty-four hours to digest what is commonly considered the 'behind Ironman, the best solo Marvel Studios movie so far' tm... and disappointingly (for me) that commonly opined statement is exactly true. The reason I am disappointed by that great achievement is due to the fact that when I read and heard critics and fans make this statement I instantly thought “well thats all well and good but this looks right up my particular street” and I personally felt that for me it could possibly compete with The Avengers as my favourite Marvel movie. Evidently this was not the case.
Don’t get me wrong, this is a great film and a great exhibition of just how diverse the Marvel Cinematic Universe really is and can continue to be. For me the simplest and probably most effective way to some the movie up is that it is basically ‘like a Bourne movie with a bit more sci-fi tech’ and it works. Both the action, which was great, and the subject matter, also executed well, felt like marvel were trying to make ‘their’ Bourne movie. The action, for the most part is very grounded with real actors performing intricate choreography in various real-world locales. The subject matter concerns the deep corruption within the security services that are there to protect us. So far, so Bourne but also the ‘look’ of the film is also reminiscent of a certain amnesiac super-spy who likes to haunt the CIA. Its cinematography, which I consider maybe the best so far for a MS movie (competing with the first Ironman), is crystal clear but with the impact of grit that urban, military and industrial locations bring if the DOP is so inclined. the soundtrack was... so forgettable that I have no memory of it and even as the final credits role my wife pointed out that there was only three songs in the whole movie and one of those was the original Captain America: The First Avenger theme. In fairness the music in the Bourne movies still haunts me now but the movies score can not and IS not the reason I was slightly underwhelmed.
This lack of a catchy sound-track or score is not necessarily a bad thing in this case though as I assume that the score was probably subliminally ramping up the tension but never taking the forefront. Marvel understood that this story was probably the most intricate and complex narrative that they have produced so far... and considering that A LARGE percentage of their target audience are the birthday party brigade who get their kicks from ‘splosions’n sh@t’ they didn’t want ANYTHING getting in the way. Saying that, I think the reason that I was left SLIGHTLY disappointed is that I was expecting the film to be more complex. Now I realise that was simply never gonna happen (well not until May 2016 *fingers crossed*... there goes my optimistic inner narrator again ‘Quiet You!’) as they don’t want to bemuse and dumfound their key money pit. Oh well it was still pretty serious ‘for a Marvel film’ and only rivaled by the original Ironman in the MCU Serious Stakes... yes I know it was also pretty damn funny but that was just RDJ being RDJ; the actual narrative and theme was pretty dark, particularly the first half.
The performances were all top-rate, even Georges St. Pierre who is like cardboard when interviewed post-fight in the UFC but at the very least ‘serviceable’ amongst the other fantastic performances. Samuel L. is the man. He is brilliant in this movie and really gives the audience a much more layered performance as Fury than in any of his previous outings. ScarJo also brilliant, I would even go as far as to say near-perfect as Widow. She is frickin hot as hell this time too with her more ‘girl next-door-doo’. Mackie is really good and he seemed like he was genuinely enjoying every second as the Falcon. The Winter Soldier played by Stan is great, as others have said he is very reminiscent of the T-800 in The Terminator. He doesn’t say a lot but his actions are devastating, if balletic. Redford is Redford, channeling his performance in Spy Game, which I love by the way. He is starting to look OLD though (yeah younger than he SHOULD but still, he looked OLD in this so perhaps its a good thing Marvel got him now, before it would just look weird). Chris Evans IS Captain America for me, he portrays the moral compass and selfless humility SO well. When I originally heard of his casting for CA:TFA I was totally against it. Not because I dislike Evans, I actually like him a lot but because I had seen NOTHING to suggest that he could pull this off. If anything his history had suggested that not only had he not really played this role before (ok MAYBE Push) but his roles had been the polar opposite.The Human Torch and such were loud-mouthed, arrogant, ignorant a$$-holes who could back their words up to some degree. Cap is a totally different challenge and he has pulled it off on three occasions now. I still think that Evans’ best portrayal was in CA:TFA but that was a character piece. In CA:TWS the narrative is what drives the movie not the heart of Steve Rogers.
I also liked the way that Marvel presented ‘their’ reflection of the ‘real’ or ‘theorised world. ***MINOR INTER-TEXTUAL SPOILERS AHEAD*** Marvel address what a lot of conspiracy theorist out there swear to be the truth, that the German scientists and officials that were dispersed amongst the foundation blocks of American infrastructure (CIA, FBI, NASA etc.) during Operation Paperclip (at least this part we can say happened, heres the conspiracy theory) went on to continue the Nazi ideology AND THEN SOME, while living the high-life in the good-ole U.S. of A. on Uncle Sam’s dollar. Well lets just say that Marvel have shown us ‘their’ version of those events and supposed events. ***MINOR INTER-TEXTUAL SPOILERS BEHIND***
So... what is my problem with this film? The performances are on-point, the cinematography is a MCU high-point, the action is varied and exquisite, the dialogue is good and only occasionally seemed over-expository. It must be the humour right? Marvel are always dumbing down their movies for cheap laughs right? Marvel is for kids and DC is for adults right? Wrong, the humour is fine in this movie, it is always in context and never seems forced. It is definitely Marvel’s most serious (and consequently least overtly funny) film yet but it still has some laughs. My wife complained that it wasn’t funny enough but I found that the humour was ALSO just right. So I cant be disappointed in a great movie, about my favourite Marvel character JUST because the score was forgettable... can I? No, its because I am a massive fan of the Bourne movies and while CA:TWS was extremely well done, the Bourne trilogy has the edge for me... and as a self-confessed comic book geek (yeah everyone knows, I wear it with pride like a gay man at mardi-gras) I am devastated that this film, which has all the ingredients that a series of movies that I LOVE has BUT ALSO has Marvel superheroes and continues the MCU mythos in new, surprising and dramatically effective ways STILL is’nt quite as good as the Bourne movies.
A solid 8.5/10 ‘Marvel’s 'behind Ironman, the best solo Marvel Studios movie so far' trade-marked!