Captain America: The Winter Soldier - Cap Is Back!

I have thought all weekend, trying to figure think of something I didn’t like about “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” (hereafter referred to as Cap 2).  I was mostly unsuccessful.  And considering that it took me so long to come up with anything at all, that tells me that my gripes really didn’t matter to my enjoyment of the film.

First off, the things that were great:  the action, the characters, the costumes, the story, the pace, and the aesthetics of the end credits.  In short, everything.

There was a lot of action in this movie.  I hope that’s not news.  Lots of hand-to-hand combat.  A few car chases.  A decent number of explosions.  Some shooting.  And, of course, Cap’s shield flying and ricocheting all over the place.  Several different fighting styles were exhibited, all of which were very cool to watch.  I have to say that, compared with the first movie (hereafter referred to as Cap 1), the action in Cap 2 was a step up.

One of the things that was great about Cap 1 was that the fighting styles were fairly conventional—true to the era in which it took place.  Of course, Captain America and the Red Skull, as super soldiers, were stronger and faster than normal men.  That made it so that the fight scenes they had with each other and otherwise had some moves that were less common.  For Cap 2, Cap’s fighting style changed, which is fitting for his having spent time in the modern world training and running operations.  I really liked how well he incorporated his shield in his fighting, both offensively and defensively.  I also loved that he wasn’t dependent on it.

Another thing that I liked was how Black Widow’s fighting style has been consistent from “Iron Man 2” to “The Avengers” to Cap 2.  So often when characters cross over several movies, each with a different director, they change with the movie-makers’ visions.  That hasn’t been the case so far with any of the Marvel movies.  I think that’s one of the things that makes them so enjoyable and re-watchable.

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, action scenes in many movies these days can be very frenetic and confusing, especially in close quarters.  But in this movie, there were only a couple bits that were unclear to me.  On one occasion, I wasn’t sure if it was good guys pointing guns or if it was bad guys.  And on another occasion I thought it was one character who got knocked out of the way, but it turned out to be another.  That’s one of the two complaints I had with the film.

The characters were well done.  The interplay between Cap and Black Widow was a lot of fun.  The new characters, especially Sam Wilson, were great additions to the cast and the story.  Of necessity, not many of the characters from Cap 1 made it to Cap 2.  But the few (4? 5?) that did were consistent between this movie and the last.

Captain America is my second favorite comic book super hero.  And right now it’s a close second.  Chris Evans’ portrayal of him in the movies is excellent.  The character is a genuinely good man.  He’s uncompromising in his morals.  He’s selfless and willing to walk the talk.  But he’s not too perfect.  There’s evidence of a temper on occasion, and he can come off as a bit self-righteous.  But the good far outweighs the bad.  I also appreciate that the writers haven’t tried to down-play his goodness or make it look like those are undesirable qualities.  That’s kind of refreshing.

One of the challenges about bringing comic books to live-action movies is making the ridiculous look reasonable and the far-fetched seem feasible.  For example, one of the villains in the movie is named Batroc.  In the comic’s he’s called Batroc the Leaper.  (When you see the movie, you’ll see why.)  He’s always (since I’ve been aware of him) seemed a bit silly to me.  But watching his fight scene with Cap was a lot of fun!  Very acrobatic, and not silly at all.

Another character that made a very successful transition was Sam Wilson, the Falcon.  Frankly, his costume in the comics is stupid.  It is very different in the movie, and a vast improvement.  Not to mention completely awesome!

I enjoyed the story: the twists and turns.  It has been described as a political thriller, and I think that fits well.  There were some things that I saw coming, and others I was blind-sided by.  However, the second thing I perceived of as a flaw in this movie had to do with the story.  It’s a pretty big spoiler, so I won’t go into specifics.  But it has to do with revealing secrets that could have an impact on national security.  I understand why the story went in the direction it did, but that doesn’t mean I agree with it whole-heartedly.

The pacing was good, too.  The intense action was balanced by periods of calm, allowing the audience to catch its breath.  But it didn’t feel like they stopped the momentum.  They did well to progress the story without making it drag.

There were also little things that were nice touches.  One, mentioned in the beginning of this post, were the aesthetics of the end credits.  The title of the movie was done in the font of the comic book title from a couple years ago.  I also liked that it was minimalistic silhouettes and just three colors: black, white, and red, symbolic of Cap’s world view as well as a color associated with the second title character of the film, the Winter Soldier.

In summary, this movie was awesome!  I cannot wait to be able to add it to my movie collection!