Friday, August 1, 2014

Captain America: The Winter Soldier [A Fat Jesus Quick Hit]


With 'Guardians of the Galaxy' getting released today and the fact I've been putting off some sort of review for 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier' for awhile now, I want to wet my appetite for writing. Plus I get to revisit one of the better movies in all of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This movie is a major step in the right direction, to me at least, after 'Thor 2' and I'm hoping it really sets the tone for all the Marvel films coming out in the coming years. Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan shine in a film you should definitely see before 'Guardians of the Galaxy.'

'Captain America: The Winter Solider' is set two years after the events in 'The Avengers' and follows the story of Steve Rodgers/Captain America (Chris Evans) and Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johasson). They are apart of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s counter terrorism S.T.R.I.K.E. team and are on a mission to free hostages. Romanoff and Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) have other plans as they are also extracting data on the mission. After being confronted by Rodgers, while Fury is on his way to meet Maria Hill (Cobie Smudlers), he is attacked by the Winter Solider (Sebastian Stan) and it becomes known S.H.I.E.L.D. is compromised. Thus begins Rodgers, Romanoff and Sam Wilson/Falcon's (Anthony Mackie) quest to find out who is behind the takeover of S.H.I.E.L.D. and right the ship.

This was really a complete movie to me and I think the person I watched it with thought so as well. It wasn't as campy as 'Thor 2' but it also wasn't as dark as 'Iron Man 3' was. This could be due to Marvel just getting better rhythm with their movies, or at least the writers getting better themselves. Keep in mind these are the same writers as 'Thor 2' and I think they did such an immensely better job with this film. The acting is also pretty good as well. Scarlett Johansson had a helluva scene with Loki in 'The Avengers' and I think she did well in this film to follow. The action scenes with are doing hand to hand combat are awesome to me. Anthony Mackie was fine and I look forward to more of him in the coming films. All while Samuel L. Jackson was his usual Fury self, which won't get complaints outta me. The real meat in this film is all the interactions and back story between Captain America and The Winter Soldier. Chris Evans and Sebastian Stan are great, respectively, on screen and the story they built between them in the first two films is great. Finally, we can move to the action, as it, even for a Marvel movie, is actually pretty good. It's full of awesome set pieces, good CGI and fun hand to hand combat.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is ever expanding and as we've learned lately it'll be going well into at least 2018. With Captain America 3 already on track for 2016, we can look forward to another good addition to this series. All the movies are connected but I feel like 'Iron Man' and 'Captain America' are the cornerstones. 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier' is no exception as it's story, characters, action, acting is all pretty damn good. Even if you're not a fan of the MCU, this is a pretty solid stand alone flick. Side note, if ya really feel like nerding out watch the first season of 'Marvel Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' It ties into part of the premise of this film really well. Either way, take it from me, 'Captain America: The Winter Solider' is more than worth your time.


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