While it sounds trivial, there is no word that quite encompasses the spirit of Captain America: The Winter Soldier other than cool. It is not only a good superhero movie but, its own, Winter Soldier is a great action film with political themes that tie in to both the past and present.Winter Soldier is, hands down, without contest, the best Marvel superhero movie to come out of the cinematic universe pack.
Forget the first Iron Man, forget The Avengers. From the trailers, of course, it could be inferred that it isn’t as light and joke filled as the other MCU movies to date, but this installment did exceedingly well at balancing comedic elements with action sequences—in fact it would be a lie to say the Joss Whedon brand humor was missed this time around.
Usually (as per Thor: The Dark World) it has a habit taking you out of the moment, but everything kept right on moving and at an adrenaline filled, heart pounding pace. I was not at all a fan of Captain America: The First Avenger, its tone or execution of several of its integral characters. That dislike for Steve’s character carried over to The Avengers. However, I felt much more inclined to sympathize with him in this installment. I was so proud of him and the rest of his team when the credits rolled. And the post and mid credits scenes didn’t feel like an obligatory gimmick either.
Returning members Samuel L. Jackson and Scarlett Johannson are better than ever. Anthony Mackie delivers a solid performance that echoes a youthful Will Smith. Sebastian Stan’s Winter Soldier is a stoic killing machine with a conflicted moral compass, striking all the right emotional chords with the storm in his eyes when words are out of reach.
Marvel movies of late tend to mistreat their villains (unless you happen to be everybody’s favorite fallen prince of Asgard) or fumble their execution entirely. While the mere mention of the Mandarin debacle of Iron Man 3 tears friendships apart and the milquetoast insertion of Malekith into Dark World still has fans mystified, all hats go off to Robert Redford for not getting caught up in the melodramatic flourishes these personas are given to. He brings a much needed seriousness and gravity to Alexander Pierce. Even the henchmen aren’t simply faceless throwaway jerks. They are jerks with a heavy screen presence, but jerks nonetheless. In short, none of the characters are wasted.
Most surprising are the intense action sequences and choreography. The level of violence in Winter Soldier is uncharacterstically grim and impactful for a MCU movie, although it is gripping. It’s a shame we can’t clone the directors and put them to work on movies in the next phase. What a world that would be.
Zhana Johnson
Features Correspondent
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