Saw Captain America: The Winter Soldier last night and Im happy to say it was quite good, perhaps my favorite Marvel movie behind The Avengers. Now thats not meant to hype it up to unmeasurable heights, but I think its one of the tightest and most realized Marvel movies to date. I enjoyed The First Avenger for what it was, a pulp filled homage to Captain Americas WWII roots. The more over the top elements like the macguffin tesseract cube and astronautzi uniforms bordered on ridiculous, but didnt fully hinder the experience. But the Winter Soldier feels like the perfect next step in evolving the CA franchise in a modern direction while still making it feel fully a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And its interesting that this evolution is in fact another homage, this time to the political and espionage thrillers of the 1970s. To constantly remind the viewer of this fact we have a very capable and charming Robert Redford playing a head SHIELD member. The plot never gets bogged down in hero-jargon, theres little super natural elements at play, offering up a much more grounded and accessible film than other franchise staples like Thor. Then again this is a direct reflection of the character and the world he now lives in. The narratives moves at an interesting and brisk pace with plenty of twists and turns, offering up an action packed third act thats very satisfying. Also, the now trademark Marvel humor is definitely embedded into framework of this film. The action has never been better, with hard hitting hand to hand combat techniques taken from the Raid and other capable action franchises. On display are perhaps the best representation of a super-humans skill sets such as Captain Americas enhanced speed, shield tossing, devastating punches, and leaping abilities. Its all a thrill to watch and very convincing. The other highlight is the Winter Soldier himself. While he isnt as chatty as most other villains, he has the same physicality and unflinching menace that made Bane a hit with Dark Knight fans. I think hell soon join Loki in the pantheon of great Marvel villains...considering I cant remember any others at the moment who werent basic caricatures (Red Skull, all those Iron Man villains, whoever that dude from Thor was, Malekith or something to that effect) which probably proves my point. Anyway, go see it if you like a good action flick, its a good weekend movie and Marvel fans will no doubt enjoy it (but then again I liked Iron Man 3, so Im not really tied to the source material like many are.) Or dont go see it and watch some netflix, Im not your babysitter.
Posted on: Fri, 04 Apr 2014 17:16:54 +0000
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