With Captain America Civil War only a few weeks away, it seemed like an appropriate time for a Rewind Review and look at the film about a ninety-year old virgin who’s paranoid conspiracy theories actually turn out to be true and has to evade his former employers. At a time when stocks in Captain America were at a questionable low, two brothers did the near impossible and made an earnest justice-seeking boy scout one of the most interesting and exciting comic book characters on the big screen. Zack Snyder, you may want to take note.
Whilst trying to adjust to the modern world, Avenger Steve Rogers kicks ass and takes names for S.H.I.E.L.D. until his mentor and general badass boss Nick Fury is gunned down in front of him. Whilst on the run with the help of his only “friend” Natasha Romanoff a.k.a. the Black Widow, Steve soon discovers whole new and deceptive layers to S.H.I.E.L.D. that shakes the whole Marvel Cinematic Universe to it’s very core.
Filled with bold choices from the film’s twists to the hiring of The Russo Brothers, who’s only other film credit was the deplorable You, Me & Dupree; these bold choices paid off in big ways with one of the most exciting Marvel films to date. With nail-biting action sequences, organic humour that is neither quippy or forced and a strong support cast that includes Samuel L Jackson, Scarlett Johansson and veteran actor Robert Redford, The Russo Brothers gave us a tightly paced 70’s-style political-thriller encapsulated in the comic book genre.
Now credit where credits due, The Russo Brothers did the near impossible and made Captain America an interesting and engaging character by upping his power levels and making him a real meat and potatoes fighter with some fights that really make you feel it in the guts. At times the fights are so intense that you can be forgiven for thinking that some of the key cast may not get out of this film alive. But getting back to Captain America, this is the Cap that comic book fans have been waiting to see since Chris Evans was cast. For once, we were given a Captain America who was a genuine formidable force, and for once, wasn’t treated like the butt of a joke. Going forward I was hoping this trend would continue, but personally I felt that Joss Whedon regressed the character in Avengers Age Of Ultron as soon as he opened his mouth in his first scene. Fingers crossed The Russo Brothers improve on the already stellar work that they established here with The Winter Soldier when Civil War hits the big screen.
Of course building on the theme of characters, The Russo Brothers finally did interesting things with characters that were aching for some character development and character moments. Samuel L Jackson finally got a big action sequence and proved why Nick Fury is a character to be respected with a car chase sequence that would make Jason Bourne proud. Now I’m not wanting to sound like I’m Whedon bashing, but The Russo Brothers managed to do more character development for Scarlet Johansson’s Black Widow in one simple car driving scene than Whedon was able to do in two Avenger’s movies. We were also introduced to Falcon, played by Anthony Mackie, who basically played, well, another version of Anthony Mackie, but still an awesome addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Besides the strong cast, the tightly choreographed action sequences, solid pacing and some surprising twists (although there are some less surprising twists) one of the other incredibly strong elements is the score by Henry Jackman, the man who brought us the music to Kick Ass, Big Hero Six and X-Men First Class. All his scores are a riff on high end heroic action movies of the past, but he does them in a way that is thrilling to listen to. He has modernised the sound of Captain America plus gave us excellent scores to identify us with Nick Fury and The Winter Soldier, which has some of Hans Zimmer’s Joker theme mixed with a real Trent Reznor industrial soundscape.
Of course the film isn’t perfect. The twist with Nick Fury’s resurrection was seen about half a second before he died, which feeds once again into the theme of Marvel being afraid to kill off a key cast member. Meanwhile the third act battle echoes the previous endings of The Avengers, Thor The Dark World, Guardians Of The Galaxy and even Avengers Age Of Ultron with the “death from above” trope where something ominous floats in the sky ready to destroy a whole city or the entire world whilst the heroes effortlessly dodge insurmountable odds of bullets, debris and death to save the people below. To be fair, this is probably more indicative of blockbuster’s in general than just a Marvel-thing, but you could be forgiven for thinking there is a thing called “Marvelsplosions.” The other thing that is a bit of a stretch is the patience and timing of Hydra’s ultimate plan: I mean let’s think about it for a second, Hydra have laid dormant in S.H.I.E.L.D. and infiltrated every aspect of the organisation, they have this algorithm that can identify future threats, plus they have a sleeper-cell assassin known as The Winter Soldier yet have done nothing until now. Seriously, why didn’t they use The Winter Soldier to take out Tony Stark before he created Iron Man? Why didn’t Hydra pull the plug on Captain America before he was thawed out? Why let The Avengers form in the first place? I mean I’ve heard of playing the long game, but when you really think about it, they are taking the piss.
Negatives aside, Captain America The Winter Soldier is one of Marvel’s best films to date with tight pacing, tight action, and a more serious tone that’s still capable of providing genuine laughs throughout the runtime. With so much goodwill being brought over from this film and reviews for Captain America Civil War being incredibly positive, it is clear to see that with The Russo Brothers, Marvel’s cinematic future is in safe hands.
Captain America The Winter Soldier gets Four and a Half out of Five paranoid ninety-year old virgins that’s a total GILF (I went too far didn’t I?)
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