Steve Rogers WOULD inevitably butt heads with the Twitter generation. Captain America: The Winter Soldier pits Cap against enemies both abstract and tangible. Directors Anthony and Joe Russo take their TV character building talents to the big screen, merging political thrillers and comic books much like Cap is forced to merge himself with the past and present. Plus we get a delightful Robert Redford sighting.
After the events of the Avengers, Mr. Rogers (Chris Evans) has moved to DC to work for SHIELD. When a rescue mission on a ship is nearly compromised by a side mission for Agent Romanov (Scarlett Johansson), Cap can’t contain himself. He goes right to director Nick Fury (Sam Jackson) to voice his complaints, as well as Secretary Alexander Pierce (Robert Redford), Fury’s friend and SHIELD liaison. This confrontation leads cap to decide who to trust, including Fury, Romanov, and Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), a war vet with a special skill involving drops with no parachutes. In addition, an assassin known as the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) has set his eyes on Cap from orders of a mysterious origin.
Like the first Captain America, The Winter Soldier delights in hearkening back to the past. The movie unfolds like a 70s political thriller, with the honest Cap learning about SHIELD’s true plans for society. In addition, several key plot points openly reference Captain America: The First Avenger and Steve Rogers’s backstory. These moves smartly alter the audience’s scope from the world of the Avengers to the history of SHIELD, making it possible for this entire story to be contained within the agency’s headquarters. In addition, SHIELD has never been really put under the microscope in film (TV it has) yet, and much like the NSA, it appears to slowly be taking the form of a bloated agency taking on a faceless enemy: using past mistrust as an excuse for their actions. Though its story may evoke historical callbacks, Captain America: The Winter Soldier could not be more relevant for our time.
Marvel also does a great job branding itself here. The action sequences are mostly well executed, less reliant on shaky cam as the movie goes on. The Falcon wrinkle is a good one; his aerial battles are unique with the possible exception of Transformers. We get to meet Cap’s future love interest, a potential nemesis, and learn more about Bucky Barnes, as well as the obligatory teaser for the next Avengers film. The Russo Brothers get to go big here too; there is a big shakeup in the universe of Marvel at the end of this film that will need some addressing at some point. Not lost by the direction duo (and Marvel in general) is that these stories are planted at the characters’ feet. Marvel probably recruited TV directors for its movies because they understand that stakes are driven by the audience interest in the people and not the size of the gun. The final action set piece would not mean as much were we not invested in our many SHIELD protagonists.
At the time, Chris Evans was seen as a question mark to play USA’s greatest hero. It is clear that that worry was misplaced; Evans is terrific here, using his Downey-like charisma and playing corny and old-fashioned with it. Captain America seemed like a very one-note superhero, but Evans gives him layers a lesser actor would miss. Sharing the screen is Scarlett Johansson, more on board with quippy dialogue post Avengers. She is requisitely bad ass, but serves more as a plot conduit than a character. Anthony Mackie shoots right to the top of the second tier superheros I want to see more of in future Marvel films. Sam Jackson, Cobie Smulders, Emily VanCamp, Hayley Atwell, and Sebastian Stan lend solid support. However, Robert Redford is the foundation for the Winter Soldier. His Secretary Pierce is a domineering blunt pragmatist with a deeply flawed moral compass. Redford made it big playing bright-eyed innocents, and playing against type here as a smarmy bureaucrat is brilliant casting.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier accomplishes many tasks at once. First and foremost, it is a consistently interesting film that is very fun to watch. Second, it nicely places pieces on the chess board for the Age of Ultron to begin. Finally, it gives Captain America a series of side adventures for any future solo installments. Juggling that many jobs at once is par for the course for the Russo brothers who keep things spinning on their TV Shows like Arrested Development or Community to the fans’ delight. Sorry, no Bluth family, but see if you can spot the Greendale sighting. Welcome to SHIELD, Russo Brothers. Come back anytime.