Friday, April 4, 2014

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

While many of the characters in the Marvel Comics superhero pantheon made their debuts during Stan Lee's legendary run in the 1960s, one of the most popular dates back to before the company was even called "Marvel." The one and only Captain America first appeared in a comic published by Timely Comics in 1941, and has spent the last 73 years cementing his place as one of the industry's most venerable characters. It hasn't always been an easy road for Cap, as he fell into dormancy and faced irrelevance after the end of World War II, and attempts at reviving him were relatively unsuccessful until Lee and Jack Kirby introduced him into the Avengers in 1963.

Much like those attempts to bring him back into comics, Captain America hasn't had the easiest road to travel when it comes to being translated into live-action movies. The serials produced by Republic Pictures in 1944 paid little respect to the character and his comic book origins, while attempts at feature-length movies ― two made-for-television movies in 1979 and a direct-to-video effort in 1990 (that wouldn't even be released in the United States until 1992) ― were all thoroughly lame.

That changed in the summer of 2011 when Captain America: The First Avenger hit theaters. Produced as a means to bring the character into the Marvel Cinematic Universe and build towards The Avengers, the movie was a big fat hit and a pretty awesome flick to boot. But now it's been two years since The Avengers, and much like how the stories of Iron Man and Thor have progressed since then, Cap's story has as well. That brings us to Captain America: The Winter Soldier, another damn fine movie from Marvel Studios that once again proves why the "Star-Spangled Man with a Plan" is such a great hero.

As he continues getting acclimated to modern society, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) also maintains his activities as Captain America by operating as one of SHIELD's top agents. His latest mission takes him, Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson), and a team of operatives to the Indian Ocean to rescue a hijacked SHIELD freighter from a band of pirates. The mission is a success, but Natasha's odd, secretive behavior during it is enough to make Rogers suspicious of how SHIELD really works.

He has every right to be suspicious, and Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) pretty much tells him that outright. Fury admits to keeping secrets from Rogers, but chooses to make amends by letting him in on one of SHIELD's biggest secrets, a classified project called "Project Insight," a surveillance program that would allow SHIELD to track and eliminate any target on Earth.

But Fury also warns Rogers to trust no one, a point he reiterates when he's attacked and seemingly killed by a group of mercenaries. Rogers follows a trail of clues left for him by Fury that leads to a horrifying discovery: the terrorist organization Hydra successfully infiltrated SHIELD not long after its inception following the end of World War II. The Red Skull's plans may have been thwarted, but Hydra has survived, secretly operating within SHIELD's ranks for decades and encouraging chaos throughout the world. Their influence goes all the way to the top, their members including United States Senators and high-ranking SHIELD official Alexander Pierce (Robert Redford), who is coincidentally Project Insight's biggest supporter.

Pierce knows full well that Rogers can bring Hydra's entire operation down around them, and thus brands him a fugitive, sending Rogers on the run as he gets to the bottom of their conspiracy. Although Rogers has Natasha by his side and a helping hand from Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), a retired Air Force pararescueman with an experimental winged jetpack at his disposal, his search for truth will find a speed bump in the form of a mysterious Hydra assassin known as the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan). With Hydra's forces and the Winter Soldier hot on their trails, Rogers, Natasha, and Sam must go underground if they hope to uncover SHIELD's darkest secrets, and more importantly, if they hope to survive.

The bar for the Marvel Cinematic Universe was set especially high when The Avengers came out two years ago, a bar that neither Iron Man 3 nor Thor: The Dark World really met. But then Captain America: The Winter Soldier comes along and not only hits that same bar, but completely shakes up the world of the franchise as we know it. It's got a real "must-see" vibe, a feeling that the movie is an event. Fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe are making a mistake if they miss this one, because Captain America: The Winter Soldier is an absolute game-changer.

At the helm are Joe and Anthony Russo, whose prior credits include You, Me, and Dupree and several episodes of Community and Arrested Development. Those credits don't make the Russos sound like the kind of guys who would make a mega-budgeted superhero blockbuster, but they actually pulled it off. The movie is energetic from beginning to end, largely due to the Russos maintaining a high level of intensity throughout. Everything feels important, even the seemingly insignificant things, because this is the kind of movie where everything is important. Nothing is taken for granted, down to the tiniest detail. Everything the Russos do here is either building to something or a payoff to something else; precious few moments are wasted.

And like all superhero movies, the action sequences are one of the movie's big selling points. Many people will be going into the movie anticipating Captain America's acts of heroism and derring-do, and these people will not be disappointed in the slightest. Each of the action sequences are very exciting and impressively made, and thankfully never resorts to that annoying "shaky-cam" that plagues so many action movies nowadays. The Russos approach these moments with a steady hand and a ferocity that makes them feel even bigger and bolder.

They also manage to make the absolute best out of the movie's 3D conversion too. I've talked about these post-production conversions in the past, about how they never look quite as good as the movies shot natively in 3D, but this particular conversion is actually pretty great. It's a consistently good conversion, with plenty of depth and pop in each scene.

Continuing with the theme of the movie's impressive components, let's move onward to the screenplay penned by Christopher Marcus and Stephen McFeely. Drawing inspiration from both Ed Brubaker's 2005 comic book storyline that introduced the Winter Soldier and political conspiracy thrillers from the 1970s, Markus and McFeely have penned a script that's more intelligent than a lot of other superhero movies. The dialogue is smart, the jokes are funny, and the plot has enough twists and turns to keep the audience glued to the screen, wondering what will happen next. And the whole setup with Hydra is such that it can have major repercussions within the whole Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise. The aftershocks will surely be felt on that Agents of SHIELD television show, but it also changes how one could look at the prior movies. I mean, just how entrenched was Hydra behind the scenes? A cameo from a certain character from Iron Man 2 and the revelation that he's secretly in league with Hydra completely alters the tone of his scenes in that movie. And that could just be the tip of the iceberg for all we know!

But it also makes us look at the world of Captain America as a whole. The movie pits the black-and-white world Steve Rogers where there are clear-cut good guys and bad guys against the modern world's shades of grey. It's idealism versus cynicism, hope versus fear. Captain America was created in a simpler time for a simpler world, at a time when we could trust those in power and our only enemies were the Nazis. But now, seventy years after the end of World War II, we live in a different day and age. The character's idealism is almost out of place nowadays. But it's refreshing to see a superhero movie where the title character has hope and inspires it in others. He fights evil not because of some grave injustice in his youth or some greater compulsion, but because he believes the world can be a better place and is worth standing up for. Captain America represents the best of human potential, a regular guy who stands up for what's right not because he's forced into it, but because it's the right thing to do.

Anyway, all that's left for me to discuss is the acting, which is very good all the way across the board. Among the supporting cast, Scarlett Johansson contributes a fine performance as the Black Widow. Much like her appearances in Iron Man 2 and The Avengers, Johansson plays the character as putting up a cold, emotionless front to hide her true self behind. The character is really layered, and she brings a lot of nuance to it that really shows how good a choice Johansson was for the role. Samuel L. Jackson also reprises his role as Nick Fury, and this time around, he's given far much more to do than in his earlier appearances as the character. Jackson is given the opportunity to be the badass we all know he and Fury both are, making the most of it with his nothing short of awesome presence and approach to the character.

New to the franchise, meanwhile, is Anthony Mackie, who makes the Falcon's debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe a memorable one with his likable and charismatic performance. He's a lot of fun in the role, and I'm totally looking forward to seeing him play the Falcon in future movies. And as our villains, Sebastian Stan and screen legend Robert Redford provide some damn good work. Stan plays the Winter Soldier with a coldhearted ferocity, but as the movie progresses, the chinks in the character's psychological armor become more apparent and Stan pulls these moments off effortlessly. Redford, on the other hand, brings a more cerebral approach to his role. He's the brains to the Winter Soldier's brawn. And while I'm actually surprised to see an actor like Redford in a movie like this (he was reportedly offered the role as an homage to his appearance in Three Days of the Condor, and accepted it so his grandchildren could see one of his movies), I'm glad he took the part because he adds a modicum of credibility to the whole production.

Last but most certainly not least is Chris Evans as our titular hero. Evans is charming as always, in the role, continuing to play Captain America with every bit of the courageousness that makes the character so great. Bravery and that aforementioned idealism make up the core of Captain America, as he'd stand up to any threat, no matter how huge or insurmountable, if it meant protecting people and keeping them safe. Evans portrays that perfectly, making one believe that Cap is everything people say he is.

At the risk of sounding hyperbolic, Captain America: The Winter Soldier is one of the best the Marvel Cinematic Universe ― and the superhero genre as a whole ― has to offer. It's fun, exciting, and thoroughly engrossing. It's the kind of movie that sucks you in and doesn't let you go until its final frames have flickered across the screen. Any flaws it has, any complaints I have, are all minor gripes and nitpicks, nothing that can't be gotten over. The movie is definitely worth seeing as soon as you get the chance, and I can't wait to see where it all goes from here.

Final Rating: ****½

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