In what can only be described as one of the greatest franchise turnarounds in the last several years, Captain America: The Winter Soldier proves itself to be everything its prequel, The First Avenger, was not. Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, Marvel’s blockbuster film starring Chris Evans as the mighty Captain America boasts some of the best action, choreography and, arguably, writing in all of Marvel’s superhero films thus far.
However, as wonderful as all that may sound, The Winter Soldier may also be one of the greatest cinematic examples of taking one step forward and two steps back. Likely in response to recent criticisms over their more recent films, such as Iron Man 3, Marvel has stepped back from its more risky story decisions in what appears to be an attempt to please fans, a decision which only serves to detract from what would otherwise be an excellent film.
The movie opens as Captain America and his fellow Avenger, Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) discover data relating to a secret defense protocol known as Project Insight, capable of neutralizing “threats” preemptively, all around the world, with the push of a button; what could go wrong? It could never fall into the wrong hands, of course. After S.H.I.E.L.D director Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) becomes increasingly suspicious about the data, so heavily encrypted he cannot access it, he is attacked by a group of assassins and driven into hiding. As control of S.H.I.E.L.D passes to one of its senior officials, the definitely-not-evil Alexander Pierce (Robert Redford), Fury delivers the data to Captain America, warning him of its potential dangers, prompting Captain America to set out to deal not only with the data itself, but a potential mole organization operating within S.H.I.E.L.D itself, and the mysterious Winter Soldier, who has been targeting and assassinating S.H.I.E.L.D operatives.
It is important to note that Marvel’s ongoing film-franchise bases all of its films in one conglomerate universe; all of the Thor, Iron Man, Captain America and related films take place within the same world. As such, while the film is technically the second Captain America movie, it is effectively the eighth film within the franchise, not counting the ongoing television drama, “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” The Winter Soldier takes full advantage of this extensive universe, dispatching with lengthy expositions and recap, opting instead to launch right into the meat of the story. While this decision does keep the film moving at a nice snappy pace, it may be particularly grueling to the uninitiated; if audiences aren’t familiar with a large number of films within the franchise, they will most certainly be left wondering who most of these people are, and more importantly, why they should bother caring about them. And this is to say nothing of all of the references this film makes. There are, honestly, dozens upon dozens of references, easter eggs and cameos in this film, and unfortunately, 99 percent of them will be completely lost on all but comic aficionados.
These issues are somewhat alleviated by the excellent performances given by the entire cast. Finally stepping up from his relative blandness in both the first film and The Avengers, Evans finally brings his A-game to the role of the good Captain, fleshing out his personality and exposing a vulnerability to the character which had previously remained unexplored. Rather than the goody-goody, incorruptible boy scout he is known for being, Evans finally reminds us of something which I had thought the writers of these films had long forgotten: the Captain is human.
The chemistry between the lead and the supporting cast is magnificent as well. Jackson brings his usual over-the-top seriousness to Fury’s character once again, and while many of his lines would get the character laughed off the screen if performed by a lesser actor, Jackson’s delivery keeps the character both serious and entertaining. Johansson, finally taking a more active role in the films, works quite cohesively with Evans, allowing her acting talent to manifest primarily through the unspoken; body language, sideways glances and similar techniques allow the character to expand beyond just her spoken role.
No amount of acting talent, however, can mask that The Winter Soldier unfortunately opts to play things rather safe. Previous Marvel films drew ire from fans, owing primarily to controversial writing decisions. From killing off large characters, to reversing expected roles, Marvel has been criticized for essentially re-writing lore of these famous heroes. While this is not really an issue, as adaptations can get away with diverging from source material so long as the film remains good — sorry comic purists, but it’s true — this film takes absolutely no risks whatsoever. Every scene is predictable, from first to last, and absolutely nothing will surprise anyone who tries to guess what will happen next. The film falls back into admittedly stupendous action scenes to cover for the fact that there was nothing new or interesting about the plot itself. There was one incredibly risky decision the writers made near the start of the film, and it was the only risk the film took. Had the writers stuck to their guns, that single moment alone would have heightened thee suspense of the film immeasurably; why the writers ultimately chickened out, I can only guess.
This predictability only detracts from what would otherwise have been excellent fight scenes and choreography. Every fight is well paced, suspenseful and filled with just enough superhero antics to sate the audience’s appetite. They suffer from some traditional issues, certainly; Scarlett Johansson does more with five bullets than the villains do with five thousand, for instance. The camera shakes far too much, far too close to the action scenes, occasionally making it harder than it needs to be to figure out what is going on. But, on the whole, the scenes are well shot and very well performed. Each blow has impact, and audiences will get a thrill out of watching Captain America’s vaunted shield-twirling fights.
Despite being well written and well put together, the film is still, unfortunately, a bit of a mixed bag. It will be extremely unforgiving to newcomers to the franchise, and its plot takes absolutely no risks in its progression. While the characters are well acted and likeable, the predictability of the film detracts from much of the potential suspense and character drama. While the film is certainly a step forward in the Marvel canon, it retains enough of its previously existing problems to still feel like it’s just par-for-the-course. For fans, it’s a must see. For anyone else, wait for it to come to DVD or Netflix first, and give it a rent.
Overall score: 3.5/5
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