REVIEW: Captain America - The Winter Soldier

Captain America; The Winter Soldier is the third of the phase two projects by Marvel - essentially as one of the films that will lead up to the events of Avengers; Age Of Ultron. Ofcourse this means that their will be minor spoilers in this review - however i wont be spoiling things like the identity of the Winter Soldier or anything along those lines.



If you are however someone who wants to go into this film without spoilers of any kind, no matter how minor then i would suggest watching the film as its definitely worth watching. With that being said however to adress this film fairly i will have to mention a few scenes however they wont be too spoiler filled - i hope you enjoy the review.



3D - 3/5

The 3D does its job - however for the life of me their is only one scene near the end concerning Cap in which I remember it actually doing anything where Cap is amongst a ton of falling wreckage. Their is also the unfortunate fact that the opening scene with the boat is just too damn dark - maybe it was the 3D settings done wrong however you could barely see Captain America most of the time. Though I do admit it may have been intentional in order to portray the stealth aspect of the scene.



Filming - 3.5/5

Lacking any POV shots for characters such as Falcon - we unfortunately can only observe action scenes from afar or up close to the point where shaky cam becomes necessary to hide the fact its a stunt double. Granted its not something that wil take you away from the film and its not as bad as other films such as World War Z or the Hunger Games - however the shaky cam is here so be warned.



Action - 3.5/5

The action is fast paced though some scenes it simply doesn't allow you to focus on the actions of the fighters - choosing to zoom in and keep Cap's head out of frame whenever the stunt double needs to take over. It also infuriatingly cuts from the action several times to simply show us a rather dull scene featuring a tedious meeting between the 'council' and the films main bad guy.



Their is however a lot of action and the Falcon scenes were intriguing - their is definitely a sense of confusion to be had though when Cap can jump over a thousand feet into water without a scratch - yet falling around two-hundred feet onto the ground leaves him winded briefly. A lot of people are saying the level of violence is high - however quite honestly their are only two scenes that made me cringe. The first being the end of the attack on Nick Fury, the second being when someone is kicked into some spinning blades.



The Falcon suffers from a lack of POV shots when flying as such he is just randomly flying through explosions and you've no sense of scale as to how close the explosions are - an over-the-shoulder flying shot would have helped immensely. 



The best fight scene is arguably between Captain America and The Winter Soldier in the gantry scene shown in the trailers - luckily the camera stays fairly pulled back in this scene allowing us to actually see the action. Although i must admit the CGI fest of an ending battle is rather dull - consisting mostly of large set pieces and ends with a typical countdown scenario.



Plot 4/5

Needless to say an old threat of Captain America's returns in two ways in the form of Hydra and the form of the Winter Soldier. Unfortunately the Hydra aspect is seemingly just gathering a selection of unlikeable characters and claiming they are Hydra members - Senator Stern being included for example, appearing in the film for about 5 minutes to essentially explain why he disliked Iron Man in Iron Man 2



The main plot is essentially Cap questioning who he can trust - however we never really see that as he trusts almost everyone he meets and labels the main bad guy as evil immediately based off one conversation. In fact pretty much every member of Hydra is immediately noticeable as they are just unlikeable characters from prior Marvel media.



I suppose the main plot could have gone somewhere intriguing with the whole 'who do you trust' angle however it never really does leading to a rather inevitable conclusion that's drawn out with multiple scenes of people talking about what is right and wrong.



While granted i feel they are saving the 'who do you trust' angle for a later adaption of 'Secret Invasion' i just feel its lacking the trust issues that this film should raise. Sure we have Cap betrayed by members of his own team - however their motivations are vague and at some points its difficult telling who is good or bad as their are scenes where casualties on both sides would be caused by Captain America.



Characters;

- The Main Villian 2/5

The main villain is incredibly obvious from the very first scene you see him in, he's a typical 'Believes he is doing the right thing' kind of villain who unfortunately hasn't got any motivation as stated by Fury in one scene "He turned down the Nobel peace prize claiming that peace wasn't achieved yet" or something like that. For a main villain - he needed a stronger role and never really got a final battle with anyone...



- Captain America 4/5

Through the movie Cap is trying to simply adjust to modern day life - not to the extent of Iron Man 3's level of emotional baggage - however he does end up questioning if he should give up being Captain America. The dynamic between him and The Winter Soldier unfortunately never gets past 'I know him, I'm conflicted about fighting him'



- Black Widow 3.5/5

Unfortunately she kind of stays her usual self through the film other than in a scene where she is forced to talk with an A.I of one of Cap's old enemies who serves mostly as a massive plot dump - who hopefully will return in some form in the future as his scenes were fairly suspenseful.



- Nick Fury 4.5/5

Arguably the third most important role in the film Fury is essentially here to ask moral questions and show some emotion this time around. Unfortunately the trailer kind of gives away pretty much all his scenes and I do expect this to be the last we see of Nick Fury until possibly seeing him pop up in Avengers 2 for a cameo or in Avengers 3.



- Falcon 3/5

Falcon comes out of practically nowhere at the start of the film and his experiences with S.H.I.E.L.D are questionable as I found myself wondering just why he was chosen for their missions. However I must admit its nice seeing a change of pace with the flying heroes - as his method of flight is differentiated from Thor or Iron Man. He does have good chemistry with Cap though...



- Winter Soldier 3/5

Unfortunately the soldier spends almost 99% of the movie not talking - he is after all 'more of a machine now than man' and unfortunately needed a little more of the human element. Their are a few lines straight from the comics concerning him questioning his identity when Cap tells him who he is - however it really doesn't matter much - though granted I did not stay around for the second credits scene as some of the action had made me a little motion sick at the time.



- Random Agents 1.5/5

In this category i'm lumping together Maria Hill, Sharon Carter and practically everyone working for S.H.I.E.L.D  or Hydra who comprise the most dull roles ever. At some point in the film Maria Hill kind of just shows up to work alongside Cap - however she ends up sitting in a control room simply telling them where to go. Sharon Carter's role is so minor that i feel she could have been cut from the movie - i think she just dropped out of the film at some point...



Oh, and for those hoping that Brock Rumlow would be important - he really isnt. The movie constantly tries to make him important however he serves solely as giving Falcon something to do when he is grounded during the final battle. Granted they do set him up slightly for Captain America 3 - however he's not an enjoyable character.



Its an honest struggle to remember anyone else from Shield Or Hydra other than Arnim Zola who has a brief cameo in a rather supsenseful scene - i suppose it could be due to the large cast of characters designed to emphasise the 'who do you trust' scenario - but i really had trouble even figuring out their names. Heck, i believe Rumlow was the only new member of Cap's team taking over the boat who was even given a name.



- Iron Man & Hawkeye 1/5

While I understand crossovers wont occur all the time the lack of Black Widow's partner Hawkeye and the constant references to Iron Man just left me questioning things - however a shot does seem to imply that Tony is in Avengers tower at the time of the events... but we really don't get an explanation as to why he isn't involved in the fight. I understand chances of a crossover are unlikely - but i'd prefer at least a refrence to explain where they have been or what they've been up to.



Side Note; For the Fans

While i may not have noticed every refrence their are a few worthwhile notes;

- Stephen Strange is mentioned in a list of potential future enemies of Hydra

- Avengers tower is glimpsed

- A monitor shows an enemy of Hydra inside Avengers tower

- The Shield level system is shown again

- Shield are based in the Triskelion

- Arnim Zola has a cameo

- Several pictures of members from Captain America; The First Avenger (Though lacking a pic of Abraham Erskine unfortunately)



The Ending 4/5

Without going too deeply into the scenario - the film is seemingly setting up a 'Civil War' storyline where heroes have their backstory released to he public and I can easily see Avengers 2 exiling Hulk in a similar fashion to Planet Hulk. Unfortunately though it feels the same as Avengers and Iron Man in a sense of "we've seen this before" and indeed a lot of the film seemingly focuses on conference meetings like Iron Man 2.



The events during the film cause both the good and bad groups to be closed and its seemingly setting up both Scarlet Witch and Quick Silver as the main villains for Avengers 2 - under the control of Baron Strucker. Ultron is not mentioned - however an A.I. program made by Arnim Zola will leave you scratching your head as to whether it is the secret origin of Ultron.



This film really needed a much more game changing ending than what we actually end up getting - which simply removes SHIELD from the MCU for a while - which will no doubt have reprocusions on the ending of Agents Of Shield for those who watch the show.



Overall 4.7/5

Arguably the film is enjoyable with a lot of 'oh sh*t' shock moments that occur to keep you in suspense, however it needed a little more motivation for the villain who is unfortunately rather bland. I suppose the idea was portraying the villain as having the same motivations as the heroes just taking things a step too far - however its difficult to sympathise with a villain who is planning to slaughter millions in the name of a renegade German faction - Hydra.



If your a fan of the action then you could end up enjoying the film and their are a few reveals that will allow you to understand why some characters have been d*cks in things such as Jasper Sitwell in Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D Though overall I cant say its the best Marvel film - with Iron Man keeping that spot for me. Definitely a good espionage movie though the motivations of a lot of characters don't make much sense. Its probably the best Phase Two film - easily surpassing Iron Man 3 and Thor; The Dark World.



If you only see one Phase Two film - then make it this one as you'll need to probably see it anyway to understand Avengers 2 and the situation the MCU is now in. While not directly a 'game changer' their are enough elements to make you realise that little can be the same now...



Oh... and Falcon's introduction with the music is Bad-ass.