Being from Cleveland, I had a special level of excitement leading up to the release of the second installment of the Captain America movie saga. No only was the movie filmed in my great city by directors who are also from here, but I also got to work as an extra for it! I was a pedestrian in the mall scene and in the captain’s second encounter with the Winter Soldier. I know, very exciting stuff! I’ll try not to let this cloud my judgement and give an unbiased review.
So far with the rest of the phase two Marvel films, we’ve found all of out heroes dealing in some way with the events of the epic Avengers film. Ironman with his PTSD, Thor bringing Loki back to Asgard to pay for his misdeeds. Here Captain America is now deeply entrenched in S.H.I.E.L.D. and kicking ass on stealth missions. I’ll spare you any spoilers, but he teams up with Falcon and Black Widow to take on the Winter Soldier and save the day.
So did it live up to my expectations? Defiantly! It has a tremendous amount of great things going on. Let’s start with the man himself Captain America. This film did a great job of showcasing his strength and abilities while keeping a realistic feel. We see him struggling to deal with the new world he’s in and the new set of values that are present in society. It’s interesting to see him making the necessary tough choices without giving it a second thought, and the types of sacrifices he’s willing to make
His supporting cast all did a great job too. This is the most action we’ve seen Nick Fury get in these films. He has a great action sequence and lots of great dialogue that moves the story along. This is also Scarlet Johansson’s strongest portrayal of Black Widow so far. You get a good feel for how mysterious and sly she can be. To top it all off, we finally get to see Cap’s modern day sidekick the Falcon. I’m not the biggest fan of this character in general, but I think Anthony Mackie pulled it off. This is the first onscreen appearance of the first African-American Superhero. I think they did him justice. Where his flying around could have been cheesy, it added more intensity to the big action set setpieces.
Then there’s the Winter Soldier. Every time he shows up onscreen, there’s tension and the stakes are turned up. When he fights Captain America, you feel like he’s an equal physically and there’s concern for any character caught in his path. I know everyone loves Loki, but this is my favorite villain in a Marvel Studios film since Abomination in the last Hulk movie. Also given the character’s comic history, I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot more of him. In fact, my on my only real gripe with this film is that we didn’t get to see more of him.
Basically, if you’re into this type of movie, you should like this movie. The Russo brothers made a superhero movie that is more of an espianage thriller and it feels like a breath of fresh air for the Marvel Cinematic Universe that’s been created. It features a fantastic story that will definitely have an impact on the upcoming Avengers sequel, appearances from plenty of previously unseen Captain America characters and some top-notch action. Highly recommended to any action movie fan.
