by Erin Hatch, Editor-At-Large
Marvel’s The Avengers marked the culmination of Marvel Studio’s quest to unite a team of first-class heroes in the same film continuity, taking characters from Iron Man, Thor, The Incredible Hulk, and Captain America: The First Avenger. Since then, Iron Man Three and Thor: The Dark World have taken their respective heroes into the next stage of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and now it is time for everybody’s favorite super soldier to get another turn in the spotlight in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the latest blockbuster comic book film from Marvel Studios.
Getting used to life after spending seventy years frozen in arctic ice is tough, even for a star-spangled superhero. In fact, it might even be harder when you’re Captain America. Sure, regardless of super soldier status your friends are all either old or dead, you have more than half a century of popular culture to catch up on, and dating is going to be crazy awkward, but how do you replace an arch-nemesis when your previous favorite bad guys were super Nazis? Finding a megalomaniacal villain to take over for the Third Reich is no easy task. I mean, you don’t even have proper communists anymore, who are you going to fight? Batroc the Leaper? Ok, yeah, you actually probably are going to have to fight Batroc at some point (spoilers!), but can a French-Algerian mercenary actually replace the Red Skull? Not for long.
To find the omnipresent neo-fascist foe Cap was made to fight, we have to turn our focus inwards, looking to the paranoid culture of constant surveillance and pre-emptive strikes that has grown in response to the terrorist attacks of the early twenty-first century or, in the case of this particular franchise, in response to the world-changing events of the mega-blockbuster superhero crossover spectacular Marvel’s The Avengers. The evil individuals looking to control American thought are no longer the leaders of some foreign government, they are participants of a conspiracy theory right here at home.
Not that this is so easy to see at first. Steve Rogers (Chris Evans – Fantastic Four, Scott Pilgrim Versus the World, and, well, you know) starts his next adventure keeping fit, trying to cross items off his cultural ‘to do’ list, ignoring dating advice from the Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson – Her, The Prestige) and being the best soldier he can be as he executes missions for S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury (Samuel Jackson – Pulp Fiction, The Incredibles, Snakes on a Plane). But Roger’s notions of good and evil start to fray when a mysterious and dangerous new agent attacks Fury after the director uncovers a hidden threat within S.H.I.E.L.D’s new helicarrier-based defense initiative, and Captain America has to go to ground as his own team turns against him.
The Winter Soldier is as much of a political thriller as it is a comic book movie. Yes, there are super-human feats, futuristic technology, and a lot of shield-tossing antics that will keep you thrilled with fantastic action sequences, but there are just as many car chases and gun battles that keeps the story tethered to some semblance of reality. Most of these characters don’t have crazy powers, just slight enhancements to the abilities of non-super Hollywood action heroes, to the same degree that ‘regular’ Hollywood fare heightens reality. It is a refreshing change to the formula as displayed in Captain America’s previous appearances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the character fits this type of story well.
There is a lot to praise in this film: the Falcon sequences (with Anthony Mackie – The Hurt Locker, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter) are a lot of fun, and a great take on the character; the numerous visual and verbal references to other characters and films- Marvel and otherwise- will keep you paying attention; the connections to Captain America: The First Avenger help establish this as a solid sequel while setting a completely different tone. It is easy to sit back and enjoy the ride.
The only two issues I had with the film are relatively minor in comparison to the enjoyment I got from the experience. Some of the action sequences are a little jumpy, with quick cuts that capture maybe one full action per shot, with a few sequences that go on longer. This is a fairly common trend in blockbusters nowadays, and to be fair it only really bothered me in the early sections of the film. My other problem was with the story arc for the Winter Soldier. The purportedly-soviet agent was more of a sideshow to the main conflict than a central character. The lead henchman to the villain, but not particularly fleshed out on his own. I felt like his story was left hanging at the end of the film, which wouldn’t have been as much of a problem if I hadn’t been expecting resolution due to his name being in the title of the movie. The Marvel Cinematic Universe will probably resolve this sooner or later, but it might help to know going in that there will be more Winter Soldier drama to come.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier feels like a sequel to Marvel’s The Avengers as much as a follow-up to Captain America: The First Avenger. The action is epic and yet grounded: the polar opposite to the silliness of superhero films like last fall’s Thor: The Dark World, or even to The Avengers. Fans of big action blockbusters will be well served by The Winter Soldier, and fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe should definitely not miss seeing this when it releases April 4th.
Rating: 
ComicsOnline gives Captain America: The Winter Soldier 5 shield slashes out of 5.
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