Starring: Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Cobie Smulders, Frank Grillo, Robert Redford, Samuel L Jackson, Emily VanCamp.
Year Of Release: 2014
Certificate: 12A (UK)
Runtime: 136 minutes
Director: Joe Russo & Anthony Russo - The Russo Brothers
Synopsis: "Steve Rogers struggles to embrace his role in the modern world and battles a new threat from old history: the Soviet agent known as the Winter Soldier." IMDB
Synopsis: "Steve Rogers struggles to embrace his role in the modern world and battles a new threat from old history: the Soviet agent known as the Winter Soldier." IMDB
I was a little apprehensive about this film even after I heard all the amazing things about it, because come on, "Captain America: The First Avenger" was a pretty poor film.
Steve Rogers first solo film in this new Marvel Cinematic Universe really didn't go as plan over at Marvel I wouldn't imagine, in the first film he was used as a Governments toy to use at their disposal resulting in a poor film. This time around Chris Evans got to stretch his super soldier legs in a role more befitting of a bad ass superhero.
From the get go the film is all action, we get a scene with Cap literally dropping onto a ship that has pirates on, he proceeds to send many of the flying with his super punches and kicks and he finally utilised his shield as a weapon than previous films. Even with this being a solo film, Marvel knows that they have to splice more characters into the mix resulting in Cap being joined by Black Widow (Johansson) and Sam Wilson - The Falcon (Mackie), the trio are forced into what may seem like an unlikely combination but boy does it work!
The film itself takes on a MUCH more Thriller feel than we have ever seen in the MCU, the addition of Mackie brings a nice Comedy vibe to the trio of a grumpy old man Cap and a extremely serious agent Black Widow. Mackie gets plenty of one liners and lots of action in his flying supersuit? I guess it is a supersuit, given it gives a man the ability of flight. This was also my first time truly watching Frank Grillo and I was pleasantly surprised with his acting and not to mention his fighting ability second to only George St-Pierre in the film who is a pro fighter.
Widow herself is very pivotal to the story, maybe even as important as Cap himself at times due to her importance within their missions and keeping him grounded in the messed up modern time he finds himself in. There has been talk for a long time of a female lead Marvel film, after Scar-Jo's performance in this I would be surprised if it wasn't Black Widow we seen on her own very soon.
Even with the film having an over two hour long running time (just about), it really doesn't seem to be that long when watching, you have car chases, explosions, helicopter destruction and beautifully choreographed fight scenes. "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" is enjoyable as an Action film, however offers so much more with its brilliant script of Drama and Thriller aspects. The film is a surprisingly perfect mix of Action/Drama/Comedy which given the background of directors the Russo brothers was a pleasantly unexpected. That being said the film doesn't rely heavily on Comedy like past films "Thor" and "Iron-Man".
Overall, the Russo brothers give us a more than good film, this film was truly great. The film can be watched as a standalone Conspiracy Thriller, however what we get is a Marvel film that can go down as an actual great film, with a brilliantly written script, with laughter, action and conspiracy. The Winter Soldier will go down as one of the few sequels that completely outshines its predecessor in every conceivable way.
10/10
