If you’re one of those people that looks down at superhero movies because you think there’s no depth, no character development, no excitement, and no intensity; throw your copy of Citizen Kane out the window, kiss my ass, and buy a ticket to Captain America: The Winter Soldier. It has its problems, but this is not just a damn good big budget superhero movie, it’s a fantastic movie all around. It’s full of absurd un-realistic action sure, but this movie really impresses with its complex and twisty-turny screenplay. It’s unlike any superhero movie I’ve ever seen, and I can’t recommend it enough.
Talking about the plot of Captain America: The Winter Soldier is a waste of time. This Winter Soldier fellow shows up, starts wrecking havoc, and Captain America has to take him down. That’s all you should know going into this film.
The movie’s greatest strength is its story. I have never seen a single film turn a whole franchise on its head like this. It takes everything we’re comfortable with and shakes it up. If you scoffed at the people that said this movie is going to change the whole franchise like me, then get ready.
There are consequences here though. The screenplay isn’t as tight as it should have been considering what happened in this movie. Some of the situations here are really hard to believe, like extremely hard to believe. You do have to accept what happened because if the movie was “realistic” then this would be pretty lame, but that’s not much of an excuse. Either toning down the events of the film or making that lame movie interesting with dialogue and the Winter Soldier would’ve been a slightly better way to go.
I’m going to stop being cryptic. The point is, this movie really changes the franchise. It could’ve been done better, but that doesn’t make the events that happened in this film any less exciting, intense, and “holy crap” worthy.
The performances in this movie are top notch. Nobody’s deserving of an Oscar, but Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Robert Redford, and Samuel L. Jackson all do their job. They convey the dialogue flawlessly and show emotion when needed to. There’s not a single good performance in the movie. They’re all pretty great.
Who knew Anthony and Joe Russo can do action so well? The action sequences in this movie caused the audience and I to gasp, laugh, and say “oh my god” to each other frequently. The action in this movie is ridiculously awesome. There’s some shaky cam here, but even I’m looking past it. Words can’t describe it. Just imagine The Raid but with goddamn superheroes.
Finally, I saw the movie in IMAX 3D and it’s unfortunately another pathetic cash grab from Marvel. If you’re going to put your movie in IMAX and 3D, do something. I forgot the movie was in 3D the entire time, and the IMAX was letterboxed and had your average movie-going sound (instead of using the speakers to its advantage). See it in 2D.
THE VERDICT
Captain America: The Winter Soldier was nothing like I thought it was going to be. A cool funny action movie ended up being one of the most unbelievable franchise films I’ve ever seen. Superhero movies aren’t what they used to be, and The Winter Soldier sits up there with The Dark Knight Trilogy as game changers. It’s not perfect, but that doesn’t make it all the less impressive.
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