Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) Review

Title: The Winter Soldier
Year: 2014
Director(s): Russo Brothers
Country: US
Language: English

Aside from Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) Phase One of the Marvel Cinematic Universe was terrible. Phase Two started off slow with bad sequels to Thor and Ironman, but picked up speed with great velocity due to The Winter Soldier. This is the turning point of the Marvel movies; where they stopped being bland and started being bold. 

As Steve Rogers struggles to embrace his role in the modern world, he teams up with a fellow Avenger and S.H.I.E.L.D agent, Black Widow, to battle a new threat from history: an assassin known as the Winter Soldier.

THANK GOD The Winter Soldier didn't go the Thor route of the idiotic "fish out of water" lead character. "What is this? and this!? What!?" Steve Rogers adapts to waking up 60 years in the future, but it's more of a sombre feeling, due to having lost so many friends due to time, rather than "A smartphone!? You mean I can take a picture AND make a call?" It avoids ALL the "character wakes up in a different time" cliches and I love the screenwriters, directors, everyone involved for it. Any comedic moment is small and overshadowed by the more gradiose dramatic moments.

This time The Winter Soldier is not a nostalgic war yarn, but an action spy thriller. Rogers is a “freedom” preaching patriot in a cynical world where—in the age of information, digital footprints, and satellite tracking—freedoms are sacrificed in the name of security. The idealistic "right thing to do" hero is conflicted in a world so full of grey areas. It's nice to see that the central conflict - albeit there are a lot of baddies and action scenes- is an inner conflic regarding ideaology and ethics. 

Though it isn't as entertaining as The First Avenger (2011) and I'll admit I don't like it as much, The Winter Soldier is a step forward in the action spy thriller genre. The audience is far more invensted on an emotional level in this sequel and maybe more than any other Marvel movie before or since. I highly recommend it!