A Superpowered Political Thriller

Review: Captain America: The Winter Soldier

"With liberty and justice for all."

Those words have more complex meanings than ever before in the modern age of terrorist cells, surveillance drones, and digital threats. Captain America: The Winter Soldier captures these tensions and interprets them through the eyes of the titular 1940s hero now thrust into today's gray areas of freedom, ambiguities that didn't exist in Steve Rodger's black and white past.

Still trying to discover what the place of a member of the Greatest Generation might have among all us pesky millennials, Captain America faces the dangerous unknown in more than ways in one. A shadowy figure from the past has emerged and begun wreaking havoc upon SHIELD, a government counter-threat agency that may itself be corrupted by age-old foes.

Credit for much of the film lies with two creative duos: director brothers Anthony and Joe Russo (Community) and the screenwriting team of Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (The Chronicles of Narnia series). Knowing they had to make a very different film than the first, WW2-set Captain America film (also written by Markus and McFeely), these four set out to pay homage to the spy film classics of the 70s, a decision which lets Cap 2 feel less like the typical superhero movie and more like a typical political espionage thriller.

That distinction is key to evaluating the Captain's new adventure. On the one hand, by not being like every other superhero film out there, The Winter Soldier is a refreshing twist on a rapidly expanding genre that needs to be increasingly careful of audience burnout. It is perhaps the least typical Marvel film yet (until this summer's Guardians of the Galaxy is released) and surely a welcome addition to the Avengers canon.

On the other hand, Cap 2 cannot seem to escape the common tropes of usual action fare. An innovative first and second act lead to a predictable third, as the novelty of a different kind of superhero flick fades into a familiar climax and resolution. The genres may have been shaken up, but the endings remained the same, congealed at the bottom of the Winter Soldier portmanteau.

That is not at all to say that this sequel is an irrelevant part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe; far from it. While as a stand alone film the resolution may be underwhelming, it will send shockwaves reverberating across the Avengers saga, though to say much more would spoil things. So while the film's interesting build-up led to an ending most could see coming, that anticipated conclusion is still exciting and important to the larger story being told across multiple films.

We also get some more great character development for Captain America, Black Widow, and Nick Fury. It follows then that Chris Evans (Snowpiercer), Scarlett Johansson (Under the Skin), and Samuel L. Jackson (Django Unchained) all do admirably in their roles, while Marvel newcomers Anthony Mackie (The Hurt Locker) and Robert Redford (All is Lost) each add really interesting dynamics to the film. The explicit villain, however, is a bit of a mixed bag. The masked Winter Soldier is just plain cool, but the unmasked Sebastian Stan (Once Upon a Time) is entirely underwhelming.

Overall, Captain America: The Winter Soldier is a great deal of fun - the Russo's certainly know how film exhilarating action scenes, giving Captain America far more edge and grit than we've seen before - and is to be commended for its courage to creatively stretch itself across genres. It won't blow your mind, but it may just raise the bar for its fellow Marvel films by a few pegs and is an important step forward to next year's Avenger: Age of Ultron.

The Final Word: 3.5/4 - Go buy a ticket (and stay for the mid- and post-credit scenes!).