Natasha Romanoff/Black
Widow: Scarlett Johansson
Sam Wilson/Falcon: Anthony Mackie
The Winter Soldier: Sebastian Stan
Brock Rumlow: Frank Grillo
Kate/Agent 13: Emily VanCamp
Jasper Sitwell: Maximiliano Hernández
Maria Hill: Cobie Smulders
Alexander Pierce: Robert Redford
Nick Fury: Samuel L. Jackson
Marvel Studios presents a
film directed by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo. Written by Christopher Markus
& Stephen McFeely. Based on a concept and story by Ed Brubaker and
characters created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. Running time: 136 min. Rated
PG-13 (for intense sequences of violence, gun play and action throughout).
The best comic book
storylines, and movie storylines for that matter, are those that don’t hold to
what is “sacred” in any particular mythology. “Batman: Year One”, “The Dark
Knight Returns”, “The Death of Superman”, “The Death of Captain America”, “The
Saga of the Swamp Thing”, even the recent “Superior Spider-Man” developments
and numerous other great comic book storylines have rewritten all that had come
before them. This is what made “The Winter Soldier” storyline in the Captain
America comic books so substantial. Now, for the first Captain America movie
sequel, the filmmakers have adapted parts of that storyline to send a
considerable shake up through the Marvel cinematic universe. They do it by
pulling the carpet out from under everything they spent so much time developing
over the course of the first phase of the Marvel movies that culminated in “The
Avengers”.
What’s really interesting is
that it is this type of sea change we all imagine seeing in our own world when
things aren’t quite the way we would like them to be. That type of dramatic
change is what all sides think is necessary. Then everybody would see that you
were right all along. “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” uses all of these
desires to fuel a politically charged plot that sees the all-American Captain
trying to work his way through a world of grays coming from a world a blacks
and whites, which he inhabited 70 years ago. Can Captain America’s purity
survive or even serve the greater good in this new shadow world?
The filmmakers, directors
Joe and Anthony Russo and “Captain
America: The First Avenger” scribes Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely,
approach this conflict of foundational ideals between Cap and his employers
S.H.I.E.L.D. in the form of a 70s government conspiracy flick, ala “3 Days of
the Condor”. I suppose it’s no mistake that Robert Redford, the star of that
film, is cast as one of the upper echelon agents of the secret intelligence
agency. The ideological tension is first expressed between Cap and his
immediate superior Nick Fury, with Fury supporting the organization’s lack of
transparency as a necessary evil for the greater good. Fury has never been a
fan of being forthcoming with his intensions from his very first appearance in “Iron
Man”. However, it soon becomes clear that the nature of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s secrets
is more convoluted and run much deeper than even Fury is aware.
Events occur that allow
S.H.I.E.L.D. to put a target on Captain America, so he becomes a fugitive on
the run with Natasha Romanoff, a.k.a. Black Widow. He enlists the help of a new
friend, Sam Wilson, to help uncover the secrets behind S.H.I.E.L.D. Wilson’s
military training and military prototype wings make him an asset to the small
band of truth seekers, especially once the assassin known only as the Winter
Soldier sniffs out their trail. What connection does the Winter Soldier have
with Cap’s past, however? Moreover, what does that past have to do with the
present deceptions occurring at S.H.I.E.L.D.?
The filmmakers wisely take
their time building the intricacies of the plot. They focus a great deal of
time on the characters of Steve Rogers, a.k.a. Captain America, Romanoff and
Fury, who’ve all been established in previous films, but Romanoff and Fury have
never gotten this much attention. This allows the movie to be about more than
just its plot. There’s a study here about how individual ideals can be
perverted by politics to undermine the interests of the public. The story
contains a great deal of criticism concerning government transparency and the
notion of infringing upon the civil liberties of the public for its own “greater
good”. Cap has a better understanding of what is wrong with what S.H.I.E.L.D.
is doing because he hasn’t grown used to the status quo. “This isn’t freedom.
It’s fear.”
The only thing holding this
movie back from being a classic government conspiracy flick is the fact that it
is a superhero flick and therefore is filled with wall to wall action sequences
of the grandest nature. Heavy on the CGI, at times it seems as if the action
sequences draw focus away from the heart of the film. This isn’t really the
filmmakers’ fault, but rather a natural side effect of using superheroes to
tell a politically critical story. The action is intense, but its
implausibility lightens the real world weight of the message behind the story.
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