Today’s Movie Review – Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Last week, while looking for something to watch on the various streaming services to which I have access, I settled on The Avengers, if only because I only saw it once and I just felt like watching something that I could half pay attention to while doing things on the internet. Plus, the lovely Kim has been woefully negligent in watching the movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, only watching Iron Man and nothing else. Even though she didn’t pay much attention to Avengers, she humored me nonetheless, though she might just be more of an X-Men fan.

Nevertheless, I convinced Kim to accompany me to see Captain America: The Winter Soldier despite having not seen the first movie and wanting to see Oculus instead. We went to the theater in Savoy because we were on that side of town, and as a result, we were able to splurge a bit for D-Box seats. For those unfamiliar with these particular seats, they vibrate and shift slightly a bit with the action, and, frankly, they weren’t really worth the premium paid for the tickets. Maybe Captain America wasn’t the right type of movie to get the full experience, but i wasn’t a fan.

CA:TWS begins in DC with Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) working in Washington, DC for S.H.I.E.L.D. two years after the events in The Avengers. Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) is asking him to trust him and whatnot, and Cap is having a hard time doing so, especially after a mission where Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Captain America had two different missions, which nearly failed because Cap didn’t know about Black Widow’s mission. Cap gets mad, Nick Fury gets pouty and shows Cap the new helicarriers  that are part of the new and improved PATRIOT Act or something. However, the fancy data from the earlier mission is weirdly encrypted, giving Fury the heebie jeebies about things, leading to him getting shot and things and <SPOILER ALERT> he dies after getting shot by the Winter Soldier while at Rogers’ apartment giving him the encrypted flash drive.

Cap is called to talk to Alexander Pierce (Robert Redford) about Fury’s death and claims not to know anything. He meets back up with Black Widow, but not before getting attacked on the elevator and declared an enemy of S.H.I.E.L.D. and a traitor. They make their way to a closed down fort in New Jersey, the same place where Rogers went through Army training, and they learn a terrible secret about S.H.I.E.L.D. and its place in the world. After surviving a missile attack, they decide to go after S.H.I.E.L.D. after enlisting the help of Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), a former USAF pararescueman who has fancy wings and becomes Falcon after they steal his fancy wings off-screen from Fort Meade.

They go after S.H.I.E.L.D, the Winter Soldier shows up – and <SPOILER ALERT> is revealed to be Rogers’ childhood friend Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), who had been reprogrammed by HYDRA to be some crazy, super-human assassin to eliminate all of HYDRA’s enemies over the past 70 years. They fight through stuff, regroup at S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ, Captain America gives a speech, and they work at sabotaging the helicarriers so they don’t actually do what they are supposed to, and save the world in the process. Things happens, people come back when they are least expected, and Captain America saves the day. Huzzah!!

The movie was great, and Captain America has easily replaced the Hulk as my favorite Avenger after Robert Downey, Jr.‘s Iron Man. Even though I never really followed the Avengers as a kid, and didn’t read comics as a kid, I am really excited for Avengers: Age of Ultron and whatever else will come from this part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, I think I might be most excited for Guardians of the Galaxy, which looks more amazing every time I see a trailer for it. I am also pretty excited for the next X-Men movie, as they were my superheroes growing up from the Saturday morning cartoons. If you get a chance, go out and see this movie while it is in theaters, if only for the exciting trailers before hand and the mid-credit peek at Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Until next time…