The Bibliophile + FilmAddict: Captain America: The Winter Soldier

After months and months of waiting, the film I've been waiting for has finally come. Yes, the star-spangled man with a plan himself, Captain America. I love Captain America and love Chris Evans so it's a big win in my book; I love Captain America so much that I wrote an essay on him for one of my university modules last year which I thoroughly enjoyed writing as it was a perfect excuse to watch both Captain America: The First Avenger and The Avengers and read random Captain America comic books. Anthony and Joe Russo take over the Marvel Cinematic Universe helm and directed Captain America: The Winter Soldier and stars Chris Evans (Fantastic Four, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World), Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation, The Island), Sebastian Stan (Black Swan, Once Upon a Time), Cobie Smulders (How I Met Your Mother, Safe Haven), and Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction, The Incredibles) who reprise their previous roles from previous films as well as newbies Anthony Mackie (The Hurt Locker, What's Your Number?), Emily VanCamp (Revenge, Brothers & Sisters), and Robert Redford (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting). As it is Mother's Day this weekend but I am working on Sunday, I asked my mum to join me at the cinema as a treat because we don't go out to the cinema often, just me and her I mean and she shares my love of superhero films.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier is the sequel to the 2011 film Captain America: The First Avenger from Joe Johnston and is a sequel to Joss Whedon's 2012 film The Avengers that focusses on Captain America and his progress in the modern world; this is the ninth instalment to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and is an adaptation of The Winter Soldier storyline from the Captain America comic books. Captain America: The First Avenger is the film adaptation of the comic book hero Captain America who was created by Joe Simon and Jack "The King" Kirby during the 1940s, created for patriotic reasons during World War II; the film follows Steve Rogers (Evans) as he tries to become a soldier for America while his best friend since childhood, James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes (Stan) is shipped off. Steve is a sickly young man who is deemed unfit to become a soldier until he is chosen to be a part of a "Super-Soldier" experiment run by Dr. Erskine (Stanley Tucci, The Hunger Games series) and Col. Phillips (Tommy Lee Jones, Men in Black) with the assistance of Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell, The Duchess) and Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper, The History Boys). Just as Steve is transformed into a super-soldier, Erskine is killed and the rest of the serum is destroyed by Hydra. After being hired by a senator to tour the nation as "Captain America" to promote war bonds, he becomes to feel like he is performing monkey but when in Italy performing for a group of soldiers, Steve learns that he is performing for what remains of Bucky's unit and Bucky is MIA so he takes it upon himself to rescue Bucky and the other soldiers. When he returns with the missing soldiers, Phillips decides to allow Steve to lead a group of men, dubbed the Howling Commandos, to attack other known Hydra bases with Steve taking up the name Captain America officially. Unfortunately, one of the missions goes wrong when Bucky is seemingly killed when he falls from a train much to Steve's despair. This drives Steve to avenge his friend's death and ensure the safety of United States of America who are about to be attacked by the Red Skull (Hugo Weaving, Matrix series) who has control of the Tesseract and has harnessed its' power to create weapons of mass destruction. Following his fight with the Red Skull who is killed by the Tesseract in the end, Steve realises the only way to stop the Red Skull's plan is to crash his plane into the Arctic as his weapons are too powerful. Following the crash, Stark searches for Steve with a crew but only finds the Tesseract so Steve is presumed dead. Decades later, Steve is found and comes to in a 1940s style hospital room but realises something is wrong due to the radio in his room playing a game he went to so he runs out into the streets and is met in modern day Time Square by Nick Fury (Jackson) who tells him he has been asleep for 70 years. Later, Fury approaches Steve with a mission which sets up The Avengers.

Rating: 10

Recommended To: Anyone; Marvel lovers

Favourite Characters: Steve, Nick, Sam - all three for multiple reasons

Favourite Part: Nick Fury: Well it's about damn time.

Good Points: The dynamic between all of the characters; massive plot point for Marvel series; a lot of action sequences

Bad Points: Some plot points were obvious

Captain America: The Winter Soldier opens two years after The Avengers and Steve is working for S.H.I.E.L.D. along with Natasha Romanoff (Johansson) while still adjusting to the modern world, keeping a list of things to look up later on him at all times. Steve meets Sam Wilson (Mackie), a fellow veteran, while he is on his morning run, lapping him multiple times much to Sam's annoyance, however, through this meeting they bond and form a friendship. Fury sends Steve and Romanoff on a mission with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s counter-terrorism team to free hostages aboard a S.H.I.E.L.D. vessel. Part way through this mission, Steve finds Romanoff downloading the ship's computer data onto a memory stick for Fury which Steve confronts her and Fury about back at the Triskellion, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s headquarters, because he is being kept in the dark and he doesn't appreciate it so Fury briefs him about Project Insight: three S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarriers that are being built at this moment designed to pre-emptively eliminate threats. Once Steve leaves, Fury tries to decrypt the data Romanoff retrieved but is unable to which causes him to become suspicious and requests Alexander Pierce (Redford) that Project Insight be delayed. Following this, Fury goes to meet Maria Hill (Smulders) but is then attacked by a mysterious assassin whose codename is the Winter Soldier (Stan). Fury is able to escape and gets into Steve's apartment and gives him the flash drive that Romanoff gave him and when Pierce requests Steve hand over the data, the latter refuses and Pierce deems him a fugitive so Steve has to go into hiding with the help of Romanoff and Sam.

I loved how integral Steve's relationships with the other characters were in this film and the trust that comes with these relationships. In The Avengers, the characters were almost forced to trust each other because the world was in danger and have no time to question anyone's motives but this time, Steve has the chance to notice that something isn't quite right and as does Fury. At first, the relationships between Steve and his cohorts appear strong on the outside as he believes and trust that they have told him everything but once he's discovered he has been lied to, even if it is just by omission, these relationships are tested which in turn throws off the dynamic Fury has built up with Steve as the lynchpin. I found watching Steve and Fury's relationship being tested really interesting because no one ever really questioned Fury about anything apart from Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) who is incredibly nosey because he (Fury) was the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and almost too intimidating; with Steve questioning Fury's motives, it shows Steve's strength of character which he's always had, taking the lead in dangerous situation, and is one of the qualities I've always found fascinating about Steve Rogers, particularly in this series. This just shows, for me anyway, that trust is a key point in how Steve operates because he needs to know he has someone he trusts watching his back, like he did back in World War II when he had Bucky and the rest of the Howling Commandos and I feel that this is going to be a key part of The Avengers: Age of Ultron next year.

Another great point about this film was how big a plot point for the Marvel Cinematic Universe and a great lead into The Avengers: Age of Ultron which is the next part of the story for this set of characters, presuming Guardians of the Galaxy is just introducing a new set of characters and not going to have Cap or any of the other Avengers playing a part due to the film being set primarily in space. It's almost like Captain America: The Winter Soldier is The Avengers 1.5 as it shows the downfall of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Fury; both of these were the driving force behind the Avenger the first time round and I am anxious to find out how they are going to come back together for the big bad in Age Of Ultron.

Sometimes action sequences can overload a film; occasionally I've walked away from a film and just remembered that the characters destroyed a city but I can't remember why it happened. However, I personally thought the action sequences were integral and progressed the story as Steve wouldn't have found out about the Winter Soldier or who he was and S.H.I.E.L.D. wouldn't have fallen so publicly and therefore the world wouldn't know about them. Also, the stunts were well choreographed and framed which, as a former film student, I found appealing aesthetically, because there were the right amount of close ups to inform the audience of the emotion happening in the scene coupled with enough mid and long shots to show the fighting. I did find some of the explosions a bit much because of the sheer volume in the cinema as it was surround sound which can be a much sometimes but overall, they were well placed in the film too and one part I found to be extremely well done - the SUV car crash involving Fury - because I loved how it was choreographed as it just seemed so casual like the Winter Soldier does this all the time and just projected this sense of power and control on him; as well as the Winter Soldier, I just loved how Fury quipped with his assailants prior to the final collision because it makes the scene even better in my opinion. The Russo Brothers really were the right directors for this film regarding the action sequences.

Finally, there were a number of little things that they added into this film that I loved and it appears other people did too which I found out when I got home and read some other reviews. Three small things I loved were two cameos and Steve's notebook. Like many Marvel films, there is a Stan Lee cameo which is always a pleasure to see, particularly with him being 91 years old; that's dedication there. They are always random and funny, bringing back a light sense of humour in dark moments that occur throughout the films, particularly this one. The other cameo was subtler than Stan the Man's and that was Ed Brubaker's, the creator of the Winter Soldier storyline; his cameo I loved because I read into it (it's a tendency I have, stemming from my media days) as he was a scientist working on the Winter Soldier during the film, he's helping create the Winter Soldier all over again which I found clever and got very nerdy about. The last one seems random in my second sentence without an explanation but at the beginning of the film after Steve speaks with Sam Wilson, he pulls out this small notebook from his pocket where he keeps note of things to look up which I found really interesting because it showed him embracing this new world and trying to learn more about modern culture. Once again, after seeing the film, I found out that there were different versions of the list shot for different countries; it kept the main list that was shown in the States (the main version) but then added other references that were relevant to a specific country, for example, in Britain, the list also has The Beatles, Sean Connery, and Sherlock. I loved this because it showed a lot of thought going into this scene for something quite small and seemingly insignificant as Steve gets to know the new world he is living in as these things are important to our culture.

I had a hard time choosing a favourite character because I pretty much love all of them, apart from Alexander Pierce, he just annoyed me and maybe that's because Robert Redford isn't one of my favourite actors at all. However, I was able to narrow it down to three for a number of reasons, some shallow and some nerdy.

As I've said previously, I wrote an essay on Captain America when I was in university (almost a year to the date even), and it drove my obsession to a very dark place where it was all I spoke about when I was with my friend, probably driving them mad. It was not just the films, it was the character of Steve Rogers, this frail, sickly young man who was transformed into this incredibly strong and fast super soldier with his personality brought out even more - the once good man is now great but could be considered overly cocky. I've loved Steve since I first discovered Captain America and I don't think that'll change but with Chris Evans portraying him, my love for him has grown exponentially; he is a gorgeous man and lives up to how I thought Steve looked - I know it's shallow but I don't care. Hopefully, I can redeem myself by saying that Chris Evans is an excellent actor and I love pretty much every film he has been in just because it's him and it's not just based on his looks, he can play a variety of characters which I find impressive and completely nerd out about all of the time. I also think that Evans portrays Steve to a T because he's polite and traditional yet not a stick in the mud, bringing this great sense of humour that I love, "On your left".

I loved that they brought Sam Wilson/The Falcon into the Marvel Cinematic Universe as he is a great character in the comic books because he was the first African-American superhero in mainstream comics (the Black Panther was African) and became Captain America's partner in crime-fighting following Bucky's death. While he isn't really Steve's partner in this film and wasn't powerful unlike his comic book counterpart, he's still a great character and well portrayed because it was good seeing Steve develop another friendship almost like the friendship he had with Bucky as he begins to expand the group that he trusts even if it's not a partnership. I love the beginning of their relationship as it shows Sam's good nature which makes him such an appealing character; we all want a friend who likes us from the moment we meet and accept us for who we are and Sam does that with Steve despite the fact that Steve is unusual and even asks him how he is adjusting to life in 2014, not many people would be this understanding. I hope to see more of Sam Wilson in the Marvel Cinematic Universe because I loved this character and how he was adapted into this series and I love how the actor has played him as well.

Nick Fury is a great character despite the fact that he manipulates the other characters so he can get his way because that's how he has operated for years as he ensures the safety of the greater good and that's why he is the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. I love how they expanded Fury's role in this film as he was just on the side-lines in The Avengers, inside the Helicarrier overseeing everything, but this time he was part of the action and the audience saw him interacting with the other characters even more than he did in The Avengers because it meant we got to see him out in the field despite his position as the Director and learn more about his character and his past which I found interesting because I am always happy to get into the mind of a character because I like to know their motivation behind what they do as I have a curious nature. On top of the expansion of his character, Nick Fury is portrayed by one of my favourite actors ever! Just like I would go see a film with Chris Evans in who I am just as nerdy about, I would go see anything with Samuel L. Jackson, be it violent or mundane (except for Snakes on a Plane because snakes freak me out to a very serious degree). People that like Nick Fury will love this film if they want to learn more about him in this universe and I highly recommend this film solely on that.

There was one thing that annoyed me and that was some plot points were obvious, I'm not going to say them because I don't want to give away any spoilers as hints are dropped constantly until the final reveal so some of the surprise is taken. However, there's always going to be some predictability when it comes to comic book films because they are taken from the original comic books and adapted, keeping some of the original story elements so it wasn't a major issue for me.

Nick Fury: Well it's about damn time.

Samuel L. Jackson is pretty much a god from my point of view and anything he says or does sticks in my mind; this may come out of my unhealthy love for Pulp Fiction where Jackson portrays a hit man working for an extremely powerful man in the States. This line just summed up Fury's personality and Jackson's portrayal of the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. in this series extremely well for me and is one of the reasons why he is one of my favourite characters. Also, this is in no doubt my favourite line, closely beating out "On your left" because it was so simple and sounds really random; humour is hard to put into a script but this shows that it doesn't have to be complicated and some simple words can bring a lighter atmosphere to a tense moment.

I loved this film and found it to be an integral part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as I've already said so I advise that anyone who enjoyed The Avengers and is intending to see The Avengers: Age of Ultron next year to go see this film or get their hands on it somehow. Much like the other Marvel Cinematic Universe films, there are credit scenes, one midway and one right at the end; they are extremely short and give away clues to sequels and while some could deem them a waste of time because you have to watch all of the credits, if you are completely enthralled with Marvel like I am, they are extremely important and made me really excited for what's coming next. I know for certain I am going to see X-Men: Days of Future Past as well as Guardians of the Galaxy so there will be more added to the ever growing Marvel film collection on this blog. DC really need to up their game.