THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
In the beginning, the biggest gripe the MCU had was having a good sequel. With Thor and Iron Man not having home runs with their secondary adventures, expectations were high for the return of Captain America. Thankfully, his first sequel delivered.
PLOT
The Winter Soldier follows Steve Rogers who is now adjusting to the new society around him and is also an agent of SHIELD. After another mission, Nick Fury discusses Project Insight with him, that there are helicarriers linked to spy satellites, designed to preemptively eliminate threats. Growing suspicious of the project after that conversation, Fury is ambushed by an assassin with a metal arm known as The Winter Soldier. The assassin seemed to have succeeded when shooting Fury down at Rogers' apartment. Before death, Fury was able to inform the avenger that SHIELD is compromised and not to trust anyone. Rogers becomes branded as a fugitive when withholding information to senior official Alexander Pierce. Fleeing from the Triskelion, he is aided by Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow, to uncover the conspiracy of SHIELD. Together they find an old SHIELD bunker in New Jersey; It is in the bunker where they discover a supercomputer with consciousness of Arnim Zola. Zola drops the bombshell that he lead HYDRA to infiltrate SHIELD and have been able to ever since joining the said agency. After surviving a missile attack aimed for them at the bunker, they go to former para-rescue-man Sam Wilson for help to find the mole Jasper Sitwell (Maximiliano Hernandez). Sitwell reveals that Project Insight will be used to pull genocide in order to eliminate possible threats. Ambushed by the Winter Soldier, Cap fights the assassin and discovers that he is his best friend, James 'Bucky' Barnes, who survived the train accident in the 40s because Zola eventually picked him up and made him the living weapon he’d be used for. As Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) saves the trio from capture, she regroups them with Fury, who survived his attack by using a serum to heal him. Once regrouped, everyone agrees to destroy Project Insight: Romanoff and Fury kill Pierce after leaking all classified information of HYDRA/SHIELD while Hill and Wilson sabotage the helicarriers. Cap fights Barnes on the last one to be sabotaged, long enough to help his old friend partially remember his past. Rogers falls into the Potomac River but is saved by Barnes, who fled afterwards. After the fallout, Wilson volunteers to help Rogers find Barnes, but while the after credits showed that the brainwashed assassin is trying to remember his past, there are more HYDRA bases out there. The mid credits revealed that scientist Baron Strucker (Thomas Krestchman) has been experimenting on people with Loki's scepter, while only a pair of twins survived the recent tests.
THOUGHTS
Looking back at this film when seeing it in theaters in 2014, I had low expectations and it successfully exceeded. The Russo Brothers, Anthony and Joe, were the pair that took the MCU to a whole other level with this incredible action film. Every fight scene from the opening boat fight, to Fury's car chase, to the elevator fight, and of course the highway fight, they are scenes you can't take your eyes off of. It all works out well thanks to great mix of visual and practical effects. What makes this superhero film better than others is how it presents a political standpoint. It brings up the question on if we can trust our government when they make unwise decisions, should we still trust them afterwards. This message wouldn't be so clear without the superhero ensemble that carries this movie. This is probably Chris Evans' best performance as Steve because he questions the ideals that his country is stood for and is confused of how blind he was that a government was overthrown. It is a great twist that HYDRA overthrew SHIELD because it shows that it is never easy to defeat the enemy. WIth that in mind, trusting others is more challenging than ever. He is lucky to have Sam and Nat at this moment because they prove themselves, but with Fury not being upfront, he knows that it really comes a long way. He knew that both HYDRA and SHIELD had to be crippled because it was the only way to gain the upper hand because he couldn't risk another compromise. Seeing how he thinks ahead proves that there is not a hero like him. When he visits the elderly Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), it is beyond emotional since he still loved her and wished they danced before his original sacrifice. Lucky for him, he got that dance when he served his final war in Endgame. Scarlett Johansson makes Black Widow a standout once again because aside from having her own ego, she puts that aside to be a trustworthy ally. She again reminds us how fierce she is when standing up to the press at Capitol Hill. And seeing her converse with Steve on considering dating again comes to show how much she cares about his sociability. I liked Samuel L Jackson a lot here as Fury because his secretive lifestyle is shown to have good reason. He can't fully trust people because as a spy, there is fear of it backfiring, which is why he only narrowed it down to three at the time(Hill, Cap and Nat) and we can't be upset if he were keep Barnes a secret from Cap. Being as decisive as he was became beneficial because without him, there is no telling what could've been done to stop HYDRA. Sebastian Stan may have played Bucky in The First Avenger, but he never played the Winter Soldier until now. I think he did a great job in such a challenging performance, going from loving best friend to brainwashed lethal assassin. It warms my heart that Steve chose to save him because he wasn't ready to lose him again and if he did, he would feel more alone than ever. It is a relief that Buck found some form of control over himself once he saved his friend because this would be the only way for him to begin his own path of redemption. With HYDRA making a comeback, it made sense for a familiar face to come back and it was a delight hearing Toby Jones return as the quietly sadistic Arnim Zola. Despite being afraid of the Red Skull, his loyalty made him more committed to the terrible cause he was all about. Going into the new characters, Anthony Mackie was a welcome addition playing The Falcon. He makes him a memorable character for being as emotionally grounded as Steve, having the sense of duty to fight for what he believes. That sounds like a perfect soldier but to Steve, that was being a good man which reasons his decision to pass on the shield to him in Endgame. And last but not least, I never expected the iconic Robert Redford to be in a superhero movie, but he pulls off the double sided experience that the ruthless Alexander Pierce is all about. I love this sequel a lot but even a hit like this has a few flaws. The boat fight is great, but I didn't think it was smart for Cap to destroy his stealth status. Of course he wants to get to the villain Batroc (George St Pierre) off guard, but I'm sure there could've been a better opportunity without blowing cover. It sounds cool when Fury admits that he lost his eye last time he chose to trust someone, but it feels pointless to say. I feel this way since not only do we find out an alien cat lost his eye in Captain Marvel, but he allowed the Avengers to stop Loki's army and gave Tony a heads up of the nuke heading towards NY. So he can't say he doesn't trust anyone when he does. I thought it was cool seeing Cap go to a museum based on him, but it’s unrealistic that only a child spotted him. It's pretty intense when Fury gets ambushed, but it is dumb for HYDRA to not shoot at his tires because that was the only thing that got him far enough before the Winter Soldier intervened. And if the Winter Solider was gonna kill Fury, he should’ve followed him to the tunnel he made rather than follow him to Cap’s house. It is nice to have Nat involved with this story because Cap has to trust at least one avenger, but how did she know he did the flash drive in the vending machine? She left before him, so I don't get how is she supposed to know. And why didn't HYDRA consider overkilling Rogers with multiple missiles when he found Zola? He is a super soldier, so they should know he won't be easy to take down. Hell, they could've waited until they exited the building to shoot him and Nat down. Steve is even pretty lucky to have Sam's address to hide, but when did he get that? They only met twice as shown and neither scene showed Sam share his address. Lastly, I'm even more confused of how Rumlow (Frank Grillo) doesn't kill the heroes in the vans if HYDRA is so serious of eliminating threats. It would've ruined the surprise of Hill saving them, but these villains get lazy when they're strategizing. Other than that, this movie’s awesome. Overall, The Russo Brothers are able to make something more complex than expected and have you on the edge of your seat throughout. If you enjoyed what Chris Evans has done as Captain America from this point, you will definitely have a blast with this one.
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