CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER (2014)

The Winter Soldier marks Marvel Studios' 9th film since their launch in the mid-2000's. They've been in the business of making movies that are fun and entertaining, but many criticize their films for lacking any serious depth. Joss Whedon's The Avengers proved that Marvel could look deep into the eyes of its superheroes and not look away after the formula worked so well in Iron Man. Finally, 5 years after Tony Stark took to the skies, Joe and Anthony Russo have delivered what I think is the best movie put out by Marvel: the sequel to 2011's hit Captain America: The First Avenger.

Early on in the film, we find Steve Rodgers (Chris Evans) connecting with Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), a war veteran who runs a PTSD support group. Rodgers is now thrust into the 21st century, having to re-live his past at the Smithsonian's Captain America exhibit. Meanwhile, across Washington D.C, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) is having to deal with Project Insight, a plan to put three helicarriers into the air that carry technology so powerful, they can detect and neutralize threats before they even become a worry to SHIELD. Questioning the program, Fury tells SHIELD's tip-top man and member of the World Security Council Alexander Pierce (Robert Redford) to put Project Insight on ice for the time being, feeling that not all is well. Soon, a new enemy appears in the form of a legendary assassin that goes by the name of the Winter Soldier. Soon, Steve Rodger's past returns in ways he did not expect and is once again, out of place in a world that is embracing him.

This film did brilliantly what Man of Steel failed to do. In the case of Marvel, their most by-the-book boy scout of a superhero and dropped him into a world that does not share his morals. Evans plays Rodgers with the absolute sincerity that dripped from the pages of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby's stories. What's even cooler is that writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely brought to life one of the neatest bromances in comic book history: Steve Rodgers and Sam Wilson, aka Captain America and The Falcon. Mackie is a great actor and has a super likable persona that Wilson had in the comics. On the other end, is Robert Redford as Pierce. It's incredible to see an actor of his caliber in a Marvel picture, but the decision made sense seeing how great the script for the film is. 

Scarlett Johansson is fantastic as Natasha Romanoff. The more I see her interpret this character, the more I fall in love with the Black Widow. Having her in the film is a stroke of genius and wonder. In the comics, Captain America took his missions from SHIELD, most of the time. The present day Cap film should be the SHIELD film, and that's not exactly what we get.... Yet another element that made this film work. The structure of it all and implications are brilliant and reminded me of The Empire Strikes Back. Something the audience thought to be true isn't and it has devastating consequences. Joe and Anthony Russo come off as old pros directing car chases, aerial fights, and heavy gunfire with great showmanship. I was floored to find out that this was their first action film, having directed episodes of Community and other TV shows.

One element that was also interesting is the musical score for the film, written by Henry Jackman. In The First Avenger, the music is very old fashioned. Big orchestra, lush instrumentation, and a melody that sent everyone out of the theater with the tune in their heads. Here, we're treated to a very 21st century score: lots of electronics, fast rhythms, piercing strings, and powerful percussion. I'm not a big fan of Hans Zimmer's minions taking over the film scoring world, but this is one of the rare cases in which music of this nature perfectly reflects what's happening to Captain America. He's been taken out of the romanticized world of the classic comic books and thrust into the political heat of the present day.

The origins of the Winter Soldier himself were adapted nicely from the comic book story arc of the same name (the Winter Soldier was originally released in 2004 by Marvel, written by Ed Brubaker). In the comic book, the story heavily involves the Cosmic Cube, known as the Tesseract in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Instead, that story is replaced with one of espionage and intrusion of personal information. This movie uses Marvel heroes to provide a commentary on the times we are living in. Information is readily available about us everywhere, yet our governments keeps their monitoring of our data a secret. The film takes this premise and creates a very frightening scenario as to what could happen when this information is in the wrong hands.

Bold story telling, a great cast, and impressive filmmaking make Captain America: The Winter Soldier one hell of a film. As a fan of the comic book, I was impressed to see an adaptation handled with so much care. Marvel is at the top of the world and they just get it. They understand what fans want and they give it to us. Even when their films aren't the best, the spirit of the characters usually shines through their dullest of moments. This is not the case in Winter Soldier. The Russos have made a film that is a political thriller at heart and shakes the Marvel Cinematic Universe to its core and for that reason, its the best Marvel film to date.

8.5/10