Captain America: The Winter SoldierThe difference between security and tyranny is often a matter of who's holding the gun. Captain America: The Winter Soldier is an action movie in the collection of films referred to as the "Marvel Cinematic Universe" (MCU), with this series highlighting the eponymous Captain America/Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) as he adapts to life in the 21st century, both on a personal level as well as his career as a defender of America and what it stands for. In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, both of these elements are tested by a threat lurking within the ranks of his "family": S.H.I.E.L.D.
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The Marvel movies represent a kind of reinvention of the serials of yesteryear, and this nostalgia is particularly astute when it comes to Captain America. The Winter Soldier is a film influenced by cinematic conventions from an era gone by, a style of suspenseful action films full of conspiracy and political intrigue, films like Three Days of the Condor. Tense and thrilling action sequences--many of which take place in car chases with bullets whizzing by--also recall films like The French Connection or To Live and Die in L.A. And although the Marvel movies have boasted some of the most impressive special effects to ever grace the silver screen, many of these action sequences are shot without the aid of extensive CGI, giving the action a gripping, realistic feel, and a much more mature element not otherwise found in its brethren. As the revelation that S.H.I.E.L.D. is compromised becomes a reality, there is a fantastic scene where the kind of tension and suspense intrinsic in these kinds of spy thrillers comes to a head with a stand off in an elevator. Steve observes key details, tells which inform him that the men who he thought he could trust are positioning themselves to deliver an assault and capture him, or worse; and that those he called colleagues can just as easily be revealed to be like a serpent in the tall grass. And for fans of the television series tied to the MCU, "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.", there are more than a few nods, and events on the show play into the film and vice versa, making the two feel like parts of a cohesive whole.
While Captain America: The First Avenger was set principally around World War II, The Winter Soldier is a modern film, fully entrenched in modern technology. The film is adapted from the excellent source material of the same name by Ed Brubaker, and carries the same kind of paranoid, political realism with it. While Steve is coping with his newfound place in time, the challenge goes beyond just keeping up on reading and listening to recommended music; it is one where he is struggling to understand the radical changes which have motivated the government he once defended to now operate with preemptive initiative as a go-to response--in other words, shoot first, ask questions later. Steve shares his displeasure with the idea of secrets and "compartmentalization" during a debate he has with S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) as they discuss the merits and pitfalls of "Operation Insight", one which involves establishing a show of force implied to be capable of delivering a devastating response to a global threat with extreme prejudice. The question Cap ultimately poses to Nick Fury is how this makes them different than the kinds of tyrants he fought to depose in Nazi Germany. What's interesting here is that the films which have influenced The Winter Soldier--as well as the subterfuge employed by Fury, and Steve's fellow agent, Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson)--recalls the kind of "spy versus spy" aspects of the "Cold War", a period in time in which Steve was literally on ice, and thus is walking through unfamiliar territory. And to further cement the irony and Cold War element, the equally eponymous antagonist of The Winter Soldier is a shadow assassin, rumored to have performed dozens of executions over a period of the last fifty years, an asset harboring a secret so well-kept, it's hidden even from himself.
It would be inaccurate to say that The Winter Soldier is more subdued than other entries in the franchise--given the jaw-dropping conclusion and dazzling array of destruction--but Steve forms two meaningful friendships during his adventure: one is with Natasha, who is also experiencing a crisis of conscience following the revelation of S.H.I.E.L.D, and the other is with a young soldier named Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie). Steve's introduction to Sam is during a morning jogging routine, with a comedic element as the super soldier repeatedly passes Sam--always on his left. But Sam not only looks up to Captain America as a symbol, but as an all-around good guy, someone who listens to him, and does in turn. They are men who share stories from their war experiences, a bond which makes them brothers. The message here is that Nick Fury ultimately failed to secure his vast intelligence network from corruption because he did not trust anyone; Steve Rogers succeeds in saving the world from infiltration by his age-old foe, Hydra, because he has formed a bond with highly-trained and reliable friends, by being transparent and honest, embodying the values he understands to represent the ideal of America. His friends become extensions of himself, not just cells to carry out orders. When Steve discovers that the true threat lurking behind the scenes is Hydra, and that their mission is to eliminate millions to ostensibly save billions--that is, deter uprising and keep the world under its heel--it recalls the twisted logic by which the Nazis justified the Holocaust, meaning that Captain America's great war isn't really over, but it has planted its writhing roots deep into the soil of the new millennium. Unsurprisingly, the words "new world order" even get used to describe the plan to bring the world into placid submission and motivate it to relinquish its freedom. Thus, Captain America embodies the best elements of what America "should" stand for when it comes to the nation's presence on the world military stage and what defines freedom, even when America is apt to forget those virtues herself.
Recommended for: Fans of a comic book action film steeped in political overtones, with elements of American exceptionalism, tyranny posing as peacekeeping, and other ever-relevant issues about the application of military force at home and abroad. It is a fresh and intelligent story with a thought-provoking theme, and you may be pressed to remember at times that it's sourced from a comic book.
While Captain America: The First Avenger was set principally around World War II, The Winter Soldier is a modern film, fully entrenched in modern technology. The film is adapted from the excellent source material of the same name by Ed Brubaker, and carries the same kind of paranoid, political realism with it. While Steve is coping with his newfound place in time, the challenge goes beyond just keeping up on reading and listening to recommended music; it is one where he is struggling to understand the radical changes which have motivated the government he once defended to now operate with preemptive initiative as a go-to response--in other words, shoot first, ask questions later. Steve shares his displeasure with the idea of secrets and "compartmentalization" during a debate he has with S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) as they discuss the merits and pitfalls of "Operation Insight", one which involves establishing a show of force implied to be capable of delivering a devastating response to a global threat with extreme prejudice. The question Cap ultimately poses to Nick Fury is how this makes them different than the kinds of tyrants he fought to depose in Nazi Germany. What's interesting here is that the films which have influenced The Winter Soldier--as well as the subterfuge employed by Fury, and Steve's fellow agent, Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson)--recalls the kind of "spy versus spy" aspects of the "Cold War", a period in time in which Steve was literally on ice, and thus is walking through unfamiliar territory. And to further cement the irony and Cold War element, the equally eponymous antagonist of The Winter Soldier is a shadow assassin, rumored to have performed dozens of executions over a period of the last fifty years, an asset harboring a secret so well-kept, it's hidden even from himself.
It would be inaccurate to say that The Winter Soldier is more subdued than other entries in the franchise--given the jaw-dropping conclusion and dazzling array of destruction--but Steve forms two meaningful friendships during his adventure: one is with Natasha, who is also experiencing a crisis of conscience following the revelation of S.H.I.E.L.D, and the other is with a young soldier named Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie). Steve's introduction to Sam is during a morning jogging routine, with a comedic element as the super soldier repeatedly passes Sam--always on his left. But Sam not only looks up to Captain America as a symbol, but as an all-around good guy, someone who listens to him, and does in turn. They are men who share stories from their war experiences, a bond which makes them brothers. The message here is that Nick Fury ultimately failed to secure his vast intelligence network from corruption because he did not trust anyone; Steve Rogers succeeds in saving the world from infiltration by his age-old foe, Hydra, because he has formed a bond with highly-trained and reliable friends, by being transparent and honest, embodying the values he understands to represent the ideal of America. His friends become extensions of himself, not just cells to carry out orders. When Steve discovers that the true threat lurking behind the scenes is Hydra, and that their mission is to eliminate millions to ostensibly save billions--that is, deter uprising and keep the world under its heel--it recalls the twisted logic by which the Nazis justified the Holocaust, meaning that Captain America's great war isn't really over, but it has planted its writhing roots deep into the soil of the new millennium. Unsurprisingly, the words "new world order" even get used to describe the plan to bring the world into placid submission and motivate it to relinquish its freedom. Thus, Captain America embodies the best elements of what America "should" stand for when it comes to the nation's presence on the world military stage and what defines freedom, even when America is apt to forget those virtues herself.
Recommended for: Fans of a comic book action film steeped in political overtones, with elements of American exceptionalism, tyranny posing as peacekeeping, and other ever-relevant issues about the application of military force at home and abroad. It is a fresh and intelligent story with a thought-provoking theme, and you may be pressed to remember at times that it's sourced from a comic book.