Being out of touch is no fun, as any YouTube commenter desperate to let the world know of their love for older music knows. But Steve Rogers, AKA Captain America, is as misplaced in modern society as anyone you could ever hope to meet, and he’s got far bigger priorities on his hands than just ranting on the internet about how much he thinks Justin Bieber sucks. Unfortunately, one of those priorities includes “trying to save the world”, and along the way in his long awaited sequel to The First Avenger, he’s aided and assaulted by Marvel characters both familiar and unfamiliar to most moviegoers.
One day after an effortless morning jog around Washington D.C, Captain America is called on by SHIELD to help Natasha “Black Widow” Romanoff and a strike team rescue kidnapped agents from a band of pirates led by Georges Batroc (played by Georges St. Pierre, more than happy to take out his frustrations over the lack of a possible Silva fight on Cap). He isn’t too pleased to find Widow downloading files from the ship computers instead of trying to help save the day, and is even less happy when Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson, basically being Samuel L. Jackson) reveals those files are related to Project Insight- a trio of SHIELD helicarrier drones linked to satellites around the globe.
Rogers isn’t too akin to newfangled technology like this, and sees Insight’s worldwide targeting system as way over the line. But prominent SHIELD official Alexander Pierce disagrees, putting forth a “peace through strength, the ends justify the means” argument. Later, when Fury is unable to access the files Widow retrieved, he finds himself the target of legendary assassin Winter Soldier, and as our star spangled lead tries to find the truth, he finds himself falling deeper and deeper into a painful conspiracy that causes him to question both himself and everything around him. The best way I can describe the ultimate threat he faces without spoiling anything would be for me to just say, “don’t call it a comeback”.
Winter Soldier, like most recent portrayals of Captain America, goes out of its way to position him as apolitically as possible without it eroding the story. But given how much of the plot is obviously meant to remind us of current issues (the NSA scandal, the use of drones) and Robert Redford playing (brilliantly, I might add) Alexander Pierce as a hawkish Dick Cheney expy, I’m sure a lot of people will disagree with me. It’s Chris Evans’s always great performance as Rogers that’s probably swayed my opinion. His Cap is honest, determined, sometimes droll and witty, a great heroic presence on screen, stubborn and empathetic- a multifaceted person. I wouldn’t say Evans is necessarily award worthy here, but for what it’s worth, I think he’s been one of the best embodiments of any comic character adapted for the movies. Scarlet Johansson’s Black Widow is great as his more cynical minded foil, the hip and modern counter to his 1940’s sense of ideals and integrity, and Anthony Mackie is amazing and insanely likable as Rogers’s new partner Sam Wilson- better known as Falcon.
Like with Avengers, there were a number of families with young children in my theater, and while the parents at the end gave it a standing ovation, the kids coming out looked rather stunned, I’m guessing unsure what to think. I can’t blame them, because with its heavy gunplay and harsh musical cues, Soldier is one of the grimmer and grittier Marvel movies in quite some time. In fact, it’s time to point out the elephant in the room- this film is essentially and blatantly Captain America’s answer to The Dark Knight, right down to some of the same shots being ripped off (including, most shamelessly, the flipping truck) and the title villain looking like Heath Ledger’s Joker at times with his scraggly hair and zombie like movements.
But in spite of that, Stephen McFeely and Christopher Markus’s script, alongside new directors Joe and Anthony Russo, all capture the essence and spirit of the Captain America character so perfectly that it wasn’t enough to derail the film for me. It’s a total “Nolanization”, but it’s still a very well executed Nolanization. The Captain basically slips into the Dark Knight Formula costume like a glove, as uncompromising (as any long time comic book nerd knows) as ever.
I’d call it an easy recommendation, but I wouldn’t take little Timmy and Cousin Pookie this time. There’s none of the sunniness of First Avenger here, rather this is Captain America on an adventure in the modern world with all of its nastiness and complexity. And our main character is more than happy to ignore the zeitgeist and remain the biggest square in the world, even after all of the cool kids have given in to the latest dance.