Another year and another instalment in Marvel’s insanely popular ‘The Avengers’ franchise. Captain America: The Winter Solider is the second chapter in the story of Steve Rogers and his recalibration into modern society after being removed from a cryogenically induced coma induced around the time of WWII. It’s 2014 but the Soviet’s along with the elusive yet deadly ‘Winter Soldier’ (Sebastian Stan) have decided to rear their ugly heads once again to wreck havoc on the world. It’s Captain America’s (Chris Evans) job along with SHIELD’s Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) Black Widow (Scarlet Johansson) and new addition Falcon (Anthony Mackie) to defeat these formidable foes and as usual, save the day.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier or ‘CA:TWS’ as I’ll be referring to it from now on is both predictable and unpredictable in equal measure. Being described by many as a ‘political thriller crossed with a super hero film,’ I actually agree with this description. CA:TWS definitely has a storyline more solid and engaging than many of the other blockbuster super hero films out there but that doesn’t mean it has it’s ridiculous plot twists and sections of dialogue either (my favourite would have to be “you’ll be too dead to notice” or something extremely cringy like that.)
The Director’s, Anthony and Joe Russo made it their mission to use as little as CGI as possible which I found commendable but there are some scenes, quite a few actually, which are predominantly CGI. This isn’t a bad thing but it doesn’t take you out of the whole believeable ‘political thriller’ side of things. The CGI that is used though is extremely impressive and I can only imagine the hundreds of man hours that went into creating some of the final scenes.
With decent acting from the majority of the cast and a more than impressive performance from cinema veteran Robert Redford as SHIELD’s Alexander Pierce, CA:TWS is one of the most enjoyable action films this year and I think it will stand the test of time also. The film, to me, had an overall darker tone that many of the other Marvel instalments which, again, isn’t a bad thing and cam be seen as a flattering imitation to other darker comicbook films like the infamous ‘Dark Knight’ trilogy.
Overall, Captain America: The Winter Soldier is a another extremely solid addition to the Marvel universe of film and I would have no hesitation in recommend this to others. Clocking in around the 136min mark, it’s not short but it never feels like it overstays it’s welcome. Describe by some as ‘The Avengers: 1.5’ I can’t wait to see how the events of CA:TWS feed into the next Avengers film.
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