After watching the latest Captain America instalment, part of the juggernaut that is The Avengers, it seems relevant that Cap is (by a fair few years) the oldest of all the characters. This is a grown-up superhero movie; serious, war-esque and with absolutely no gimmicks. Now, that doesn't sound like a Marvel combination does it? But with these characters, it's evident there's no other way it could be done.
Chronologically following on from where Avengers Assemble (and then Iron Man 3 and then Thor: The Dark World) left off, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) is now working for SHIELD alongside Natasha Romanoff to keep all things well in New York City. Still struggling to find his place in the modern world, Cap finds himself battling his past in more ways than he would have thought.
Without sounding cliché, this one is for the boys. There's a lot of fighting, even more machinery and even a gratuitous close-up of Scarlett Johansson's bum in those very tight trousers. There's no budding romance, it's all very macho; good guy vs. bad guy and that's okay! It just might leave female viewers with feelings that it was a little lacklustre. Missing something, you might say. Not that us ladies mind a bit of fighting from time-to-time (we've gone to see a superhero movie, for crying out loud), it's just The Winter Soldier seems very male-orientated. Although, seeing Chris Evans' muscles flamboyantly flexing frequently may make people think otherwise.
It's quite hard to do the character of Steve Rogers well, when he's in a movie just his own, as he often comes off a little, well, plain. Especially when compared to witty Tony Stark, inner-turmoiled Bruce Banner or even dumb but oh-so-muscley Thor, but this movie succeeds noticeably more than the first.
This might be due to the slight ensemble cast feel to it. Whilst it's obvious Rogers is the lead, he is supported by other characters in practically every scene including Black Widow and Nick Fury, both of whom provide some comic relief to the often heavy story line. Even small part, Maria Hill (played by How I Met Your Mother's Cobie Smulders) gets a few grin-worthy moments amongst all the fight scenes.
New character Sam Wilson is an interesting addition and bounces off Cap well, adding a new, fresh dynamic into the mix. Ex-military man Wilson wasn't just your average soldier you see. Oh no, he used to don mechanical giant wings and fight the enemies from the skies so when he decides to help Cap stop a wrinkled Robert Redford, he proves to lend a rather useful, helping…wing? Will Falcon be a part of Avengers 2? Seeing that The Winter Soldier is so heavily pushing content story-lines towards the eager-awaited sequel, it's more than a possibility.
Despite it being far better than The First Avenger, it does seem to have quite a few flaws. Throughout The Winter Soldier, it's very difficult to actually pinpoint a bonafide baddie which often makes for some confused viewing. It's evident that it's not so much purposefully trying to confuse you, rather just an overly ambitious story. Like Iron Man 3, there seems to be layers of bad guys within it and it just doesn't work very well here. It seems that it would have made for a much more impacting story if we actually KNEW definitively who Cap was fighting against. There's The Winter Soldier, corrupt SHIELD agents and HYDRA, the terrorist organisation he thought he defeated in the first instalment, rears it's head once more.
Because there's a lot of story to get through, especially as they start to reveal all of the villains, the ending feels incredibly rushed compared to the relatively slow-burning first half. It's so fast moving, it's actually quite hard to establish what is going on most of the time!
For a film subtitled "The Winter Soldier", we actually see very little of said soldier and he appears more of an afterthought than a main character. Which is a shame because his backstory and connection to Rogers makes him a very interesting and different kind of enemy. This is definitely not the last we'll see of his character we expect, however.
Despite it's downsides, if you're an Avengers fan, there's no way you can miss this one. Especially because it lends itself heavily to Avengers Assemble-based characters. Captain America was always my least favourite, so maybe you'll think differently about the second in the franchise...
As always with a Marvel movie, wait until after the main credits before leaving the cinema screen. The snippet leads onto the plot that makes up the sequel to Avengers Assemble, with the brief but exciting introduction to two new characters who will feature in the second instalment. If you're a big Marvel buff, then you'll know the two powerful siblings I'm eluding to here. If not, just sit and wait.
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