Starring: Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Sebastien Stan, Anthony Mackie, and Robert Redford.
Distributor: Walt Disney Pictures
Runtime: 136 mins. Reviewed in Apr 2014
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This movie is the sequel to the 2011 movie, Captain America: The First Avenger, and is the ninth movie in the series based on a variety of comic-book, Marvel superheroes.
In the 2011 film, Captain America, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), was frozen in the 1940s in suspended animation. Now defrosted, he struggles to cope with the world in which he has awakened. It is a world where people are less trusting, technology has grown apace, deception is rampant, and the choice of the right thing to do is much harder to make.
Rogers joins forces with ex-KGB agent, Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow (Scarlett Johannson) of the original film. She is now a special agent with S.H.I.E.L.D and trying to ease him into the modern world. She wants Captain America to be more dishonest, and true to character Rogers wants to teach her greater integrity. They both can’t forget about their past for different reasons, and, as the adventure unfolds, they join forces with a new ally, The Falcon (Anthony Mackie), to defeat the villain of the piece.
That villain is Steve’s former good friend, Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), who is now a brain-washed Soviet assassin. He is “The Winter Solider” of the film’s title, and represents a major threat by being the dark force involved in a digitally-controlled global attack using high-tech weaponry. The Winter Soldier is an elite, pathological killer. Tied to Rogers’ past, his previous friendship signals Captain America’s vulnerability, as well as his own, and his special brand of evil is portrayed chillingly.
Like most good hyper-action superhero movies, this film delivers what is expected. It has an exciting prologue and an over-the-top battle climax, both of which are fashionable for its genre. The film has intense and sophisticated action sequences that portray strong violence. There are killings and peril, aerial displays and explosions, exciting car-chases, massive deception, and high-tech gun-play. And the film engages all the time in surprising narrative twists – with Robert Redford, perfectly cast as Alexander Pierce, an official who oversees S.H.I.E.L.D., supplying one of the more unexpected turns.
Two things are different about this sequel. First, it is a very smart political thriller which engenders feelings of paranoia that maintain the tension without a great deal of superhero help being required. By engaging in war on the brink, American and Soviet spy activity, the infringement of freedom, and the political trading of sensitive secrets, it brings up issues that relate meaningfully to contemporary anxieties about national security, intelligence-gathering, and civil liberty. Consistent with its overall tone, the film makes sure that both sides of the political spectrum, good and bad, demonstrate their own particular version of moral compromise. This is a film, where no one trusts anyone else, and where “nobody spills the secrets, because nobody has them all”.
The film is directed by the Russo brothers with modern relevance to the world of conspiracy-ridden espionage. Heroism is displayed valiantly to cope with the paranoia, and the movie supports good moral action, where needed. At a political level, everything in this movie is brought into some question or other, and the tactic genuinely heightens the film’s impact.
The second point of difference is that the special effects are wonderful. There is a furious pace to the action, and the use of Captain America’s shield as an offensive weapon shifts the ground cleverly from Captain America’s use of his famous shield in the 2011 film. Throughout, the plot-line stays strong and the feelings of paranoia keep coming through.
For all these reasons, this film is more than a worthy sequel to its predecessor. The film plays intelligently with society’s deep-seated concerns about the meaning of freedom, and it stages its effects brilliantly. For those who go to see the film, however, it is important to sit through the credits for what is revealed mid-way through them, as the story-line – perhaps related to another sequel – gets yet another twist.
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