By Brett Blake There may come a time when the films from Marvel Studios begin to run out of gas, either creatively or commercially. They’ve had a terrific run of success going all the way back to 2008’s IRON MAN, the film that launched what has now been coined as the “Marvel Cinematic Universe,” and even after the monumental success of THE AVENGERS and IRON MAN 3 (and last fall’s THOR: THE DARK WORLD, to a slightly lesser extent), it can only be a matter of time before the company hits a bump in the road. That time has not yet arrived, however. CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER is a tremendous entry in the franchise, offering blisteringly exciting action anchored by a topical, timely storyline that positions the character of Steve Rogers/Captain America as the new focal point of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The movie nicely functions as a follow-up to both 2011’s CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER and 2012’s THE AVENGERS. The bulk of the plot revolves around a sinister conspiracy at the heart of S.H.I.E.L.D., the government agency for which Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), and Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) fight crime and evil. A series of assassination attempts perpetrated by the shadowy Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) force our heroes to examine exactly what they’ve been fighting for, and how best to protect the innocent. To say anything more would be criminal; though the plot doesn’t exactly feature major plot twists, there are significant narrative turns that would be better left discovered for yourselves in a darkened cinema. Primarily, the film feels heavily influenced by the paranoid and political thrillers of the 1970s in the way it deals bluntly in the idea of government corruption (elements of the plot seem to particularly recall 1974’s THE PARALLAX VIEW and 1975’s THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR, but not in a way that feels like they’re being ripped-off) and the dichotomy between freedom and security. In an age where our government conducts drone strikes and collects data about American citizens’ technology usage on a widespread scale (ostensibly for the purpose of keeping us safe), the movie is tremendously “of the moment.” The appeal of putting a character like Captain America into a moral grey area is that it allows the filmmakers to showcase his unwavering sense of right and wrong, and his commitment to fighting for liberty. The best thing about this element of the movie, though, is the fact that it never feels preachy, or like there’s an agenda being forced upon us. There’s no “message,” here, other than to suggest that we could all think a just bit more critically about what governments claim to do in the name of protecting their people. Alright, I’m stepping away from the soapbox, now. Chris Evans continues to impress as Steve Rogers and his patriotic alter ego; he completely sells the character’s innate decency, and he also makes him a man the audience can fully pull for. He also finally gets a chance to play up the “man out of time,” element of his character (he had been frozen in ice since 1945, after all), which adds some nice moments of levity in what is otherwise a pretty intense film. Scarlett Johansson and Samuel L. Jackson each get a lot of stuff to do this time around, which is welcome; Jackson, in particular, actually gets some legitimate character development, and I think a case could easily be made that the strongest character arc of the story belongs to his Nick Fury. Anthony Mackie is a great addition to the cast as Sam Wilson (A.K.A. Falcon), and he and Evans have a palpable buddy chemistry that makes their interactions a lot of fun. As the villainous Winter Soldier, Sebastian Stan remains kind of a cipher for a good chunk of the movie (by design; he’s more a ghostly presence than a character), but once we get a chance to see some of the pathos behind the man, he totally sells it. The supporting roster is rounded out by the likes of Cobie Smulders, Frank Grillo, and Emily VanCamp, and they each do fine work bouncing off the rest of the ensemble. Then we have Alexander Pierce, the character played by Robert Redford, who is the living embodiment of the movie’s thematic subtext, and while I can’t fully discuss where the story takes this character (you know, spoilers and such), I can say that he’s vitally important in bringing the “political thriller” elements of the movie to the foreground. While one would probably never have imagined an actor/filmmaker of Redford’s stature would ever appear in this kind of movie, he is actually fantastic; he never winks at the camera, or lets on that he might feel that being in a superhero/comic book flick is beneath him. It’s a real-deal performance full of conviction and complexity, and the movie is much richer for his involvement. Technically, the film is absolutely top-flight. The action scenes provide the requisite visceral thrills, and they’re peppered with great little beats; Cap’s hand-to-hand combat-y moments are particularly effective. The movie builds to a climax involving many characters in many different locations, and this section is tremendously staged and edited to near-perfection for maximum impact. Directors Anthony and Joe Russo deserve a lot of credit for pulling off a movie of this scope without it turning into a disjointed mess. Perhaps the most interesting element of the entire film is the way it paves the road for the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in some incredibly unexpected ways. Avoiding spoilers as much as possible, I’ll say that it’s clear the Marvel team has no interest in just doing things “by the numbers,” and seem eager to shake up the status quo as often as they can. By the end of CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER, events have taken place that will almost certainly have aftershocks in upcoming films, particularly next year’s AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON, and that’s an exciting prospect to ponder and look forward to. I hesitate to make the following comparison, but screw it, I’m going to anyway: I honestly think that WINTER SOLDIER is to the first Captain America film what THE DARK KNIGHT was to BATMAN BEGINS. Not in terms of tone or plot, but in the way both those films expand on the ideas of their respective universes. Just as THE DARK KNIGHT is a film that ups the ante and the dramatic stakes in a big, big way relative to BATMAN BEGINS, so too does WINTER SOLDIER push the Captain America character (and, really, the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe) into much more complex and interesting areas. It may even be a better overall film that THE AVENGERS, but further study is required on my part to truly decide. And by “further study,” I mean “I’ll have to re-watch them several times.” It’s going to be tough work, but I’m sure I’ll manage…
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