Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Predicted Rating: 4 Stars

Directed by: Anthony and Joe Russo. Starring; Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson and Samuel L. Jackson.

Taking place after the events of the Avengers (of which the viewer is reminded of on several occasions), The Winter Soldier sees Captain America a.k.a. Steve Rodgers (Evans) team up with the Black Widow a.k.a. Natasha Romanoff (Johansson) to take back a S.H.I.E.L.D. ship after it is hijacked by a group of terrorists. After the mission, Nick Fury is assassinated and S.H.I.E.L.D. compromised. Captain America is now a wanted fugitive being hunted by the assassin, the Winter Soldier, and now must prove that he is innocent.

Don't get me wrong, I love the stand alone Marvel movies. I really enjoyed the Iron Man movies and I actually rate the Thor and Captain America movies higher than The Avengers. However, I am often left perplexed that when things go wrong, S.H.I.E.L.D. only calls one person as opposed to all of the Avengers. This happens on multiple occasions in The Winter Soldier. Why is Captain America the only one concerned with the downfall of S.H.I.E.L.D., why doesn't Bruce Banner care. On that note, why don't they just call the Hulk to smash the Winter Soldier. Finally, I realize that Falcon is a superhero in his own right but his wing suit just seems like an inferior version of the Iron Man suit. So my case in point, just call Stark! I understand that we can't have the Avengers every time and I am nit picking but it is something that bothers me.

Even with it's flaws, The Winter Soldier is a great movie. It plays out more like a spy thriller as opposed to a super hero movie. It has elements of the Bourne and Bond series in it. The plot is solid with some good twists and turns and the action scenes are beautifully shot and interlaced within the film. In the end it is a fantastic popcorn film, i.e. something you can easily sit in front of and waste 2 hours of you time and not feel guilty. However, the reason why I, and a number of other people, watch these films is for the end of credits scene and this one does not disappoint. It sets up for the Avengers 2 nicely with the introduction of three new characters (2 of which will confuse a number of people due to the lack of cooperation between studios) and it leaves me super excited for the film next year.

Overall: A very entertaining addition to the Marvel universe that everyone should definitely see even if they are not a fan of the Avengers. 4.5 Stars