Marvel’s phase two of movies are rolling, and this train won’t stop until 2015 with Avengers 2. The next installment in the cinematic universe is here with Captain America: The Winter Solider. The action is solid and non stop, while the story is compelling enough to where you want to see it to the end. Although, not the greatest of Marvel movies, it can be enjoyed by both fans of the comics and regular movie goers.There is one warning: this movie is one of the most violent of superhero movies. That is thanks to the major villain of the movie: The Winter Solider-who is brainwashed into killing anyone who gets in his boss’ way. While the only characters he kills are either minor characters or ‘red shirts’, and almost no blood is shown, it’s still pretty harsh.
The movie follows Captain America in modern times, not wasting time having him confused and amazed by the 21st century. While on a mission to take back a stolen S.H.E.I.L.D. ship, Cap discovers Nick Furry, played by Samuel L. Jackson, has been lying about important details on missions. Fury responds by showing Cap the newest project, “Project Insight”, which is three huge helicarriers with an A.I. system to identify any threat in the world and overkill whoever or whatever it is in seconds. When Cap doesn’t approve, on a hunch Fury asks his friend, Secretary of the State Alexander Pierce, played by Robert Redford, if he can delay the project. This prompts an assassination attempt on Fury by the ‘Winter Solider’, a super solider who is the brainwashed Bucky, Cap’s best friend from the first movie. After escaping, Fury, Captain America and Black Widow, played by Scarlett Johansson, are deemed fugitives and go on the run.
While investigating, they discover from a clever cameo that S.H.E.L.D. has been corrupted by Hydra, a branch of the Nazi’s in the Marvel universe, since the program was founded after WWII. They discover the master plan is to have the helicarriers meant to protect the world destroy any threat to Hydra, including Cap, Iron Man, the Hulk, and others. The good guys recruit Sam Wilson, aka Falcon, played by Anthony Mackie, to be their air support. After an intense battle between Hydra and good S.H.E.I.L.D. agents, the movie concludes with the final fights of: Captain vs. The Winter Solider, Fury vs. Pierce, and Falcon vs. Brock Rumlow, a great henchman played by Frank Grillo.
Great acting is shown by Chris Evans as he tells Bucky he’s not going to fight him. Bucky starts to regain a bit of his memory and decides to save Cap from drowning.
So many sequels.
Cameos and easter eggs filled this movie, for both casual viewers and hardcore fans. Some include the famous Stan Lee cameo, and references to other heroes such as Dr. Steven Strange and Moon Knight, other heroes who’s movies have yet to be green lit. But the most foreshadowing of scenes was the mid-credits scene, showing that Hydra has possession of Loki’s staff from the first Avengers movie and has brainwashed and experimented on “The Twins”, aka the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. Their backstory is confusing to say the least, and it seems they will play an important role in Avengers 2, coming in 2015.
The movie was great, and Marvel fans will love it. There are obvious plot holes, as in every comic movie but you’ll be entertained enough to not care to much.
Final Rating: 9 out of 10 ( You need to keep both eyes open to see this!)
