MOVIE REVIEW - CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER

One of the perks of living near a mall is getting to watch a movie without the hassle of traffic jams, waiting for the next screening and having to lug a lot of baggage (this third one is SOP for me whenever I bring my kids along – water, snacks, tissue paper, etc.).

And so I watched Captain America: The Winter Soldier at our friendly neighborhood and very nearby Mall, just a footbridge away from our street. Was I satisfied? Generally so.

SPOILER ALERT for anyone who has not seen the movie yet, although it’s been showing in local theaters for 15 days now.

First off, I understand the people who are saying that the title is not very apt for the whole movie, since it did not revolve around the Winter Soldier at all, but on the schemes and world-dominating efforts of Hydra. Hydra, for the comic book-uninitiated, is the breakaway scientific arm of Hitler’s Nazi party in World War II (or at least it is in Marvel Comics Universe) headed by The Red Skull, the villain played by Hugo Weaving in the Captain America: The First Avenger movie.

Yes, there were many exciting fight scenes between Cap and Winter Soldier, and yes, there was a large and dramatic twist (although if you’ve been a fan of comics you probably knew about it already) that involved the antagonist, but mostly the story was about how a good thing can be manipulated and twisted by evil men for their own selfish goals. 

Aside form the title, though, the movie was very well done. The fight scenes were the best I’ve seen so far in a superhero movie (and I’ve seen all the DC and Marvel movies, so that’s quite a mouthful for me), and the use of Cap's shield was maximized and I had flashes of my younger self playing with cooking pot lids and other circular objects way back when. The additional special feature of former UFC Welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre as Batroc The Leaper was also a very welcome thing. Batroc was, by the way, the first villain Cap fought after his resurrection in the 1960’s comics. 

The human body count, however, was also one of the highest in comic book movie history, probably surpassed only by The Avengers, Man of Steel and The Punisher movies. Not that I mind, of course, because this only made the action more believable and exciting because you never know who's gonna croak next. So if you’re thinking this will be a good film to bring the kids along, I would not suggest it.

Acting-wise, the cast really brought it on. Perhaps the presence of Robert Redford, one of the true living gods of Hollywood, gave the younger actors incentive to push themselves. Chris Evans improved by leaps and star-spangled bounds as the superhero lost in a new time and generation. Scarlett Johansson was perfect, as always, as the wisecracking, guilt-ridden Black Widow. Samuel Jackson was pushed to do more action and kickass-ery. Even Coby Smulders stepped up as Agent Maria Hill. And Anthony Mackie was convincing as the war veteran Sam Wilson, aka The Falcon.

  

There were many scenes in the movie that surprisingly had me choked up. Steve Rogers’ visit to his love from the 1940’s, Agent Peggy Carter, at the V.A. hospital, Nick Fury’s death scene, Cap’s speech over the SHIELD P.A. system, the lowly launch technician standing up to an armed Hydra agent, and the moments between Cap and Widow expositioning about their current and past lives.

My only gripe, and it’s a very minor gripe at that, was that the movie’s social commentary on government and politics and bureaucracy was not fully explored. Cap’s message about believing that there were still people like him willing to commit the ultimate sacrifice for what was right and true was great, but I felt it needed to be pushed a bit more with a few additional scenes. I was nearly in tears, but then the focus shifted to aerial combat and gunfights. 

Captain America was originally created in the 1940’s, and was rehashed in the 1960’s by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby as a reminder to the American people of what their country (supposedly) stood for. It was the decade of presidential assassinations, Viet Nam war protests, Malcolm X versus the KKK, Watergate, drugs and hippies and sex, violence and rock and roll, and the land of the free and the home of the brave was getting disillusioned by all of it. While Spiderman dealt with teen angst, The Fantastic Four showcased the space race and super-science, and other comics rode on the heels of psychedelia, Captain America became Stan and Jack’s mouthpiece for what they believed the US of A still fought for. He was the old-fashioned American patriot in a time when patriotism was out of style.

Call me old-fashioned, but I have always liked Captain America for his corniness, his devotion to the old values and principles that our world, more than ever, needs today. A man out of his time, still fighting the good fight with a  pure heart, an indestructible shield and a good right hook.