The Return of the First Avenger

The fact that I rate this movie with 10 is not an exaggeration. This particular movie I really consider to be the best of MCU as the character development, the story, the action scenes, the direction and many more details still shock you.It could be said that this is a political drama with a strong Marvel dose in it. The dialogues are also excellent and careful written as well as the casting. I understand that many other movies like Infinity War, Avengers etc. are considered by most to be 'better', but if you watch this specific movie twice or more, you will realize that you are facing a masterpiece in all respects. In most parts of it, you think that you are in the movie and you feel that you are experiencing the emotions of the characters. In my humble personal opinion, I will repeat that Captain America: Winter Soldier is a masterpiece and will always be my number one Marvel movie.

When talking about perfect or almost perfect superhero movies, they always include Sam Reimi's "Spiderman 2", Nolan's "Batman: The Dark Knight" and this film by the Russo Brothers.

It is simply brilliant: it has everything that is a political intrigue, espionage, action, set in an MCU that was in a state of grace at that time with success after success.

The story of Steve Rogers that will determine the subsequent events that we will see in "Civil War" and in "Infinity Wars" is, in addition to being entertaining, very well woven.

The physical power of Chris Evans, exemplified perfectly in the helicopter scene, gives us what we want, an impressive Captain America. Strong physically, stronger in his principles. A hero who does not give up on anything, much less injustice.

Scarlett Johansson, Samuel Jackson, Robert Redford, Sebastian Stan are all incredible.

The combat moments with incredible choreography are also a highlight.

Not in vain, despite 35 MCU movies and many other series, we always remember "Winter Soldier" as the best.

It is not a perfect movie, of course, but for Marvel fans it is in that place that even after years, it is still relevant.

Unfortunately, Marvel has not been up to par again, much less in recent years, and movies like these are just nostalgia.

A real shame.

At the time this came out, it was without a doubt the best movie to come out of the MCU. I look forward to seeing more from the Russo bros.

While I thought the First Avenger was an incredible piece of work, this sequel is even better.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier is the third film in Phase 2 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (after last year's Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World). Compared with the mighty giant green monster, the hammer wielding Norse thunder god or the 'genius, philanthropist, billionaire, playboy' armor man, the Captain was never quite as appealing as the rest of the 'Unusuals'. Steve Rogers is portrayed as an old-fashioned, straightforward, honest, courageous, sincere, patriotic superhero. This makes him a less-interesting, boring character. Moreover, as Tony Stark said it, "Everything special about you came out of a bottle!"

Most film-goers would know that Marvel films are famous for its bright, fun and not-so-serious approach to its storytelling, together with some catchy, witty dialogues. This film is a game changer in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This time around, Marvel decided to take a different approach on things: To make a Captain America sequel with a more serious, darker plot development and more face-to-face close-range hand combat fights. What should have been a typical superhero film, now becomes a conspiracy-espionage thriller.

Two years after the events that happened in New York city, the Captain still struggles with adjusting himself to the modern world, with no apparent social life or girl friend, which is why Natasha/Black Widow tries to introduce or recommend him some cute girls in S.H.I.E.L.D. for him to date with. He is shocked when he learns that the very governmental organisation he is working for is not what it seems to be, as the Cap said in the trailer, "This isn't freedom. This is fear". Soon, he finds himself entangled in a conspiracy that puts millions of innocent lives at risk.

The film comes with excellent, fast-paced action choreography. Although the cinematography is a bit dodgy due to the shaky-cam techniques used for depicting the chaotic moments, the fight scenes between the Winter Soldier and the Captain is fantastic and serves as one of the film's highlights. The audience finally gets to see how the Captain's shield is utilised effectively in both offensive and defensive combat situations. It also good to see again how Natasha kicks ass in the film.

All actors delivered a pretty decent performance in the film. Once again, Chris Evans and Scarlett Johannson both proved that they fit their roles well, adding more depth to the characters they portray in the film. Sam Wilson/Falcon is a welcome addition to the Marvel franchise and hopefully he will appear again in the Avengers sequel. Unfortunately, despite the film's title, the winter soldier is not a complex villain and doesn't appear much in the film. It's such a shame to just show him as a formidable physical fighter who's capable of challenging the Captain.

The film is well-scripted, filled with suspense while highlighting some important socio-political issues such as government surveillance and control in its storytelling. Although the twists in the film is predictable and fairly easy to guess, the sequel is a marked improvement compared to its predecessor, Captain America: The First Avenger. The story unfolds gradually and comes with huge, surprising developments by the end of the film. Marvel Cinematic Universe is not going to be the same again. What's going to happen next? How the story is going to progress in Avengers: Age of Ultron, after what had happened in this film? Interesting.

Rating: 8.5/10

http://yjcool.blogspot.com/2014/03/movie-review-captain-america- winter.html

Be warned. This is not the typical fun, 'not-so-serious', entertaining Marvel film that you used to watch in the past. You might like it or find it a bore. In order to recognize some of the characters in the film, you need to remember some of Marvel's Phase One films. Most importantly, you need to watch Captain America: The First Avenger before watching this to understand the plot.

Note: Guess you don't need me to remind you to stay for the mid-credit and post-credit scenes. It foreshadows what's going to happen next by introducing a lesser-known supervillain and two new characters, 'Miracles' (another name for 'mutants' because of screen rights issues) which going to be in the Avengers sequel, Age of Ultron. It further confirms that one of weapons depicted in The Avengers is indeed one of the six infinity stones.

Captain America: The Winter Solider, directed by the best two directors that MCU has on the team, in the Russo Brothers, crafted this well directed, brisk paced spy/action film, that has a lot to be praised for. The Russo Brothers took the MCU style, and completely flipped it into their own, which completely works, while becoming a model film for the MCU. They incorporated this darker and gritter tone, that essentially grounded the film well, while inevitably throwing in some well timed humor. Even though this new approach to the MCU was a breath of fresh air, the Russo Brothers set themselves up for some nitpicks, by transforming some things that were already set and stone, for the most part.

The Winter Soldier does everything that a sequel should do, and that's improve on every aspect from the last film. The creative team told a juicer, more cohesive story, with better character involvement and development, while the action not only took a step up, but became one of the standout films for it's action sequences. Not only did they improve from the first installment, keeping the continuity involved, but they created one of, if not, the best stand-alone films the MCU has put out to date. The creative team utilized so many great layers and depth, to really break everything down, while adding in a tremendous amount of tention throughout the entire narrative.

With Shield being the main focus of the film, I wasn't too sure on how things were going to play out, but because of the Russo Brothers creativity, I was perfectly okay with it! With Shield being center of attention, it allowed for Sam Jackson to have a lot more character moments, which had a heavy hand in the success of the film! Chris Evans is an absolute stud as Captain America and Steve Rogers! He is fleshed out much more, having the best character arch of the film. His character is a lot more complex this time around, other than being that public figure everyone knows him for. Evans steals every scene that he's in because of that genuine patriotism persona he carries, being nothing short of admirable. Scarlett Johansson was also another key contributor to the success of the film. We've seen her in a few films prior, getting a little bit more and more to do as the films go on, and she really sets out her skillset here. With decent chemistry and tention between her and Captain America, and her and Nick Fury, she shows once again, that she is capable of being an Avenger. Anthony Mackie gets his debut in the MCU as Sam Wilson/Falcon, and he is just an all around good addition. He doesn't add much as far as the superhero antics go, but he is a great compliment to Captain America, and the team. The Winter Soldier is a GAME villain! He doesn't have much to say, but his physical presence is quite enough for him to be a decent villain, with a great tie in to the series.

This is probably one of the strongest screenplays by Stephen McFeely and Christopher Markus. They wasted no time after The First Avenger, to hop right into the screenplay for this film. McFeely and Markus added a great amount of wit to this script, by making everything cohesive to the story, while incorporating some dialed down, yet sharp humor. They added a great deal of politics to the narrative, that isn't just all in your face; it flows extremely well with the story, feeling authentic.

The action of the film was definitely the driving force of the film. All of the action scenes were shot so well, with many exciting and gritty action sequences! The Russo Brothers executed the hand-to-hand combat in such a professional way, and it just looked fantastic! The visual effects weren't heavily relied on, like they usually are, but when they were present, everything looked seamless.

Overall, there is no reason why this film shouldn't be at the top of your list; one of the best the MCU has to offer !