The Nerd Reviews- Captain America: The Winter Soldier

"Captain America: The Winter Soldier" came out last Friday ( In the USA) and I figured this would be as good as any to start doing movie reviews on this blog...because I saw the movie...which you probably assumed which is why I'm reviewing it in the first place, nevertheless, this film was really good; in fact, I daresay this is on the level of the Avengers and the best film of phase 3 thus far ( yeah I said it). For the spoiler free review, click the jump.

Plot: For those of you who are totally unware, "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" is the sequel to the 2011 film "Captain America: The First Avenger" ( apparently subtitles are all the rage) that had Steve Rogers becoming Captain America, fighting Hydra and ultimately taking a 50 year nap in ice. After the events of "The Avengers" we see Cap throwing himself into his work as an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D while he tries to acclimate himself to our world; but that proves to be quite the challenge as a routine mission leads into a giant conspiracy with S.H.I.E.L.D smack in the middle of it and it's up to Cap and friends to unravel the mystery and stop a sinister plot from coming to fruition. As the title suggest, the "Winter Soldier" plays a part in the story as a bad ass assassin (mini alliteration ftw) who's one goal is to eliminate any opposition that may stand in his way, including Captain America! As far as plot goes this isn't exactly reinventing the wheel,but why try to fix something that isn't broken? What makes this movie's story good is how well the plot flows, there were a few moments where I went " obvious bad guy is obvious" but there were also parts where I was genuinely surprised at the turn of events and that is saying a lot since I already know how the characters and story-line will work out due to reading the comics years ago; having that " did not see that coming moment" is something that has been sorely needed in comic book films and it is executed very nicely in the film.

The Winter Soldier looking all...wintery

Acting: One of the benefits of reprising a role is that an actor has a better understanding of their character and it shows with Chris Evans's Cap/Steve Rogers. Evans just looks so comfortable in the role, playing equal parts bad ass tank ( which I will address in the action portion) and conflicted soldier with a nuance that was not present previously; there is one scene in particular in the beginning of the film that made me feel sad  and  I commend Chris on it...I mean making a burly manly man like me even realize I have emotions is no easy feat. The rest of the cast did a fantastic job; Samuel and Scarlett really benefitted from having more screen time and an expanded role in the film ( though I could also see how people might think it a bad thing) delivering different sides to the characters we hadn't seen before, Robert Redford's Alexander Pearce was a good find as he added a layer of legitimacy to the film, and then there is Sebastian Stan who definitely gave me a Bane vibe...but in a good way. The Winter Soldier doesn't speak for the majority of the film so he communicates a lot through his eyes/body language and Stan really excels here; his Winter Soldier feels menacing, I could totally see him being responsible for over a dozen assasinations...his eyes are very cold and he moves with a purpose...the casting and character portrayal was overall really solid.

Action: I chose this clip from youtube because the two guys speaking are saying things that I've heard people bring up about Cap, lemme tell you something about this film: Cap isn't messing around. There are dozens of trailers out that show bits and pieces of it but you won't appreciate the scenes as much as you will in the film since it gives it context and that context is that Cap is a freaking tank of American justice. He's taking out a ship full of mercs, elevator full of like 30 dudes, chasing the Winter Soldier while ramming through goddamn walls, plus you have Natasha widowing it up and some aerial falcon action. Ok I've calmed down so let me try to act like I'm a legit critic or something, the action in the film opts for a more realistic approach than CGI; that's to say that its more hand to hand and gun based combat ( like a military sort of) than the light show we got in the Avengers. Look, there is a ton of action ok and its very good and has some nice set pieces.

Overall: I enjoyed this film more than I did Iron Man 3 and Thor 2, not saying that those other films are bad ( well Iron Man 3 is to me but that's for another day) but Captain America succeeds in a lot of the areas the others failed at..like comedic timing. Iron Man 3 didn't really combine the seriousness of Tony's PTSD with the lightheartedness and went more in the direction of the latter to the detriment of the former, Thor 2 had too many rapid fire jokes for my liking but Cap is able to combine these elements because the humor is derived from the context of the film...like Nat making a reference and then explaining it to Steve. There were a few moments where  I caught myself going " well this was purely for convenience sake" and " why didn't they just do x" but those were far and few between and didn't take away from my overall enjoyment of the film and it is for that reason that I am giving this film a B+. 

Personal Gripe(s):  For all the name dropping it did I thought I'd see an Avengers cameo but sadly that was not the case. No Hawkeye at all which is weird because he works for S.H.I.E.L.D and what happens in the film would be super important to him. Lastly, I feel like they are using Captain America as a launching point for other franchises again, isn't that what the Avengers is for?