Captain America: The Winter Soldier

It is only fair if I let it be known right away that a few years ago I became ultimately tired and weary of superhero movies, sensing that Hollywood was pummelling my head into oblivion with large, foamy, green Hulk hands, smashing puny human.  The only comic book franchise that I cared about anymore was Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, and I was left to the belief that the other super-powered films that orbited me were just waiting for their chance to strike and knock me down.  If one movie did not succeed, I knew that it was only a matter of years before it was ‘re-envisioned’ and attempted once again.  My battered husk was in need of a hero to save me.

As luck would have it, a new sense of energy towards this genre was pumped into my thanks to Joss Whedon’s efforts with The Avengers, a film which brought both incredible special effects and interesting character dynamics into a film that was an incredibly great waste of my time.  Next it was Iron Man 3, a super hero whom I never cared about, that was able to get the blood pumping in explosive ways.  It became one of my favourite super hero movies of all time thanks to its well-paced story and an insistence to look at the person behind the suit, showing the grit of the hero over their special powers.

I bring all of this to light because it is necessary in establishing my overall thoughts on the genre, and I need to magnify that by admitting my complete boredom with Captain America.  I never really saw any attraction to him at all.  I mean, he is patriotic and has a shield.  Why should I care?  Why is he exciting in any way, especially considering the fact that I am not even American?  The ‘north of the border’ equivalent to Captain America is the McKenzie brothers, who are somewhat patriotic and supplement the lack of having a shield with the abundance of Canadian beer.

As I found my preferred seat in the showing of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, I was expecting to be left at the end feeling the same way that I did after seeing Thor (which was not the most exciting feeling) or worse, the depleted soulless state I faced after seeing The Green Lantern.  There was to be no way on this planet that I would be entertained by a straight laced patriotic feller who chose to use a shield without also carrying a sword.

As it would turn out, I am a fan of Captain America now, at least the version that was presented in The Winter Soldier.  Any issues that I had beforehand were whisked aside thanks to some very pleasurable action sequences at the beginning of the film, as well as a very timeless plot revolving around trusting government and military, their intentions, and the horrifyingly grey line that separates right from wrong in trying to bring order and peace to the populous.

While I had never given a hoot about a silly round shield prior, I was enamored by the choreography that was implemented to show just how Captain America (Chris Evans) used it as an extension of his body.  There were times in the movie, however, when I wanted to scream at the baddies on screen ‘shoot at his feet!’ as he was crouched behind his shield while under fire, with the lower portion of his legs exposed.  But, if one decides to get too nitpicky, any super hero movie will quickly fall apart.

What Chris Evans does with the Steve Rogers character is exactly what one could want from such a film.  Much like the characters of Wolverine are embodied by Hugh Jackman and Robert Downey Jr. has effectively become Tony Stark, Evans jumps into the role perfectly as he portrays appropriately the physical appearance and the reflective nature of a man who strives to assist in fighting evil, putting himself in harm’s way to protect others.  Many movies struggle at capturing all the needed aspects of the protagonist in their actors, which leads to some being rebooted and meddled with many times over (in the past eleven years there have been three people take up the role of the Hulk).

As the film went about unfolding, I did have a difficult time with the reveal of the villainous element.  This more comes down to my personality, with myself struggling with finding the antagonist a little out of place in the universe they were creating, and almost feeling a little too ‘comic booky.’  Perhaps I just am not familiar enough with the source material and may have found more purpose to the history if I was more properly informed.  But, as mentioned, I just never cared enough about the character to look into him, and never even felt the urge to investigate via the incredibly easy (and possibly incorrect) Wikipedia.

They nefarious poster child in this film was The Winter Soldier, an unknown nemesis who shows up on the scene to throw a monkey wrench in humanities desires for peaceful living.  Played by Sebastian Stan, he was a very visually interesting character, exuding an aura of necessary bad-assedness that would become a thorn in the side of the good ole Captain.  A good foil is always needed, and he was constructed in a method that was diligent in challenging Steve Rogers in a number of ways.

I should also mention the appearance of mixed martial arts legend Georges St-Pierre who played the role of Batroc, a secondary villain in the film.  Directors Anthony and Joe Russo showed great intelligence in how they used St-Pierre, limiting the number of lines that he needed to deliver, and focusing mostly on his physical stature and abilities.  The few lines he had were not handled the most smoothly, but luckily there was not a lot of need for them to be.  From a physical standpoint, he was very natural and flowing.  Some people, even if they have larger than life personalities, become rather awkward once in front of the camera, but St-Pierre did not suffer from that at all and was able to blend in with the action of the film.

The best testimony of the movie is the fact that I enjoyed it.  The fact that I feel no attraction at all to the concept of Captain America and yet was still smiling throughout the film shows its true ability to pull in an audience of outsiders and make them happy.  Whereas before I had rolled my eyes at the fact that he had his own movies, I now find myself looking forward to the next Avengers and Captain America 3.  A good meal leaves a lingering taste in the mouth and causes a craving for more, and a great movie is able to do the same thing.

Rating – 3 out of 4 stars