Jordan’s Take:
Chris Evans owns the screen as the ultimate good guy in “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.”
I remember when I found out Evans would be playing the role of Captain America years ago. I had only ever seen him in “Fantastic Four” as the egotistical Human Torch,and I was worried about the choice.
I didn’t think Evans could be serious enough to be Captain America, but he has pulled it off perfectly in each of his three portrayals of the Captain. He is physically muscular but genuinely kindwith his role.
Since “The Avengers,” the superheroes have gone their own way, but Steve Rogers (Evans) has stuck around SHIELD with Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson). Captain America is still completing missions, but his trust in close friends is tested.
In this film, Captain America faces the Winter Soldier, a man withh a bionic arm; Hydra, an up-and-coming organization to challenge SHIELD; and the modern world.Captain America will need the help of the Black Widow and a new face, the Falcon (Anthony Mackie).
The movie starts out fast with action and rarely slows down. It goes from one action scene of Evans fighting a terrorist to an epic battle between Captain America and the Winter Soldier.I’ll admit that I am a hugeCaptain America fan, but the action was non-stop, which wasn’t a good thing when I wanted more of an explanation on the Winter Soldier.
The over-the-top, hand-to-hand combat was impressive as Captain America didn’t hide behind his shield as much as in the first film. He fought with brute force in parts, which helped prove his super strength. The fact it was too much fighting makes me struggle to love the fighting.
The acting in the film was incredible. With a lineup of Evans, Johansson, Jackson and Mackie, the movie should have great acting. Then throw in Robert Redford and you’ve got an awesome cast.
Johansson and Mackie were amazing alongside Evans as the sidekicks with many fight scenes for just them. Redford dominated whenever he was on-screen as the leader of SHIELD.
I still believe there is more that Disney could do with Marvel films. The action was more realistic than most superhero films for the man filled with “super serum,” which was nice, but there wasn’t enough backstory on what was going on and why.
I give “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” a solid B+ because of the wonderful acting, but not an A because of the over-the-top action.
Ethan’s Take:
“Captain America: The Winter Soldier” shows off some spectacular graphics and action but that’s almost it.
“Captain America: The Winter Soldier” has plenty of action throughout its two hour and 16 minute running-time.
It also has a phenomenal CGI team to generate a realistic world around all of the action. There are explosions everywhere, fight scenes galore and plenty of high-tech gadgets. All of these things look incredible.
The fighting is very well choreographed and Evans does well, which is good considering the majority of the fighting revolves around him. Evans fights off around 8 people in an elevator fight scene but does well making it look believable as he struggles to fight them off.
In a few scenes Evans is able to display some emotion as he remembers his childhood friend Bucky. These scenes add some variety into the majority of scenes revolving around Evans in fist fights.
Based on the title and trailers, I was expecting The Winter Soldier, played by Stan, to have more of a role in the movie. As it turns out, Stan only plays a pawn in the movie. I was unimpressed by Stan’s performance and didn’t feel any reason to fear him as The Winter Soldier after his mask was removed.
Also, The Winter Soldier is supposedly from Soviet Russia, but he says one line of Russian in the movie and it is unclear why he said it since it is the only Russian sentence in the entire movie. You would think he would speak mainly in Russian, have Russian friends or at least have a Russian accent if he is supposed to be from Russia.
There is no explanation as to how Hydra, the evil organization from Nazi Germany in the first movie, became involved with Soviet Russia and very little explanation about how The Winter Soldier came about at all. Perhaps The Winter Soldier will play a bigger role in future movies but not in the movie containing his name in the title.
The story overall is exciting and leaves you wondering who to trust as it unfolds. The only complaint regarding the storyline is how many subplots there are and how undeveloped some of them are, such as was explained earlier with The Winter Soldier.
I give “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” a B+ for delivering action, graphics and decent acting.
Don’t forget to stay until after credits for some extra scenes.