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Call me crazy, but I actually think of most of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as widely adequate and nothing more. And I say that as a long-time comic book reader, I learned how to read and draw from the damn things. Films aren’t comic books and treating them as such has proved to be most problematic. But there’s something about the Captain America franchise that I think manages to avoid a lot of the problems of the other films.
Much of the MCU is so concerned with connecting disparate characters, jamming in cameos and plot details that won’t make sense or be explained until the next movie starring a totally different main character. Think of how loaded with exposition and story Thor: The Dark World was. That film only truly felt alive when it spent time on Asgard, but it had to shoehorn in references to Guardians of the Galaxy, add in stuff for the human characters to do, and somehow managed to give little attention to the titular villainous world and inhabitants. Captain America: The First Avenger was alive and fun because it was free of baggage to the other films, the only thing it had to do to tie in to the rest of the franchise was make sure he ended up frozen in ice at the very end. Which was an easy enough thing to accomplish; no origin story would be successful without its inclusion.
So what does this all mean for The Winter Solider you ask? Simple enough question, and here’s why I would say this was the greatest film in MCU since Iron Man, Captain America is allowed to be an autonomous character, one who doesn’t have to interact with anyone but S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and survive at the end to make sure he appears in the next installment of the Avengers. Other than that, Steve Rogers is allowed to be an isolated character experiencing his own unique adventures. It helps that the character is literally a man out of time, struggling to come to terms with the modern era.
The First Avenger was one of the more artistically successful and fulfilling movies in Phase One because it decided to focus on the things that many people groan at concerning Captain America. It took him, and placed him in a film that recalled a 1940s serial adventure. It was goofy, wholesome, earnest, and featured a character who was the eternal underdog doing right by the gifts he was given. The Winter Soldier smartly picks up with this character’s melancholy and isolation, having him attend meetings for soldiers struggling to return home after being in combat, replacing a personal life with increasingly dangerous missions. It also experiments with a different tone, while the first was a rollicking adventure serial; this one is a 70’s political/espionage thriller with comic book characters. I would love to see more comic book movies take these kinds of chances than rely upon needlessly long scenes of destruction with no consequences.
Granted, The Winter Soldier has its fair share of problems, chief among them a third act which sees it descend from action scenes that had weight and consequences to a prolonged one of destruction that doesn’t. And the underutilized presence of Robert Redford, whom I’m still shocked agreed to appear in one of these things. Redford, it must be said, is clearly having a grand time playing in this world, so it’s a bit disappointing that he doesn’t appear more.
It is nice in an era when so many superheroes are given needlessly gritty and cynical makeovers (just because it works for Batman doesn’t mean every hero needs it done), that they’ve kept Steve Rogers as a naïve man still capable of disillusionment and betrayal. I had my initial reservations about Chris Evans taking the role, but he has crafted as perfect a reading of the character as Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man, Christian Bale’s Batman or Christopher Reeve’s Superman. He plays the part for all of its earnest potential, finding the heart and strength in the everyman, the fighting spirit in the former runt. He also has great chemistry with Scarlett Johansson’s feisty Black Widow, a character who really needs to be used more often. Johansson went from window dressing in Iron Man 2 to the more mysterious, sexy and strong character seen here.
And while Sebastian Stan plays Bucky really well, and seems game for playing with the mental fragility and confusion of the character, the film lets him down. Despite being named after him, Stan isn’t given a hell of a lot to do, a reoccurring problem in the MCU. But the eventual fate of the character is nicely alluded to in the end credits Easter egg. The film is less concerned with the Winter Soldier proper, and instead on the corruption within S.H.I.E.L.D. and forcing Rogers, Widow and newcomer Falcon (Anthony Mackie, having a blast) to go underground and uncover just how high up this poison goes.
Still, the film excels where it counts, and whenever bloat sets in (that 132 minute running time is a bit much), at least we know an exciting action sequence is just around the corner. Or the chemistry between the idealistic Boy Scout and his shape shifter partner-in-crime seeking atonement which elevates numerous scenes. Or the paranoia of big government and shadowy politicians that’s been carried over from the Watergate era. (anyone else think Redford was cast simply for the cachet?) So one can forgive the characters introduced for no other reason than to be expanded upon in future films, or the random bits of crumbs which will lead us to Avengers: Age of Ultron. This is popcorn film-making done right.
