Captain America: The Winter Soldier

[johnnygobbs]

I have seen the movie.

Top stuff. One of Marvel's best.

More to come.

I think it may be my favourite of the MCU films after 'The Avengers'.  The great thing is that the continuity has been remarkably high across all of these Marvel films so far.  There's few franchises that one can say that about.

[The Dark Knight]

Yes - agreed johnny. Marvel really are whipping DC's butt big time.

The action is simply badass - there's plenty of it, also coherent and entertaining. They give the fans what they want. There's no dour filters coated on the footage ala Man of Steel either. It's just natural all over.

And it's all not one note. There is a story, and it's quite a clever one. The concepts of World War II applied to a modern day setting. Chris Evans is right up there as one of the best cinematic heroes as well. Humour, heart and believable and likeable as a good guy.

I wish these Marvel guys were making Batman movies. They would be sensational. Or at least take their template. I hope Snyder is taking note in the visual/action department.

Captain America has become one of my favorite characters.

[johnnygobbs]

Yes - agreed johnny. Marvel really are whipping DC's butt big time.

The action is simply badass - there's plenty of it, also coherent and entertaining. They give the fans what they want. There's no dour filters coated on the footage ala Man of Steel either. It's just natural all over.

And it's all not one note. There is a story, and it's quite a clever one. The concepts of World War II applied to a modern day setting. Chris Evans is right up there as one of the best cinematic heroes as well. Humour, heart and believable and likeable as a good guy.

I wish these Marvel guys were making Batman movies. They would be sensational. Or at least take their template. I hope Snyder is taking note in the visual/action department.

Captain America has become one of my favorite characters.

I agree wholeheartedly with everything you say, with one caveat.  Marvel Studios is whopping DC/Warner Bros' backside, but some of the other Marvel franchises, such as the 'X-Men' and 'Fantastic Four' films over at Fox, and arguably 'Spider-Man' at Sony (I like the first 'TASM' but I'm concerned about the direction the franchise is going, although I will reserve my judgement until I see the sequel) are much less impressive.

The two 'Captain America' films are great companion pieces, not only in terms of narrative (as all good sequels should be) but from a thematic perspective, contrasting the hope and optimism of 1940s USA, when one more or less knew who the 'good guys' and 'bad guys' were, with present day geo-politics and the gradual erosion of the Western democratic ideal once seemingly exemplified by the USA (that's not a dig at the USA by the way; on the contrary, it's an acknowledgment that like Israel, you guys did, for a large part, once represent all that was admirable and progressive in the world, in your case circa late 1930s/early 1940s).

I love how these films combine an intelligent narrative with clear, coherent and exciting action.  The ensemble dynamic is wonderful, with Black Widow and Nick Fury particularly getting a chance to shine alongside Captain America, and the addition of Sam Wilson/Falcon as Captain America's new BFF is a huge plus.  Anthony Mackie brings a lot of charisma to the character and almost makes one forget how (unavoidably) silly Falcon's costume is.  The final set-piece recalls the team dynamic that made the helipad sequence and end battle in 'The Avengers' so much fun; in fact, both these films recall the brilliant cross-cutting action sequences from Episodes IV to VI of the 'Star Wars' films, another franchise that emphasised classical storytelling and a strong ensemble cast.

The best element however is the feeling that these films not only succeed as great standalone three-act pieces of entertainment but that Kevin Fiege, and presumably Joss Whedon, have a clear sense of the direction they want the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise to go in; and although they will allow filmmakers to stamp their own style on individual films and differentiate them according to the genre's demands (for instance, as many commentators have observed, 'The Winter Soldier' is very much in the vein of a conspiracy-thriller), characterisation, sense of geography and for the most part, continuity of tone and moreover, quality will remain consistent thus promising fans of the MCU films thus far a lot more goodies to come. 

[The Dark Knight]

The two Captain America films are the best two Marvel have done, along with First Class, X2 and Spider-Man 2. But Cap has really left his mark on me. I like the hero out of time angle. Showing how certain things are eternal and important, now matter what era we inhabit. I respect how Cap does the right thing, no matter the consequences. And how he's always been a hero, before and after his physical transformation.

He's truly someone to admire, without it coming off as cheesy or embarrassing. Which could easily happen. But it doesn't. His roots as a World War 2 soldier perhaps are central to this. It's nigh impossible not to respect that tour of duty. And the fact he's still youthful, frozen in time, adds to it. You're not looking at an old photograph, you're looking at living, breathing flesh and bone right in front of you.

Both Cap movies are a part of a greater overall story, but work just fine as individual movies. That's an important thing. Iron Man 2, for example, did come off as a bit piece. Here, I didn't get that impression. Themes and locations from the first film are directly addressed. You could watch The Winter Soldier straight after The First Avenger and not be confused one bit. There are certain things I would like to talk about, but will wait a bit longer for others to see the movie.

[The Joker]

Watched the film Thursday night, and enjoyed it quite a bit!

Have to agree that it's definitely one of the better Marvel movies to have come out of the Marvel film studios, where there was actually a number of tense moments, and as a consequence, a real sense of danger. Something, I don't feel applies itself to other Marvel films I can name where witty banter between characters is going on while in the heat of battle. Or in another case, a full blown invasion. Captain America: The Winter Solider thankfully toned that down quite a bit, and added a good sense of drama to what was transpiring in the story. To be perfectly honest, one of my favorite parts of the film was the scene where Steve is having a flashback of his military training, pre-super-soldier-serum, and has a moment where his previous self is staring right at him. That, to me, was simply outstanding.

I've read the film is doing quite well at the box office. Good. It very much deserves to.

[riddler]

Simply outstanding. This film is closer to what Iron Man 2 should have been (although Tony Stark is more rogue than Steve Rogers).

Marvel originally ordered a Nick Fury film then nixed it, possibly due to doubts on whether he could carry a film. So they likely merged many of the ideas including Hydra into this one. The main thing Marvel is doing better than DC (likely Nolans fault) is pacing their action. Dark Knight rises and man of steel had looooooong drawn out action scenes and bored me to tears for the remainder. The Marvel films have been good at getting their point across and then moving onto the next scene. For films which act pretentious and deep, the DC films sure treat their audiences as though they're stupid and can't figure things out on their own. This one had a deep plot and plenty of action.


Despite what some critics have stated, this film isn't the best Avenger film but it's on par with Iron man as the best solo film. Here would be my current rankings (purposely putting a space where I feel there is a drop off)

Avengers

Iron man
Captain America 2
Incredible Hulk

Iron Man 3
Iron man 2

Cap
Thor
Thor 2

[johnnygobbs]

This is my rating:

The Avengers>Captain America 2>Captain America>Iron Man 3>The Hulk>Iron Man>Iron Man 2>Thor 2>Thor

Since I think they are all top quality films, I haven't indicated any big drop-offs, but 'The Avengers' is still my only 5/5 film so far.

[The Dark Knight]

Both Captain America films and all three Iron Man outings are my picks. And of course The Avengers. I love Cap, I really do. But RDJ's Tony Stark remains my favorite of the MCU heroes so far. I enjoy his flippant, casual genius act. But Evans made it a tougher decision, that's for sure. I like both for different reasons.

[riddler]

***this post contains spoilers, please ignore the part in white font if you don't want to be spoiled


What do you folks thinks becomes of Bucky in the cinematic universe? As we all know in the comics he becomes Captain America eventually but would they do that in the films? I guess they can keep that card in their pocket should Evans ever leave the character. I can't see them choose to replace Evans character with Sebastien starrs character. In the comics Cap dies in the aftermath of the civil war but not sure if we'll see the civil war on screen any time soon, it would require far more characters than Marvel has currently developed (and has rights to).

I'm sure they can leave the Bucky character out of Avengers 2 without addressing him but cap 3 it will likely have to be addressed

[Silver Nemesis]

I finally got around to seeing this today and really enjoyed it. It's a well written, well acted, well paced superhero film that continues Marvel's winning streak. It strikes a nice balance between humour and drama and makes good use of the Washington DC location. That's something that I think has been missing from the Marvel films so far: a sense of place. Batman's got Gotham, Superman's got Metropolis, but the Marvel films generally don't have memorable environments (exceptions being New York in Raimi's Spider-Man films and some of the locations in the X-Men series). I visited Washington DC back in the summer of 2008, just before the McCain-Obama election, and instantly fell in love with the city. So it was great to see the bulk of the movie take place there.

It was also nice to see Robert Redford and Jenny Agutter given decent roles. And I liked the way they developed Steve Rogers as a character. He's probably my favourite of the Avengers heroes; the one I identify with the most. I'm glad we don't have to wait long to see him on the big screen again (Age of Ultron 2015!!!). So far, I'd say this is the comic book movie to beat for 2014.