[TCN Staff REVIEW] Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Captain America: The Winter Soldier is Marvel’s new Phase 2 film staring the Star Spangled Man. Unlike his previous film, this one takes the stance as a political thriller and showcasing the “man out of time” persona for the character.
Here at TCN we recently had the chance to see and review this film, but instead of posting individual reviews of for each member of the staff, we decided to do a over all staff review based on the average scores of the writing team.
Taylor Murphy – Editor:
Captain America was never my favorite character. In the past I always saw this character as a “dull Boy Scout” with never anything interesting happening in his life other than his waking up in the present. Boy was I wrong. Marvel delivered on all fronts. Not only was the story gripping, but chalked full of more Easter Eggs than any previous Marvel film. This film flipped the Marvel universe upside down and set the stage for a much more brutal future for our heroes, if this film is being considered by many as the prologue of Avengers: Age Of Ultron, I cannot wait to see what they have planned next.
Score: 4.5/5
Neil Fastabend – Editor:
The hype machine was in full force for The Winter Soldier, and it was warranted. I thoroughly enjoyed the film. It was excellently paced, and entertaining from beginning to end.
Now I’m not as well versed in the Marvel universe like some of my cohorts, but I didn’t feel like the film was inaccessible at all. Having watched all of the other Marvel movies, I’m still able to start drawing some conclusions and connect the dots. Marvel has done a great job of making a movie that really anyone can enjoy, and it is a must see!
Score: 5/5
Pat O’Brien – Staff Writer
This installment of the franchise did a lot things very well. The action sequences were fast paced, exciting, and just a little over the top to give it a great comic book feel. This film also did a very good job of bringing in new heroes and villains from the mythos and grounding them in the pseudo-reality that the Marvel movie universe strives to create. However, there were some issues that I had with this film. There was a few moments in the film were the comic book camp is misplaced and disrupts the pace and tone of the movie, and there was not as much time as I would have liked more Bucky and less winter solider in the film. I felt that the lack of this development of the winter soldier made the ending seem kind of rushed.
Score: 4.5/5
Nathan Sturgis – Staff Writer
The Winter Soldier is a great balance of action and humorous one liners. I did not want to like it because to be honest I was not a huge fan of the first Captain America. This sequel delivers where the first movie did not. I am thoroughly entertained throughout the movie and the casting was spot on with the great chemistry between Chris Evans ( Captain America ) and Anthony Mackie ( Falcon ).The movie was just good clean american fun filled with explosions and wing suits.
Score: 4/5
Jim Crawford – Staff Writer
Abandoning the campy nature of the World War 2-era newsreels that influenced its predecessor for a more serious and modern tone, “Captain America: The Winter Solider” proves to be another outstanding addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Using espionage as a major story driver, Captain America, who is a bit less naïve and more in tune with the world as it is now, finds himself in a tangled web of lies and deceit that makes the film feel less like a standard comic book movie and more like a spy thriller.
Chris Evans does a fantastic job of transitioning everyone’s favorite shield throwing super hero into a more stern and figure-head type of leader as seen in the comics. This transition is helped out masterfully by the great performances of Anthony Mackie, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Robert Redford, and Sebastian Stan. Mackie, who plays Sam Wilson, stands out big in this film, giving arguably his best performance since 2008’s “The Hurt Locker”.
While the film does super kick the viewer in the chest a bit with it’s over the top action at times, some of it can be forgiven thanks in part to some incredible up-close fighting and choreography that might be the best seen yet in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Aesthetically, the film does a good job of using practical effects and CGI to create a vision that feels natural and one that keeps the attention of the viewer.
“Captain America: The Winter Solider” could be one of those sequels considered to be better than the original when all is said and done. Although the pacing of the film does have a few hiccups, the mixture of action, humor, and subtle nods to fans, supported by a fairly strong plot, make it a film worth seeing in the theatres a couple of times.
Score: 4/5
