Superhero sequels, in particular those from Marvel tend to be a mixed bag .For every Spider-Man 2, X2: X-Men United, or X-Men: Days of Future Past that are held up as superior to their progenitor, there’s an Amazing Spider-Man 2, or a X-Men 3: The Last Stand that becomes a byword among fans as being one of the worst sequels .Even the Marvel Cinematic universe is not exempt from this trend, with Iron Man 2, and 3, being considered nowhere near as good as the first Iron Man movie, or Thor: The Dark World and Thor: Love and Thunder that are often seen as lacking the magic of Thor and Thor: Ragnarök.
However, there was on Marvel Sequel that is not only considered better then it’s predecessor, but one of the best films in the MCU. Personally, I never understood what people were complaining about, as I love Captain America: The First Avenger. For me, it was a fun throwback to one of my all-time favorite movies from childhood, Raiders of the Lost Ark, that happens to be starring one of my favorite comic book heroes, Captain America.
However, as Cap learns all too well, times change, and so do tastes. The second Captain America movie couldn’t be a swashbuckling Saturday Matinee serial. With Rogers having been thawed out at the end of his first movie and leading the fray in The Avengers, he was now in the present day. As much as I would have loved a Last Crusade to The First Avenger’s Raiders, something else would be needed. After all, part of Captain America’s story focused on adjusting to the modern day. It’s a premise that can easily become shallow and farcical, with mixed results at best. However, for a superhero film it would need to be something more then watching Captain America getting teased by Nick Fury for squirreling his money away in a mattress because of his experience with the Great Depression affecting his trust in the banks, or Black Widow teaching him how to record Matlock and Perry Mason on his DVR.
Theoretically, the movie shouldn’t have worked. After all, when it comes to a movie sequel, they tend to stick to the same “genre”. This is true even for superhero films. Iron Man remains a techno thriller, while Thor continues to be a fantasy franchise regardless of who is in the director’s chair. With Captain America: the Winter Soldier, however, they took a character whose first film was a Raiders of the Lost Ark style Saturday matinee serial, while Winter Soldier is more of a political thriller akin to Tom Clancy’s Patriot Games or Clear and Present Danger or a spy flick like Mission: Impossible. However, this move from Saturday Matinee serial to political/ spy thriller is ingrained into the characters DNA. Over the past 80 years, he’s effortlessly gone back and forth from war-time adventures of Joe Simon, Jack Kirby, to the pulp adventures of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, to the political thrillers of Steve Englehart, back to the pulp stories under Mark Gruenwald to political thrillers under Roger Stern, to spy adventures from Mark Waid, to Political thrillers again with Ed Brubaker.
Thus, the film opens like a classic spy thriller. After a brief prologue in which Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson strike up a fast friendship, Black Widow swings by to pick up Steve, now an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., for his latest assignment. Their mission is to extract a high-profile S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, Jasper Sitwell, from HYDRA. Working with him is a team of highly trained operatives, including his new friend and ally, Natasha Romanov, better known as the Black Widow. No sooner does Cap succeed in taking down HYDRA”s agent, Batroc, the Leaper and securing Sitwell, then he learns that his Superior Officer, Nick Fury gave a slightly different assignment to Black Widow, retrieve confidential data for S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Project Insight.
After a debriefing a mysterious HYDRA agent attacks, known only as The Winter Soldier in an attempt to take down Nick Fury and Steve Rogers. Bit by bit the web of S.H.I.E.L.D. begins to unravel as Steve and Natasha dive deeper into the mystery and learn S.H.I.E.L.D. is compromised to even it’s highest levels with HYDRA agents and has plans in place with devastating results. During an attempt to arrest them, Steve manages to unmask the Winter Soldier and learns it’s his friend Bucky Barnes, long assumed killed in action in World War II.With his new friend and ally, Sam Wilson in tow, Cap, Black Widow and Fury work to expose the Hydra secret and thwart Hydra’s devastating plan that could spell doom for the Avengers. Meanwhile Steve makes a desperate attempt in the process to save his best friends life from the very organization they thought they defeated.
Chris Evans is back as Steve Rogers, and it is here where he hits his stride as the character. It has long been said that a “boy scout” character like Superman or Cyclops is hard to adapt because they are so “pure”. Chris Evans third outing as Captain America proves that prevailing logic wrong. The years have passed by, old friends are dead or dying, and he’s trying desperately to hold on. He may not be the same war bond selling, Hitler punching, globe-trotting adventurer he was in the War, but he retains the core of his beliefs as they are challenged by Hydras plans. SHIELD may be corrupted, but he is incorruptible. This is a Captain America I can fully believe would say, “I’m loyal to nothing but the dream.”
Scarlett Johansson is back as Natasha Romanova/Black Widow in her own third outing. Here she is less of the feme fatale she was in Iron Man 2, or Fury’s right hand in the Avengers, and fully comes into her own as SHIELD’s premier superspy. Moreover, we see Steve and Nat fully embrace each other as best friends. It’s in her interactions with Steve that we see her character start to joke around, lighten up, and even see that deep down she does care about someone. Further, we even see that of The Avengers he is the one who genuinely values her as a friend, something she’s never had. As a result, we even see in some rather numerous moments that she tries to set Steve up on a date, not wanting him to be as consumed by this life as she or Fury have become, knowing Steve has already missed out on so much.
Joining them is Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson, the Falcon. Falcon’s history in the comics is, messy, to say the least. Much of that is stripped down as the Russo brothers incorporated aspects of his Ultimate’s backstory in which he was an Iraq War veteran, allowing their shared combat experience to allow the two of them to become fast friends. Mackie is instantly likeable and even comes across as the successor to Will Smith in terms of his natural charm and charisma.
Sebastian Stan is back as Bucky Barnes, now known only as the Winter Soldier. Not since Boba Fett first perused Han Solo has a man of few words made such an impact on a hero. Traditionally in a spy thriller, someone like Winter Soldier is just a henchmen for the big bad, like Oddjob with Goldfinger, Or Jaws with Karl Stromberg, Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd to Blofeld, but here Winter Soldier is something much more as he is Steve’s most personal rival due to their friendship. While later films would dive more into what happened with him and send him on his redemption arc, but here, he perfectly captures the essence of a man with no name whose identity and face have been erased by the shadow organization that know pulls his strings. You feel sorry for him as he’s forced to turn on his best friend against his own will, and his anguished screams during his brainwashing process are raw and visceral.
Samuel L. Jackson returned as Nick Fury, and never once loses his “cool.” Here, his character feels more at ease then he does in dealing with Stark in the Iron Man movies. Here, he’s in charge and in his element as he’s surrounded by a world of espionage. Further with Tony, Fury’s dealing with an irresponsible play-boy who thought the world once revolved around him and needs like a strict teacher to kick him into shape, here Fury gets to work not only alongside a good soldier who understands the importance of knowing his orders, and understands the price of victory may require a sacrifice being made in the process. As such he sees Steve as a friend and colleague. Here he fully assumes the role of being the Marvel Universe’s Commissioner Gordon, a good man who is doing his best to protect the very place he swore to protect even if the sacrifices he has to make are difficult.
While Winter Soldier may be the marquee antagonist for Steve, it is Robert Redford’s as Alexander Pierce who is the real villain of the movie, and is often considered after Loki one of the best rogues that any of the Avengers engage in the series. His casting has a clever bit of meta commentary for long time comic book fans as it was Robert Redford who served as the inspiration for Steve in the 70s and 80s during the historic tenure of Roger Stern and John Byrne. Who better to severe as an antagonist then someone who possess the same All-American quality that Captain America embodies and play a dark inversion of the character. Making it even more effective is that he comes across as a genuine good guy who cares for his country and wants to make the world a better and safer place. He even appears to actually seems to value Nick, Natasha and Steve but only disposes of them as they stand in his way.
Rounding up the cast is Cobie Smudlers as Maria Hill, Maximiliano Hernández as Agent Jasper Sitwell, and Frank Grillo as Brock Lumlo/Crossbones, all of whom are very good in their supporting roles, with Sitwell and Grillo helping to make their turncoat characters the kind of characters you love to hate. Meanwhile, Smulders gets much more to do this time then observe from the hellicarrier, bringing Cap’s team of Secret Avengers to a total of five as she helps coordinate their efforts and even extracts Steve, Sam and Nat from Hydra in her thankless task as the trusty secret keeper of Nick Fury’s secrets.
The real stand out however for supporting players is Haylee Atwell in her brief appearance as an elderly Peggy Carter. It is through her that the film finds its heart as we fully see Steve adjust to life in the modern day. Every one he loved and served alongside is dead or dying, and he is trying desperately to find something to keep him in the present. It’s a very tender moment between them as they talk and he shares with her his concerns about the organization she helped found. Then in a moment of heart wrenching poignancy she coughs and loses her lucidity as the audience learns she’s battling Alzheimer’s. All at once their conversation is forgotten as the two lovers reunite once again and the pain in Steve’s eyes and voice tells you that this isn’t the first time it’s happened between the two of them since he was woken up.
However, as a result of this amazing and heart wrenching chemistry between the two of them, and coupled with Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson’s stellar rapport with one another, it means that his traditional comic book love interest Agent Sharon Carter is left with little to do in the proceedings. Her actress, Emily Van Camp does a good job in the role and her interactions with Steve make you hope they get together, but sadly with so much going on, and Van Camp’s shooting schedule for The Winter Soldier and the ABC drama Revenge, limited her screen time. As a result Steve and Sharon have very little chance to develop a relationship on par with Tony Stark and Pepper Potts, or Thor Odinson and Jane Foster past a few meaningful glances and brief flirtations.
Initially, I’ll admit I had been on the fence when it was announced that Joe Johnston would not be returning to the director’s chair for Winter Solider, and instead Joe and Anthony Russo of Community fame would be taking over. Like Jon Favreau stepping into the director’s chair for Iron Man, they quickly proved themselves to be top notch directors by crafting a finely tuned thriller worthy of the character. Joe and Anthony, together with screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, clearly love the character of Captain America, understand what he represents, and more importantly with their work on what was essentially a “small” ensemble film, that was overall well balanced in how it focused on the characters, they were able to go on to bigger and better ensemble films with Civil War, Infinity War and Endgame. This meant that for first time directors, much like with Jon Favreau on the first Iron Man, the Russo brother kept the focus of the story on the characters, building up to the big spectacle for the films climactic ending As they deliver one of the most spectacular aerial battels in film history as Cap and his “Secret Avengers” work to take down the Helicarriers before they can eliminate their targets.
While Alan Silvesrti’s “Captain America March” was used in the movie, composer Henry Jackman took over for the reigns for Captain America with The Winter Soldier. Like the character moving forward from the 1940s, it probably wouldn’t have worked for it to retain a Raiders of the Lost Ark style rousing pulp feel. Jackman’s score felt more like a fast-paced spy thriller, akin to Mission: Impossible. Further, a fanfare like “the Raider’s March” or “The Captain America March” helps to not only further the black and white dichotomy of Indiana Jones and Captain America, but heighten their All-American brand of heroism. As such Jackman’s score wisely feels as ambiguous as the film itself, casting the world in shades of grey that allow “The Captain America March”, like the Red, White and Blue hero to stand out all the more.
Ed Brubaker’s run remains one of my all-time favorite runs on Captain America, and has been my gold standard for the character ever sense. Thus, when I heard the next film starring my all-time favorite Avenger would adapt Brubaker’s Winter Soldier story arc, I was excited. Much to say, I was genuinely happy with what the Russo brothers gave in the film. They managed to successfully move the character into the 21st century and force him to confront how the world had changed with out reducing it to comedy at his expense, and more importantly, they allowed Cap to retain his essence that ahs made him a bed rock for the Marvel Universe at large. Moreover, this was the film that radically changed the course of the Marvel Universe as it dared to take part S.H.I.E.L.D., and find out what made the MCU tick.
Further, in this film I got to see Cap deliver a classic Captain America speech with such passion and conviction that I not only believe in heroes again as much as Coulson, but I honestly think that much like in the comic books this may just be an impromptu speech delivered by the American King Arthur. While the moment when he says “Avengers Assemble,” may be the long-awaited fanboy moment, but this for me is classic Captain America through and through. Like Shakespeare’s King Henry V’s St. Crispin’s Day Speech, or Aragorn’s speech before the Black Gates of Mordor in Return of the King it is a stirring call to action by a noble hero who inspires only the very best in those he serves alongside as he tells them,
“Attention all S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, this is Steve Rogers. You’ve heard a lot about me over the last few days. Some of you were even ordered to hunt me down. But I think it’s time to tell the truth. S.H.I.E.L.D. is not what we thought it was. It’s been taken over by HYDRA. Alexander Pierce is their leader. The S.T.R.I.K.E. and Insight crew are HYDRA as well. I don’t know how many more, but I know they’re in the building. They could be standing right next to you. They almost have what they want. Absolute control. They shot Nick Fury. And it won’t end there. If you launch those helicarriers today, HYDRA will be able to kill anyone that stands in their way. Unless we stop them. I know I’m asking a lot. But the price of freedom is high. It always has been. And it’s a price I’m willing to pay. And if I’m the only one, then so be it. But I’m willing to bet that I’m not.
Jonathon D. Svendsen 