It’s the first Marvel movie that truly works as a
standalone film but also masterfully acts as a direct sequel to both Captain
America: The First Avenger and The Avengers whilst also setting up future
films. It has a great story, great characters and great action – it’s a really
great film and it feels like Marvel are taking the comic book characters
seriously again (unlike Iron Man 3).
However, saying all that, I think I probably enjoyed Thor:
The Dark World and The Avengers more on a first viewing. Both of those films I
came out of the cinema over-excited saying to myself “that was absolutely
amazing movie – I have to see it again now!”, whereas with The Winter Solider
my thoughts were “that was a really solid great film.” I think my expectations have something to do
with it, there has been a lot of pre-hype about The Winter Solider being the
best Marvel movie to date – and I 100% agree that “technically” it is – I just
didn’t come out of cinema buzzing with excitement like I did with Thor and
Avengers. I hope that makes sense…
I apologise for the last paragraph, as it sounds like a bit
of downer when there is absolutely nothing wrong with the film. The acting is
all great and Chris Evans again proves he is perfect for titular role, together
with the supporting case all delivering strong performances. The action and
especially the fight scenes are the best in any Marvel film to date (and
actually a lot more grounded than CGI heavy previous entries). Some really
brutal fights and shoot-outs make this probably the most violent of the series
(just minus any blood to keep it kid-friendly of course…).
The story is extremely well put together with twists and
turns through-out which climaxes in a way that really changes the landscape for
future Marvel movies. I love that it tells a contained story, but so cleverly
followed up and integrated plot threads from previous films in the series – most
obviously Avengers and the first Captain America but also characters from
Marvel one-shots and even Iron Man 2! On the flip it also sets up Avengers: Age
of Ultron and even hints at a Doctor Strange movie. This is definitely the
movie where Marvel has fully got into the swing of making a standalone film
that connects with the whole universe.
So in summary Captain America: The Winter Soldier is an
incredibly well-made movie, with great story, characters and action which
continues Marvel’s run of delivering the most enjoyable series of blockbusters
we’ve seen in recent years.
9.5/10
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