So the Cap is back, and he has stepped it up. Those of you who really know me, know that I am a huge nerd for comic book movies, especially Marvel. Don't get me wrong, Batman is cool, but I can't think of another DC hero I really like. On the other hand, I love me some X-Men, Spider Man, Thor, Hulk, Iron Man, and especially Captain America. However, the first Captain America was not my favorite movie ever (my review isn't on this blog but I gave it a C+). This movie stepped it up huge.
The great part about this movie is I can judge it on two levels, both as a comic book movie and an overall film. Like The Dark Knight some years ago, this movie succeeds on both levels really well, but I believe succeeds better as an overall film than as a comic book movie. In a comic book movie, I am looking for a few different things, most notably, some great supernatural action, a fun plot, and a great villain. This movie has two out of the three. By nature, you don't get a lot of supernatural action in a Captain America film since there are no real superpowers in play. However, the plot in this movie is great, and the villan(s) are fantastic as well.
Without giving away too much, this movie plot causes it to play out almost as a political spy thriller, and it does it in a great way. SHIELD has a huge fight on its hand against a reformed Hydra (the evil science arm of the Nazi party that the Captain fights off in the first film). However, in this film, Hydra has infiltrated many high levels of the US Government, including SHIELD itself. This creates a situation where Captain America and those still loyal have to stop a plot by Hydra to kill millions of people using SHIELD technology. Thrown into the mix though is that Hydra has recruited a master assassin from the days of the Soviet Union known as the Winter Soldier. He is strong, fast, ruthless and a cold-blooded killer. As the Captain fights him it is obvious that he is fighting his equal, if not someone greater than him.
One of the great things about this film are some of the supporting characters and the performances. Chris Evans looks more and more comfortable with the role of Captain America the more screen time he gets. There is also some serious moral dilemmas that he has to fight against in this film, both between his own ideologies and those of SHIELD along with his fight against the Winter Soldier. This is the first time in his three films where he shows a real propensity for acting range, and it was refreshing to see. My favorite performance is from Scarlett Johansson who returns as Black Widow. The banter between her and Captain America is amazing, and provides some great comic relief for the film. Other great performances come from series newcomers Frank Grillo as a SHIELD operative, Robert Redford as the US representative to the World Security Council, and Anthony Mackie as Falcon, a army veteran who befriends Captain America, and helps him in his task of taking down Hydra.
One thing I was pleasantly surprised about with this film was how dark the tone was. Being an avid fan of the comic book story lines, when I heard they were bringing in the Winter Soldier as a major antagonist for this film, I believed the only way this movie could work was if it was a fairly dark tone, and they completely nailed it. The tone of this film was perfect, even if it did depart from the light hearted tone of the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This got me super stoked for Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Overall, I loved this movie. My only real complaint is that it could have been slightly shorter. It seemed to drag in a few parts, but to fill in the plot they needed much of what they had so I can't say what they may have cut to shorten it. This is an amazing overall film, and probably second to the Avengers as a comic book film. I give it an A.
