Captain America 2: Winter Soldier
Eeeeee!
Captain America!
Eeeeeee!
Now I’ve said that, let me get on with something resembling a review.
First of all, I have to be honest. I love Captain America. I don’t mind comics-Cap. I love, adore and worship Chris-Evans-As-Movie-Cap. He has everything I love about Superman (he’s a good, decent, straightforward, big damn hero), plus he’s not a god, he’s probably the weakest of the Avengers, but that doesn’t stop him trying and regularly punching above his weight. I love 1940s pulp (which the first film was) and I go slightly weak at the knees at the thought of Peggy Carter (who isn’t Captain America, but does show his excellent taste in women) so I went into this film as a bit of a squeeing fangirl which was both a good and a bad thing.
First of all, I think I loved the first film more. However, this is because I love 1940s pulp which this film categorically was never going to be able to be and it’s not really fair for me to judge Captain America 2 on this. For what it was, however, I liked this film very much indeed.
The film starts with Captain America, living in Washington D.C, working for S.H.I.E.L.D and going on missions, and fending off Black Widow’s attempts to set him up with young women. No sign of Hawkeye which made me sad. The rest of the Avengers, obviously, were busy - Tony Stark has blown up his suits and retired, Bruce Banner is probably in a jungle somewhere, Thor is saving the world in London (and wouldn’t be very good for stealth and retrieval missions anyway) but I really missed the dude with the bow and I wasn’t very sure why he didn’t show up in the film at all. He and Black Widow have history, the three of them have stood back to back before, why wouldn’t they call him when everything went to hell?
Anyway, the film continues with a satisfying amount of Nick Fury time. Nick suspects that there is an imbalance in the force and wants to investigate it. And he is apparently right, because almost as soon as he starts investigating it, some mysterious men in black come after him and his talking car (also, did anyone else notice this? There were a few moments where I was watching goth Knight Rider. And yes, Samuel, Nick Fury is totally a goth. Don’t do that scary Nick Fury glare at me. If he wasn’t, he’d be wearing a suit like every other high up S.H.I.E.L.D director type). Nick Fury decides that the only man he can trust is Steve Rogers and staggers to his apartment. Hi jinx ensues.
First of all, I do want to say that this film got a lot right. The characterisation was spot on, my slow thawing towards Black Widow seems to have continued and I actually kind of hoped that she and Captain America might be moving towards a _thing_ (although both Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson are really clear that this isn’t how they see the relationship) and I really liked The Falcon, and like him more the more I think. This film is, I think, the first Marvel film which doesn’t have a love interest in it. Peggy Carter is old and suffering from dementia, and Sharon Carter is a bit of a drive by. But that doesn’t matter, because this film isn’t really about romance. It’s about trust and it’s about friendship and it gets that absolutely right. The relationships that matter are all platonic - Steve Rogers’ old bond with Bucky Barnes, his established bond with Black Widow and his growing friendship with The Falcon.
I loved Nick Fury, I was glad to see Agent Hill turning up, and I thought Robert Redford was spot on at all times. I am glad that the film raised the issue of how S.H.I.E.L.D fits in a post-Snowden world and I was absolutely delighted at the fact that Marvel had the courage to say “yeah, we know the metaplot of our first arc has been S.H.I.E.L.D building up the Avengers. Well…BANG. No more S.H.I.E.L.D! Deal with that” and I’m very excited about where it’s all going next. I also adore Sebastian Stan and am very curious about speculation that as Chris Evans has only signed on for six Marvel films (he still has another two Avengers and a third Captain America to go) and Sebastian Stan has signed on for nine, we might be looking at the future Captain America. He certainly is clearly only being introduced and has a long way to go.
So that’s the good bits. Were there any bad bits?
Well, first of all, Agent 13/Sharon Carter. I know she’s just being introduced. I know she didn’t have much space to grow as a person, but I felt she was a bit bleurgh. She was another S.H.I.E.L.D agent, running around with a gun, doing stuff that Agent Hill or Black Widow do already (much more efficiently) and there was no very obvious sense of her as a person. I wasn’t interested in her, I’m not excited at the thought of seeing her in future films and she mostly made me yearn for Peggy Carter (who absolutely broke my heart by being old and out of it).
I also agree with Luke Slater’s review entirely where he comments that Marvel should maybe consider not having the end of the movie in the trailer. Once it became clear what the good guys’ plan was, we knew they were going to win. Well, we kind of knew that anyway because this is a Marvel superheroes film and because George RR Martin does not write for Marvel. Actually, I suspect the Marvel Corporate Ninja Team have been ordered to shoot on sight if he tries to enter Marvel HQ in case his very presence contaminates the writers. But yes. We knew Captain America would win, but I’m not sure we needed to see his moment of victory before we even entered the cinema. Actually, I wouldn’t have minded the bad guys not being SUPER EVIL NAZI BAD GUYS but just being the product of a secretive organisation which spent decades thinking it had the moral right to act without having to answer to anyone, which strikes me as a recipe for corruption, but I understand it’s a Marvel film and probably wasn’t going to go there.
I finally have a mild sense of getting slightly overwhelmed by the hugeness of the Marvel universe. I know new and fresh is good, but Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch coming in at the end gave me a vague sense of brain overload as I realised I needed to get my head round and attach to even MORE superheroes. Are the Avengers going to be fielding a football team soon? Will they overcome the bad guys by sheer weight of numbers? Or is someone for the chop? I’m not sure.
However, these are all just niggles. Currently, I would happily go back tonight and watch it all again, and I really didn’t want it to finish. I’m also, I’ve decided, looking forwards to Guardians of the Galaxy based on the trailer, and after that, it’s Avengers 2.
(I wish there was another Hulk film but I don’t think that Marvel are that keen on him as a lead character. This makes me sad. But Ant Man is also looking good)
What about you? What did you think?
Captain America!
Eeeeeee!
Now I’ve said that, let me get on with something resembling a review.
First of all, I have to be honest. I love Captain America. I don’t mind comics-Cap. I love, adore and worship Chris-Evans-As-Movie-Cap. He has everything I love about Superman (he’s a good, decent, straightforward, big damn hero), plus he’s not a god, he’s probably the weakest of the Avengers, but that doesn’t stop him trying and regularly punching above his weight. I love 1940s pulp (which the first film was) and I go slightly weak at the knees at the thought of Peggy Carter (who isn’t Captain America, but does show his excellent taste in women) so I went into this film as a bit of a squeeing fangirl which was both a good and a bad thing.
First of all, I think I loved the first film more. However, this is because I love 1940s pulp which this film categorically was never going to be able to be and it’s not really fair for me to judge Captain America 2 on this. For what it was, however, I liked this film very much indeed.
The film starts with Captain America, living in Washington D.C, working for S.H.I.E.L.D and going on missions, and fending off Black Widow’s attempts to set him up with young women. No sign of Hawkeye which made me sad. The rest of the Avengers, obviously, were busy - Tony Stark has blown up his suits and retired, Bruce Banner is probably in a jungle somewhere, Thor is saving the world in London (and wouldn’t be very good for stealth and retrieval missions anyway) but I really missed the dude with the bow and I wasn’t very sure why he didn’t show up in the film at all. He and Black Widow have history, the three of them have stood back to back before, why wouldn’t they call him when everything went to hell?
Anyway, the film continues with a satisfying amount of Nick Fury time. Nick suspects that there is an imbalance in the force and wants to investigate it. And he is apparently right, because almost as soon as he starts investigating it, some mysterious men in black come after him and his talking car (also, did anyone else notice this? There were a few moments where I was watching goth Knight Rider. And yes, Samuel, Nick Fury is totally a goth. Don’t do that scary Nick Fury glare at me. If he wasn’t, he’d be wearing a suit like every other high up S.H.I.E.L.D director type). Nick Fury decides that the only man he can trust is Steve Rogers and staggers to his apartment. Hi jinx ensues.
First of all, I do want to say that this film got a lot right. The characterisation was spot on, my slow thawing towards Black Widow seems to have continued and I actually kind of hoped that she and Captain America might be moving towards a _thing_ (although both Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson are really clear that this isn’t how they see the relationship) and I really liked The Falcon, and like him more the more I think. This film is, I think, the first Marvel film which doesn’t have a love interest in it. Peggy Carter is old and suffering from dementia, and Sharon Carter is a bit of a drive by. But that doesn’t matter, because this film isn’t really about romance. It’s about trust and it’s about friendship and it gets that absolutely right. The relationships that matter are all platonic - Steve Rogers’ old bond with Bucky Barnes, his established bond with Black Widow and his growing friendship with The Falcon.
I loved Nick Fury, I was glad to see Agent Hill turning up, and I thought Robert Redford was spot on at all times. I am glad that the film raised the issue of how S.H.I.E.L.D fits in a post-Snowden world and I was absolutely delighted at the fact that Marvel had the courage to say “yeah, we know the metaplot of our first arc has been S.H.I.E.L.D building up the Avengers. Well…BANG. No more S.H.I.E.L.D! Deal with that” and I’m very excited about where it’s all going next. I also adore Sebastian Stan and am very curious about speculation that as Chris Evans has only signed on for six Marvel films (he still has another two Avengers and a third Captain America to go) and Sebastian Stan has signed on for nine, we might be looking at the future Captain America. He certainly is clearly only being introduced and has a long way to go.
So that’s the good bits. Were there any bad bits?
Well, first of all, Agent 13/Sharon Carter. I know she’s just being introduced. I know she didn’t have much space to grow as a person, but I felt she was a bit bleurgh. She was another S.H.I.E.L.D agent, running around with a gun, doing stuff that Agent Hill or Black Widow do already (much more efficiently) and there was no very obvious sense of her as a person. I wasn’t interested in her, I’m not excited at the thought of seeing her in future films and she mostly made me yearn for Peggy Carter (who absolutely broke my heart by being old and out of it).
I also agree with Luke Slater’s review entirely where he comments that Marvel should maybe consider not having the end of the movie in the trailer. Once it became clear what the good guys’ plan was, we knew they were going to win. Well, we kind of knew that anyway because this is a Marvel superheroes film and because George RR Martin does not write for Marvel. Actually, I suspect the Marvel Corporate Ninja Team have been ordered to shoot on sight if he tries to enter Marvel HQ in case his very presence contaminates the writers. But yes. We knew Captain America would win, but I’m not sure we needed to see his moment of victory before we even entered the cinema. Actually, I wouldn’t have minded the bad guys not being SUPER EVIL NAZI BAD GUYS but just being the product of a secretive organisation which spent decades thinking it had the moral right to act without having to answer to anyone, which strikes me as a recipe for corruption, but I understand it’s a Marvel film and probably wasn’t going to go there.
I finally have a mild sense of getting slightly overwhelmed by the hugeness of the Marvel universe. I know new and fresh is good, but Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch coming in at the end gave me a vague sense of brain overload as I realised I needed to get my head round and attach to even MORE superheroes. Are the Avengers going to be fielding a football team soon? Will they overcome the bad guys by sheer weight of numbers? Or is someone for the chop? I’m not sure.
However, these are all just niggles. Currently, I would happily go back tonight and watch it all again, and I really didn’t want it to finish. I’m also, I’ve decided, looking forwards to Guardians of the Galaxy based on the trailer, and after that, it’s Avengers 2.
(I wish there was another Hulk film but I don’t think that Marvel are that keen on him as a lead character. This makes me sad. But Ant Man is also looking good)
What about you? What did you think?