Captain America and The Winter Soldier ramblings
Finally got into the cinema to see Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and now I have Things that need to go down somewhere... don't expect any logical sequence though, there are no neat segues ahead just some headings.
Steve Rogers
First off, Steve Rogers is absolutely my favourite character in the MCU, though fairly unexpectedly on my part. Going in to Avengers Assemble, I'd only actually seen Iron Man and Thor (sacrilege, I know) and skimmed past articles about Captain America without much interest. Coming out of the Avengers film, I had a burning need to see The First Avenger as soon as possible, and immediately after that I had a one true character for the Marvel universe and I've spent the last few years basing my reading habits in that fandom entirely on how much Captain America was present. If Steve Rogers isn't fairly central to a fic, I'm not interested, but I will ship him with virtually anyone (long as it's consensual) because everything is better with added Steve.
Interestingly, the friend I went to CA:TWS with hadn't seen the first one, so we did the DVD first and her comment at the end was "he reminds me a lot of Carrot from the Discworld", which I can totally see and also means that some of my Steve Rogers thinking now comes attached to Terry Pratchett quotes, about simple not being stupid, and "personal isn't the same as important". Not that I think either Carrot or Steve are simple, but they share a view of people that isn't cynical, that expects people to be their best selves, and that makes other people underestimate them both. And they both look at duty first and their own wants second, making them fairly unusual characters because while there are plenty of heroic characters around, the heroism isn't usually framed in that kind of context. The bit in CA:TWS that really stands out as an example of this is the final confrontation between Steve and the Winter Soldier on the third helicarrier, because I was surprised by how that went down while I was watching but I didn't have time to realise why until afterwards. I think I was expecting a different sequence to the events, for Steve to have the big attempt to reach out to Bucky emotionally at the start and for their fight to be this charged confrontation that is all about the two of them before Steve stops the helicarrier, and that wasn't how it went. He makes one attempt before they start fighting ("don't make me do this", I think) but after that Steve is totally on mission, he's focused on getting the cards swapped and isn't fighting for anything else, and it is only after that's done that he puts his focus on Bucky and we get the emotional desperation coming through. Personal isn't the same as important; stopping HYDRA's plan is important, trying to get Bucky back is just personal. I really, really liked that.
I think the portrayal of Steve all through the film was spot on for me. I loved seeing him be so badass fighting on the ship at the beginning, and when he was busting out of SHIELD (particularly the jump out the elevator), but it is the quiet moments he gets that really work; working with Natasha, making friends with Sam, the way you can see him thinking while he's talking to Pierce. But it's the moments where it is so obvious that he is deeply sad that really get to me - the talk with Peggy, going to the Smithsonian, that fact that he doesn't know what makes him happy when Sam asks him - not least because he isn't letting it spew out everywhere, he's just trying to get on with things. I love that kind of understated, still waters running deep feeling. The epitome of such moments is of course when he realises who the Winter Soldier actually is, and it shuts Steve down, this cut right to the bone that stops him so dead he barely reacts to the SHIELD-HYDRA agents capturing him. No histrionics, no weeping and wailing, but all you need is the silence to see how badly it knocks him off his feet. And then he locks it down and gets back up again to do what is necessary. Because he's Steve, and that is what he does.
Natasha Romanova
FFS, Marvel, give this character her own film!
Okay, that said, I would actually be happy if they kept on making her Steve's partner alongside Sam too, because I love their relationship. I think it is really interesting that Natasha seems quite so invested in how Steve thinks of her - her face falls when he walks off after the little scene between them on the ship when he's disapproved of her actions, and it seems important to her later that he trusts her even though she's made it clear trust isn't something she gives away herself. It makes for an interesting mix because in other ways she's acting like a mentor, trying to set him up (which I love that she keeps doing that in the middle of missions and after she's pushed Sitwell off the roof) and teaching him spy tricks. I like that it completely feels platonic as well, even though in fic I love them as a couple. (Also, Steve's reaction of "yeah, it does!" to her telling him a public display of affection makes people uncomfortable really made me smile.)
It was cool to see how much of a connection Natasha has with Nick Fury too. I was not expecting her to be so emotional over his "death", and I love that it seems to rock her later that he is alive and she wasn't kept in that loop. I think it was unexpected mostly because fanfic has been pushing Coulson as being the big personal link within SHIELD for Natasha and Clint, but I think it was a very smart way of humanising both Natasha and Fury in this film, because we see her grieve and then carry on with the task he left behind with the USB and it gives a different spin to his character to have him matter so much to her.
General stuff
So the only things I wasn't keen on with the film were I think the balance tipped slightly too far towards action scenes with things exploding at the end, and that virtual Zola did the big exposition dump in the middle. That seemed a little clumsy. But the other things I really liked that weren't Steve or Natasha:
I completely adore Sam Wilson. I loved his reaction to Steve lapping him, and that he immediately is someone who gets Steve and tries to help him even before Steve and Natasha turn up at his door with everybody trying to kill them And I was so, so pleased that it was all genuine and he wasn't planted by SHIELD to make friends with Steve. I loved it too that he says himself he does what Steve does only slower, because it was so true - it's all over the way he just jumps on board to help them without apparently thinking twice about it. Plus those wings are totally awesome.
Nick Fury being awesome in that car was fabulous, as was Maria Hill turning up in the van to rescue Steve, Natasha and Sam. Competence is definitely sexy.
The awful moment when the Winter Soldier is desolate and confused trying to remember Steve and saying "but I knew him", and then just puts in his mouthguard and lets them take it all away again because he has so little free will it can't even occur to him to act in a different way. That was deeply disturbing, and made me so sad.
I really liked the full circle from Bucky falling from the train to Steve falling from the helicarrier, and the overlap with the other circle from Steve choosing to go down with the plane to choosing to not fight Bucky and go down, because this time someone gets to be saved. Or two someones, since saving Steve is the first deliberate step away from the Winter Soldier and back towards being Bucky, a person and not an asset.
I also liked the plot about SHIELD being corrupted from within by HYDRA right from the start. I really did not see that coming at all. I was impressed that they actually went the route of taking the whole thing down as well, considering they've been apparently building SHIELD up as a cornerstone of the MCU all this time. But to have Steve say, no, this isn't about weeding out a few traitors, it's too deeply interwoven and too late to change, and have Fury and the others go with it was such a intriguing way of changing the game. I liked a lot as well that first Steve let all of the Triskelion personnel know what was happening so that it became a choice for everyone there, one that they had to make for themselves with full knowledge instead of being led down a path; and that second Natasha and Fury let the rest of the world know too by blowing everything onto the internet. Obviously this whole plot ties in to a lot of ideological arguments about freedom vs. security, oversight and whistleblowing in the real world, but just on a Watsonian level I think removing all the secrecy in that way was also a tactical decision as much as an ideological one for the characters. At that point there are 5 people who know what is going on that aren't also HYDRA, and if something goes wrong - if they all die, or get captured - nobody else is going to find out. I think putting it all out in the world is the back-up plan, the fastest way to get the information out in a way that can't be undone or denied if everything goes FUBAR.
And… I may actually have run out of things to say!
Tl;dr: the film is awesome, Natasha and Sam are awesome, Steve is love.
Steve Rogers
First off, Steve Rogers is absolutely my favourite character in the MCU, though fairly unexpectedly on my part. Going in to Avengers Assemble, I'd only actually seen Iron Man and Thor (sacrilege, I know) and skimmed past articles about Captain America without much interest. Coming out of the Avengers film, I had a burning need to see The First Avenger as soon as possible, and immediately after that I had a one true character for the Marvel universe and I've spent the last few years basing my reading habits in that fandom entirely on how much Captain America was present. If Steve Rogers isn't fairly central to a fic, I'm not interested, but I will ship him with virtually anyone (long as it's consensual) because everything is better with added Steve.
Interestingly, the friend I went to CA:TWS with hadn't seen the first one, so we did the DVD first and her comment at the end was "he reminds me a lot of Carrot from the Discworld", which I can totally see and also means that some of my Steve Rogers thinking now comes attached to Terry Pratchett quotes, about simple not being stupid, and "personal isn't the same as important". Not that I think either Carrot or Steve are simple, but they share a view of people that isn't cynical, that expects people to be their best selves, and that makes other people underestimate them both. And they both look at duty first and their own wants second, making them fairly unusual characters because while there are plenty of heroic characters around, the heroism isn't usually framed in that kind of context. The bit in CA:TWS that really stands out as an example of this is the final confrontation between Steve and the Winter Soldier on the third helicarrier, because I was surprised by how that went down while I was watching but I didn't have time to realise why until afterwards. I think I was expecting a different sequence to the events, for Steve to have the big attempt to reach out to Bucky emotionally at the start and for their fight to be this charged confrontation that is all about the two of them before Steve stops the helicarrier, and that wasn't how it went. He makes one attempt before they start fighting ("don't make me do this", I think) but after that Steve is totally on mission, he's focused on getting the cards swapped and isn't fighting for anything else, and it is only after that's done that he puts his focus on Bucky and we get the emotional desperation coming through. Personal isn't the same as important; stopping HYDRA's plan is important, trying to get Bucky back is just personal. I really, really liked that.
I think the portrayal of Steve all through the film was spot on for me. I loved seeing him be so badass fighting on the ship at the beginning, and when he was busting out of SHIELD (particularly the jump out the elevator), but it is the quiet moments he gets that really work; working with Natasha, making friends with Sam, the way you can see him thinking while he's talking to Pierce. But it's the moments where it is so obvious that he is deeply sad that really get to me - the talk with Peggy, going to the Smithsonian, that fact that he doesn't know what makes him happy when Sam asks him - not least because he isn't letting it spew out everywhere, he's just trying to get on with things. I love that kind of understated, still waters running deep feeling. The epitome of such moments is of course when he realises who the Winter Soldier actually is, and it shuts Steve down, this cut right to the bone that stops him so dead he barely reacts to the SHIELD-HYDRA agents capturing him. No histrionics, no weeping and wailing, but all you need is the silence to see how badly it knocks him off his feet. And then he locks it down and gets back up again to do what is necessary. Because he's Steve, and that is what he does.
Natasha Romanova
FFS, Marvel, give this character her own film!
Okay, that said, I would actually be happy if they kept on making her Steve's partner alongside Sam too, because I love their relationship. I think it is really interesting that Natasha seems quite so invested in how Steve thinks of her - her face falls when he walks off after the little scene between them on the ship when he's disapproved of her actions, and it seems important to her later that he trusts her even though she's made it clear trust isn't something she gives away herself. It makes for an interesting mix because in other ways she's acting like a mentor, trying to set him up (which I love that she keeps doing that in the middle of missions and after she's pushed Sitwell off the roof) and teaching him spy tricks. I like that it completely feels platonic as well, even though in fic I love them as a couple. (Also, Steve's reaction of "yeah, it does!" to her telling him a public display of affection makes people uncomfortable really made me smile.)
It was cool to see how much of a connection Natasha has with Nick Fury too. I was not expecting her to be so emotional over his "death", and I love that it seems to rock her later that he is alive and she wasn't kept in that loop. I think it was unexpected mostly because fanfic has been pushing Coulson as being the big personal link within SHIELD for Natasha and Clint, but I think it was a very smart way of humanising both Natasha and Fury in this film, because we see her grieve and then carry on with the task he left behind with the USB and it gives a different spin to his character to have him matter so much to her.
General stuff
So the only things I wasn't keen on with the film were I think the balance tipped slightly too far towards action scenes with things exploding at the end, and that virtual Zola did the big exposition dump in the middle. That seemed a little clumsy. But the other things I really liked that weren't Steve or Natasha:
I completely adore Sam Wilson. I loved his reaction to Steve lapping him, and that he immediately is someone who gets Steve and tries to help him even before Steve and Natasha turn up at his door with everybody trying to kill them And I was so, so pleased that it was all genuine and he wasn't planted by SHIELD to make friends with Steve. I loved it too that he says himself he does what Steve does only slower, because it was so true - it's all over the way he just jumps on board to help them without apparently thinking twice about it. Plus those wings are totally awesome.
Nick Fury being awesome in that car was fabulous, as was Maria Hill turning up in the van to rescue Steve, Natasha and Sam. Competence is definitely sexy.
The awful moment when the Winter Soldier is desolate and confused trying to remember Steve and saying "but I knew him", and then just puts in his mouthguard and lets them take it all away again because he has so little free will it can't even occur to him to act in a different way. That was deeply disturbing, and made me so sad.
I really liked the full circle from Bucky falling from the train to Steve falling from the helicarrier, and the overlap with the other circle from Steve choosing to go down with the plane to choosing to not fight Bucky and go down, because this time someone gets to be saved. Or two someones, since saving Steve is the first deliberate step away from the Winter Soldier and back towards being Bucky, a person and not an asset.
I also liked the plot about SHIELD being corrupted from within by HYDRA right from the start. I really did not see that coming at all. I was impressed that they actually went the route of taking the whole thing down as well, considering they've been apparently building SHIELD up as a cornerstone of the MCU all this time. But to have Steve say, no, this isn't about weeding out a few traitors, it's too deeply interwoven and too late to change, and have Fury and the others go with it was such a intriguing way of changing the game. I liked a lot as well that first Steve let all of the Triskelion personnel know what was happening so that it became a choice for everyone there, one that they had to make for themselves with full knowledge instead of being led down a path; and that second Natasha and Fury let the rest of the world know too by blowing everything onto the internet. Obviously this whole plot ties in to a lot of ideological arguments about freedom vs. security, oversight and whistleblowing in the real world, but just on a Watsonian level I think removing all the secrecy in that way was also a tactical decision as much as an ideological one for the characters. At that point there are 5 people who know what is going on that aren't also HYDRA, and if something goes wrong - if they all die, or get captured - nobody else is going to find out. I think putting it all out in the world is the back-up plan, the fastest way to get the information out in a way that can't be undone or denied if everything goes FUBAR.
And… I may actually have run out of things to say!
Tl;dr: the film is awesome, Natasha and Sam are awesome, Steve is love.