Film Review: Captain America - The Winter Soldier

Patriotism is a difficult thing. There is nothing wrong in taking pride with your country, after all, but there’s a line between patriotism and blind ‘rah rah’ for everything your country does. Over the past century the U.S. has lived in a relatively glorious era in which it emerged the worlds most dominant superpower, but not without its flaws. Its citizens can take pride in its glories, as well as acknowledge its faults. Racism, gentrification, discrimination against the poor, all are topics we discuss and debate into the modern day. That does not mean we are any less proud. Name me a perfect person, and you’ll find none. The same is true of nations, because they are not made of perfect people.

I write all that to drive home one of the fundamental points of Captain America: Winter Soldier. Laced throughout its script is a character in Steve Rogers, former World War II hero turned superhero, that takes pride in what he fought for. He acknowledges the compromises he made in his own era, takes no great pride in them, but feels that those compromises were brief and meant to create a population of free people. The fundamental question of the film, then, is what is freedom?

It’s interesting because Steve, in World War II, fought against a domineering, power hungry organization in the Nazis and, more covertly, Hydra. In the modern era, Steve finds it hard to differentiate between good guys and bad guys, and how could he? Multiple parallels are drawn between Hydra and the military organization S.H.I.E.L.D., who he serves under the direction of Nick Fury, due to the organization’s own covert nature. It develops weapons and threatens military action before a threat can fully surface. As Steve wonderfully questions, how can it be freedom if its bought by placing a gun to every citizen’s head? The price of freedom is living in a world that will always be a little insecure. As Benjamin Franklin once stated, “They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” The topics the film addresses are especially pertinent in an era in which we’ve just uncovered the depths of the N.S.A.’s dragnet and the threat preventive military action can pose on our own citizenry, should we allow the government such incredibly invasive power.

I’ve always said the Captain America films have the potential to be the greatest of Marvel’s franchises, and I believe I can safely say Winter Soldier validated my expectations. It is second only to Iron Man and, perhaps, the Avengers. Yet Winter Soldier is a much more timely film in the materials it tackles. Beyond that, Rogers is incredibly relatable as a figure, a man of good character and conscience. Not a booze hound like Tony Stark, the movie finds ways to portray a good, average man trying to make his way in this world. The plight of a war veteran distanced from the world around him is so like the world many of our real life vets come home to, and that point is hammered home in the meetings Rogers visits, witnessing testimonies from those suffering from P.T.S.D. Meanwhile, his relationships to everyday people are full of hesitation, in defiance to this physically dominant character.

It’s a tribute to the writing, which is top notch. It’s filled with witty dialogue that’s right there with the original Iron Man and combined with an intriguing plotline. At times you’re not sure if you’re watching a superhero movie or a script written by Tom Clancy. The intrigue runs deep, and holds your attention until the final moments of the film. It is among the most sophisticated plotlines of all the Marvel films, and ambitious. I cannot give the writing and plot more praise.

It does falter in some respects. Rogers’ traumatic relationship to his lost friend Buckey suffers slightly, the emotional core lost to some degree, and thus the payoff as well. Still, it’s strong enough that in the end, Captain’s actions are so poignant, so meaningful, that I was wrapped up in his courage. The direction is well paced and the actions scenes incredibly done, requiring a deft hand to handle multiple agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. as they fight against overwhelming odds. Yet the direction and cinematography during normal scenes isn’t particularly inspired. 

On the other hand, it takes a completely different form of inspiration to properly handle all these incredible CGI set pieces alongside incredibly brutal hand to hand combat. Still, those lost elements add up, and even Captain’s flashbacks to old glory days aren’t handled with enough touch to sell the emotional element, and the film deserved better than that. It needed more time to develop its heart, and was so good I would have gladly sat through another half hour. Which is really the highest compliment, isn’t it?

In closing, I want to praise, again, the courage of the plot, which addresses real issues we’re dealing with in our country today. However I must also say that the dialogue between Captain, Black Widow and Falcon was just genius. The pacing between action and comedic bits, the banter on why Captain finds it hard to date (in between moments that he and Black Widow are beating the living daylights out of enemies), and Captain’s war veteran relationship to Falcon are truly nuggets of gold. Finally, and I don’t want to become a shipper, but Captain America and Black Widow need to be a couple. I wouldn’t have said such a thing before this film, but the chemistry and snappy dialogue between Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson was, quite simply, amazing. I want more of Captain America and Black Widow together. His stoic, clean guy image against her irreverent, slightly shady one brought marvelous results. I am already begging for a Captain America 3.