Captain America: The Winter Solider Movie Review

When the original Captain America hurled an armor-plated shield across the screen in 2011 it boasted an interesting World War Two setting. The sequel now moves into the present day in what is undeniably one of Marvel’s best efforts into the superhero genre.

The plot of ‘’The Winter Solider’’ is a sequel to both the original Captain America film from 2011 as well as 2012’s The Avengers and focuses on the exploits of S.H.I.E.L.D. The Captain (Chris Evans) is attempting to adjust to modern life when he, along with his allies Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and newcomer Falcon (Anthony Mackie) come under attack from a man known as The Winter Soldier. They soon realize that treachery is afoot in S.H.I.E.L.D itself and set out to put a stop to their deadly plans. TWS unfolds mainly from the perspective of the heroes across Washington and beyond, with a few cuts for the villains placed in-between. It’s typical superhero fare but it also employs solid action, conspiracy that possesses a few nods to the political, heart, and intriguing espionage in a well-balanced measure, weaving them all together into a highly unpredictable narrative that not only sets itself apart from the original but also manages to follow up previous films brilliantly in the process. There’s plenty of action here, but ‘’The Winter Solider’’ doesn’t forget the more quiet and subdued moments, resulting in a film which is not only varied but well-paced as well.

Like many sequels The Winter Solider brings in new characters whilst continuing the threads of old ones. Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson are again great as Captain America and Black Widow, delivering in both emotion and the action sequences. Evans in particular is akin to the older Superman movies in the way he wanders and calmly reflects on his own from time to time. The Winter Solider is a bit lacking though; he certainly looks threatening enough and is more than a match for the Cap but given the twist that comes around halfway through the film I wished he would have interacted more with the characters to give more impact to his presence. Likewise Falcon is a likeable character who contributes a fair slice to the plot but if we’re going to see him in Avengers 2 next year, a little more screen time would have really benefitted his character leading up to that film. Samuel L. Jackson gets much more to do this time around, including an incredibly tense car chase in-between his attempts to keep S.H.E.I.L.D in line throughout the film. The movie also goes into greater detail on the board members seen in The Avengers, giving some interesting insight into the conspiracy filled undertones of the film. All told, the cast of ‘’The Winter Solider’’ pulls together quite nicely, which (fingers crossed!) should lead into the upcoming Avengers 2 quite well come next year.

Cap’s 2011 debut benefitted from some brilliant editing through all of its action scenes and The Winter Solider does manage to keep this standard three years on. The fight choreography is again stellar with the Captain and Black Widow trading blows with many a foe throughout the movie although the editing seems to stepped back slightly from the previous film. When the action heats up, it brings a fair bit of shaky-cam which does obscure things a little during the more extravagant moments. With that said TWS has easily the best action scenes since ‘’The Avengers’’; car chases, hand-to-hand-combat and an enormous aerial battle all have a place in the movie, which will no doubt thrill action fans from beginning to end. The music carries over the main theme while also replacing the World War Two themes with common tracks suited to a modern film; a fitting change given the near seventy year gap between TWS and its predecessor.

With its intriguing plot and extravagant action, ‘’Captain America: The Winter Solider’’ is another great effort in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This is a sequel that really does go above and beyond the first in every way that matters in addition to proving that Marvel is still the best when it comes to superhero movies.

Rating: 4/5 Stars