The latest movie in the Marvel movie canon, 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier', may in fact be the best of the franchise since 'The Avengers'. It's that good, to my surprise. The last Marvel film, 'Thor: The Dark World', was pretty underwhelming and generic (I'd rate it at 2.5/4). So given the fact that I felt pretty much the same way about the first Captain America movie, I had little enthusiasm for this new one. Thankfully, I was treated with a brand new dose of character and story, topped off with plenty of action and excitement to be left satisfied.
This takes place what seems to be a year or two after the events in 'Avengers', and Steve Rogers (Captain America), played by Chris Evans, is still trying to readjust to this new modern world after being frozen for several decades. A couple of familiar faces are there to help him through everything though. Black Widow is back (Scarlett Johansson), along with Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson). Every day is just another day at the office for them, taking down pirates on cargo ships, protecting civilians and the likes, all that good stuff. But all that changes when SHIELD, the government operation the team works for, is compromised. What Captain America believed he was supporting has now turned against him.
One of the more surprising things about this movie is the villainous role which is played by none other than Robert Redford. I say it's surprising for merely two reasons. One: Being a firm advocate for independent cinema (he runs the Sundance Film Festival), this is probably Redford's biggest movie he's ever been a part of, on a big Hollywood blockbuster level. Two: I can't really remember the last time Robert Redford hasn't been the protagonist in a film. Now all of a sudden, he's the one pointing the gun in the direction of our hero, so to speak. Now I'm not saying this to talk down upon Redford, because I'm not. I'm very fond of Redford as both an actor and filmmaker, and I enjoyed seeing him in a role like this. I at least have never seen this side of him before. And he seemed to really enjoy doing it.
The action in the movie didn't feel too overwhelming, and it looked as though a lot of it was actually shot on location, instead of being digitally created in a computer as most action films these days. Because of that, it felt kind of like an action movie from the 1980s to the mid '90s. That was the time of the best action movies, in my personal opinion.
'Captain America: The Winter Soldier' is a fun, exciting and, even at times, smart action flick, and treats it's intended audience properly.
My rating: 3.5 / 4
