Man, blown away.
First off, Winter Soldier was everything I could ask for. Menacing as ****, sick with the danger, and an absolute bad ***. My lone, small complaint, was lack of dialogue. He was more Boba Fett than Vader, so to speak. Where Joker and Bane lived off their actions AND dialogue, TWS didn’t have that. He had the look, he had the action, but he didn’t deliver the powerful lines that take a movie from greatness, to iconic.
Evans as Cap tho, really blossomed. He fits, and he did his job perfectly in this one. At his core, he keeps the Cap “values” in focus. Truth, freedom, protect the innocent, right-wrong, etc. Any movie of this nature is going to hinge on the bad guy being a real enough threat but Evans managed to hold his own and balance what we as viewers really want, the good guy to pull it off in the end, etc.
Black Widow is doin work.
I did not expect Scarlett’s role to expand this much, but I am glad it did. She is doing a great job, and I absolutely support a Black Widow stand alone. She fits, she really does. The scene with the drive missing from the vending machine and she walks up chewing bubble gum had me cackling for a good while.
The humor overall was much more subtle than Thor 2 was, and much more clever, imo. That scene, and her constantly mentioning dates was a great balance.
Nick Fury gettin loose was a nice touch as well. Being the 9th film is giving them the chance to start exploring these roles, and Samuel was certainly up for this one.
The foreshadow with Winter Soldier holding the shield.
Agent Cobie and agent 13, perfect blending and balance to all the testosterone.
Crossbones was pretty bad *** as well, and looked like a good fit in the universe. Look forward to him comin back soon. Zola was sort of a cool way to bring back the old Hydra stuff, I was really intrigued by that. Speaking of, really enjoyed the go back to the pre Cap days with Bucky and skinny Evans. I liked that blend quite well. Seeing the anguish Cap had when he realized who Winter Soldier was was a nice touch, and of course having Soldier get Cap out of the river was an excellent way to show Bucky is still in there. I liked that he drug him out, but then left him there. Perfect. Doc Ock always bothered me how he went from meaning well scientist, to out of control monster, to let me save the day Ock all in 2 hours. Let Soldier do a solid, but not just cave all the way in and become some nice guy all of a sudden. He paid the respect for Cap not crushing him when he was pinned, but he didn’t just swing back right away. I loved that give and take between the two. Cap was willing to die to show his “friend” he wouldn’t fight, and the bad guy had the respect to save someone that didn’t just kill him when he was at his weakest.
Robert Redford was solid, and I agree 100 million percent with RFX, if he would have ripped his face off to reveal Red Skull, I would have passed the hell out.
The action in this film upped everything outside of Avengers. Thor 2 upped the ante, and Cap has now called and raised. Loved Black Falcon flying around, the helicarriers, the gun/knife fight in the streets, the Fury car chase, the elevator, the opening ship sequence, all of it. So well done, and the perfect follow up after the 1945 era style they went for. Really really hit home.
Loved the photos of Tommy Lee Jones, and the cast from Cap 1, solid way to blend the two together.
The Twins scene after credits.
So, so, so ready.
I need a little time, but I expect to slot this as thee best Marvel film after maybe the Avengers. I still appreciate the effort of having the whole group on screen, and the epicness of that film to leave at 1 for now, but Winter Soldier is more than likely the better film overall. After some time, and another viewing, I might just bump it to the top of the list. It’s certainly up there. This film does not have a lot of holes.
*(one small complaint, one call to the Hulk, and those helicarriers never get in the air, I think that’s kind of worth a mention, but again, standalones are standalones for a reason
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