Winter Soldier Advances Avenger Intrigue

With The Amazing Spiderman 2 and X-Men: Days of Future Past coming out next month, the superhero market is flooded. Captain America: The Winter Soldier, however, manages to stand out, featuring fascinating characters that go beyond the stereotypical heroes and villains to create a compelling film.

Winter Soldier follows the life of Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), two years after the ending of the first film in Captain America franchise. Captain America is working for the law enforcement agency SHIELD,  with the Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and agency Director Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson). The movie starts with the Black Widow and Captain America being sent to rescue hostages, but it soon become clear that the mission is also about gathering information. He meets up with Black Widow and together, they unravel the secrets of Nick Fury and SHIELD.

One of the most compelling aspects of the film is the antagonist, The Winter Soldier, who is interesting enough to please both hardcore fans and casual viewers. The Winter Soldier does not want to take over the world, like most stereotypical movie villains.

I liked that the villain remained mysterious, giving viewers only snippets of information about his background. The villain remained intriguing for the duration of the story.

I also enjoyed the action sequences. There is great hand-to-hand combat choreography. Combined this with smooth shots and transitions, the results are compelling fighting scenes that keep the viewers engaged.

The film does have its problems.  The plot is a double edged sword, the movie gives more importance to the Avengers story than to the development of Captain America character. Furthermore, the story was challenging to follow and I often found myself confused and trying to recall details from previous scenes.  Cohesive story telling is dumped in favor of a quick pace.

Because Winter Soldier is a sequel, all of the Hero’s self discovery and training are out of the way. This gives the film much more importance for fans like me as it continues on the stories of both Captain America and The Avengers.

Winter Soldier is not fantastic, but it is a solid super hero movie. It improves upon the past Captain America film and sets the stage for greater films to come.