Captain America: The Winter Soldier

WARNING: I tried my very best to leave out any spoilers. Anything perceived to be a spoiler can be seen in one of the trailers.

Sorry DC diehards, but I am a Marvel fanatic and they are making great headway in Phase Two. Iron Man 3 was a hit, as was Thor: The Dark World, and now the highly anticipated Captain America: The Winter Soldier has finally been released. Picking up two years after the events of The Avengers, Steve Rogers (Captain America) and Natasha Romanoff (Black Widow) aid other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in taking care of a hostage situation. When Rogers discovers the Natasha was given her own special mission that compromised his mission as well as plenty of innocent lives, his suspicions and annoyance with Director Fury rises to a new high. When Rogers confronts the Director about this, Fury finally lets the Captain in on his big secret. Named Project Insight, the basic idea is three beefed-up Helicarriers are linked to satellites which are designed to eliminate threats before they ever happen. I have had a great level of dislike for Fury since he first made his cameo appearance in Iron Man, but this movie surprisingly made me have a change of heart. While I believe Rogers has every right to be apprehensive of Fury, everything is not as it seems. We see even in the previews that the Director is attacked, and this is where we get our first glimpse of The Winter Soldier, and it is a terrifying one. After this attack, Fury goes to Rogers and tells him that S.H.I.E.L.D has been compromised. If you have been living under a rock for the past few months and don’t know the soldier’s true identity, I won’t spoil it for you. When Natasha and Rogers talk about this mysterious mercenary, more about the master assassin’s past is revealed and you see true fear in her eyes. Alexander Pierce, a senior S.H.I.E.L.D. official, questions Rogers about Fury, but when Rogers refuses to give away any information, Pierce deems the Captain a fugitive. With all of S.H.I.E.L.D. now after them, Rogers and Natasha take the data that Natasha got from her “special mission” to a familiar place in New Jersey. It is here that they learn just how compromised S.H.I.E.L.D. is. With the help of new ally named Falcon, they must stop an organization thought to be destroyed from killing literally millions of people.
As a whole, I greatly enjoyed the movie. I never took Captain America very seriously because without his vibranium shield, he doesn’t do much. This movie completely changed that. In the first fight scene Rogers is taunted into fighting without his shield and I was completely blown away. The stunts crew did an absolutely fantastic job with all of the hand-to-hand combat scenes. That alone has moved Captain America up to my second favorite Avenger. Excuse my language, but he is seriously badass in this movie. Gone are his sweet, old fashioned, all-American antics – the Captain means business this time. He sets the tone for the entire movie as The Winter Soldier is much darker than The First Avenger. That much is blatantly apparent throughout the entire film, even in things as small as Captain using his shield as more of an offensive weapon instead of just defensive. The darker tones benefitted the movie, as well as the significantly minimal use of CGI. It made everything seem more real and easier to connect to. One problem that I have, however, is the hypocrisy. Even though they’re trying to save millions of lives, they completely destroy everything in their paths. Plenty of people are still dying, but it seems it only matters when millions of lives are at stake, not hundreds. And there is the mystery surrounding the Winter Soldier. There are plenty of questions to be asked regarding that situation, but none of them are addressed. However, with the way the movie ends, those questions could potentially be answered in the next Captain America film, which has been confirmed. It has also been confirmed that the Captain will appear in Avengers: Age of Ultron, set to be released in 2015. Overall, I give Captain America: The Winter Soldier a solid 8/10.

WARNING: MID/POST CREDITS SCENE SPOILERS
As is with all Marvel films, there is both a mid-credits and post-credits scene. In the mid-credits scene, we see Baron von Strucker with a very special weapon, which I will not give away. Fans of the comic books will know exactly who this is, while movie-goers will probably have to research him later. Two very special people are also shown in captivity. One has superhuman speed, and the other has telekinetic powers. These two are going to be very important in Age of Ultron, as they are none other than Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. Again, plain movie-goers will more than likely have no idea who these two are, or their significance, but Marvel diehards are going to be pretty excited about their appearance. It has already been stated what their importance in the Avengers sequel will be, so this isn’t that big of a spoiler. The weapon that Struker has, though, has me wondering just what they plan on doing with it. I am very disappointed with the post-credits scene. It was entirely too predictable, and I wasn’t too sure whether to be happy or concerned about it, but I’ll let you watch that and decide for yourself whether or not you like it. The remainder of Phase Two of the Marvel Universe includes Guardians of the Galaxy, set to release August 1 this year and ending with Avengers: Age of Ultron set to release May 1, 2015.