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I was so excited about this movie that I went to watch it opening weekend. However, general conclusion was: "meh." I really liked the first Captain America movie, at least up to the Red Skull part. I liked that despite becoming physically altered to be the super soldier, he ended up being manipulated by senators, scientists and generals instead of fighting in the front lines, and that Rogers' idealism was out of place even in the 1940s.
I also liked him in the Avengers movie, especially his dynamic with Stark, and how both had enough distrust in SHIELD to do their own investigations. I also love it when the Captain shows his leadership abilities. Plus the deleted scene of Captain just feeling lost and displaced in our world: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oulqXofUTms
So I felt like Winter Soldier had a promising start: great intro to Cap and Sam on their morning run, followed by a mission that showed both Cap's physical and leadership abilities as well as SHIELD sketchiness, followed by the statement of the theme: people's fear of chaos driving them to give up their freedom, who watches the watchmen stuff. Then there's the excellent Cap going to his own Smithsonian exhibit and seeing the continued mythologizing of his life for be dubious purpose of patriotism, the visit to the VA and seeing the parallels of the current veterans returning from war, and then the excellent action sequence with Nick Fury in a car.
And then it starts to go downhill. I felt like the plot was way too convoluted to really allow for the characters to breathe and have human moments. The plot didn't even sufficiently explore the primary themes. They could have easily made space by simplifying the plot -- why do you need to put the chips on all 3 airplanes? Why do you have to go back to original SHIELD headquarters? Maybe you can cut out 3 of the 10 fight scenes? (Especially since they were all too shaky-cam?)
Things I wish was better explored in the movie:
- Having Cap and Winter Soldier's final confrontation be more emotional rather than physical. Maybe allowing Winter Soldier to be more human, allowing him to deal with the same sense of man displaced out of time that Rogers feels, along with the whole "holy shit I've been used against my will." But I guess that'll be in a later movie???
- The theme of national security vs. personal freedom/privacy by allowing "the people" and "SHIELD agents" to have a larger role. How are the citizens of DC reacting to all the massive SHIELD vs. Cap shootups? How do they reconcile that with the image of Cap that has been sold to them in the Smithsonian? What about the war veterans and the normal police? Who are the SHIELD bigwigs, what role do they play in their own countries, and how do THEIR governments feel about these issues? There is no reason for SHIELD to be so overwhelmingly powerful (and outside federal jurisdiction) one moment, and then utterly incompetent in stopping the bad guys the next moment.
- They kept talking about these idealized "old days" of the Greatest Generation, when in fact Cap lived through that, and he personally knows that it wasn't actually that great or idealized. Maybe some acknowledgement of that might be nice? "Oh hey I'm glad we don't call all black men 'boy' anymore." "Does France still rule Algeria?" "Are those Japanese internment camps still active?" "They were really against the Howling Commandos because they didn't think the army could be integrated." WWII had a lot of people reacting out of fear of the unknown scary Nazis/Fascists/Japanese ultranationalists, and not just "for Democracy" or whatever.
That said, the second half of the movie wasn't terrible. There was some nice banter with Natasha, and Falcon had some nice flying moments. I just wish there were MORE.
Also, I think the Cap really should put "Cold War" on that list of his.
I also liked him in the Avengers movie, especially his dynamic with Stark, and how both had enough distrust in SHIELD to do their own investigations. I also love it when the Captain shows his leadership abilities. Plus the deleted scene of Captain just feeling lost and displaced in our world: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oulqXofUTms
So I felt like Winter Soldier had a promising start: great intro to Cap and Sam on their morning run, followed by a mission that showed both Cap's physical and leadership abilities as well as SHIELD sketchiness, followed by the statement of the theme: people's fear of chaos driving them to give up their freedom, who watches the watchmen stuff. Then there's the excellent Cap going to his own Smithsonian exhibit and seeing the continued mythologizing of his life for be dubious purpose of patriotism, the visit to the VA and seeing the parallels of the current veterans returning from war, and then the excellent action sequence with Nick Fury in a car.
And then it starts to go downhill. I felt like the plot was way too convoluted to really allow for the characters to breathe and have human moments. The plot didn't even sufficiently explore the primary themes. They could have easily made space by simplifying the plot -- why do you need to put the chips on all 3 airplanes? Why do you have to go back to original SHIELD headquarters? Maybe you can cut out 3 of the 10 fight scenes? (Especially since they were all too shaky-cam?)
Things I wish was better explored in the movie:
- Having Cap and Winter Soldier's final confrontation be more emotional rather than physical. Maybe allowing Winter Soldier to be more human, allowing him to deal with the same sense of man displaced out of time that Rogers feels, along with the whole "holy shit I've been used against my will." But I guess that'll be in a later movie???
- The theme of national security vs. personal freedom/privacy by allowing "the people" and "SHIELD agents" to have a larger role. How are the citizens of DC reacting to all the massive SHIELD vs. Cap shootups? How do they reconcile that with the image of Cap that has been sold to them in the Smithsonian? What about the war veterans and the normal police? Who are the SHIELD bigwigs, what role do they play in their own countries, and how do THEIR governments feel about these issues? There is no reason for SHIELD to be so overwhelmingly powerful (and outside federal jurisdiction) one moment, and then utterly incompetent in stopping the bad guys the next moment.
- They kept talking about these idealized "old days" of the Greatest Generation, when in fact Cap lived through that, and he personally knows that it wasn't actually that great or idealized. Maybe some acknowledgement of that might be nice? "Oh hey I'm glad we don't call all black men 'boy' anymore." "Does France still rule Algeria?" "Are those Japanese internment camps still active?" "They were really against the Howling Commandos because they didn't think the army could be integrated." WWII had a lot of people reacting out of fear of the unknown scary Nazis/Fascists/Japanese ultranationalists, and not just "for Democracy" or whatever.
That said, the second half of the movie wasn't terrible. There was some nice banter with Natasha, and Falcon had some nice flying moments. I just wish there were MORE.
Also, I think the Cap really should put "Cold War" on that list of his.
