Double Ice Backfire

Rating: 8/10 (3 January 2019)

The winter break gave me an opportunity to rewatch a film that, in retrospect, was probably the first film in the MCU to really nail the tone, approach and quality that the series has maintained since. I'm not decrying the earlier films, or suggesting that all the films have maintained this level since but here is where there Russo brothers announced themselves to the series and Markus and McFeely found the right beats that would serve them into the Civil and Infinity Wars.
With both World War 2 and the Battle of New York behind him, Steve Rogers struggles to catch up with the years lost in the frozen ice. He soon learns that far from diminishing over the years, the threats to sovereignty have become both more insidious and ideological. When a legendary ghost agent, nicknamed "The Winter's Soldier" attacks Nick Fury, it sets into motion a chain of events that turn S.H.I.E.L.D against Rogers and lead him, and a small band of allies, to a desperate battle to save both millions of lives and the soul of the country.
"Winter's Soldier" is, for me, the first time that Marvel realised that they could make other genres of films, utilising their characters (and exaggerating the fight scenes) and move away from the standard superhero plots. The film is a spy thriller, with Steve Rogers, shorn of the advantages that being a SHIELD agent provided him, but forced to stand up to them anyway. Tonally, it's about perfect. A grave threat and a personal issue, assuaged against smart funny scenes of character interaction. It does pull through some of the story threads from "Avengers Assemble" to, with Roger's mistrust of Nick Fury's preventative measures tactics again becoming a friction point between the two of them. The film allows for both Sam Jackson's Nick Fury and Scarlett Johansen's Black Widow to show more of the range of their characters, some cracks in their demeanours.
Cinematography and direction are great, many of the effects done practically and some of the shots, like the initial rescue assault on a SHIELD research ship, are staggering. It's not perfect though. The stories two big reveals, of the identity of The Winters Soldier and the loyalties of some of the characters is fairly predictable. It sags a little once the opening is done and the fact that the villains constantly underestimate the heroes, despite working alongside them for a while doesn't really make sense.
All in all though, this film is a big step into where the MCU stands now and still is one of the best in the series as I write the review.