Captain America The Winter Soldier Film Review

Rating: 9/10 (9 April 2014)

Captain America The Winter Soldier is a thrilling throwback to 1970s spy thrillers and an excellent action adventure. Sprinkled with humour it does what every good sequel should do, surpass the first in every way possible. Twists and turns are aplenty and the 2 hour and 16 minute runtime moves at a swift pace and the viewer is never bored as there is such variety.
The film deals with the titular hero Captain America aka; Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), attempt at adapting to modern times. This notion was severely lacking in The Avengers and cut to help with the pacing of the movie. An emotional scene that was supposed to be in The Avengers, was when Steve Rogers met Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), after not seeing her for years. It evoked a sense of sadness as she was the last link to his past. Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) 'Falcon' is introduced and becomes Captain America's sidekick in the vein of Batman's, Robin. Captain America's mistrust of both Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and the organization Shield in general are another big focus in the movie.
The film does an excellent job at fleshing out the characters, particularly Steve Rogers, Black Widow and Nick Fury, and in doing so makes the viewer care about them in ways not seen before in any of the previous films. This is especially the case with the Black Widow, who we see more of and Nick Fury who tells about his grandfather who operated a elevator. The main villain of the movie alluded to in the movie title is The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), who is one of the best villains in a Marvel movie, so much so that he could become a fan favourite, like Loki. The Winter Soldier is menacing, intimidating and an unstoppable force. He has an air about him similar to the Terminator and the fact that he can go toe to toe with Captain America and be a major threat to him throughout the whole movie, is something special compared to other villains in movies, who are all talk but can't back it up.
The fight choreography and action sequences were some of, if not the best, I've seen to date. The first battle between Captain America and The Winter Soldier on the highway is a clear highlight of the movie. The Winter Soldier gives Captain America a run for his money and was able to take on Captain America, Black Widow and Falcon at the same time without breaking a sweat. The same could be said for the CGI and effects which were stunning.
There was not much hype for Captain American - The Winter Soldier, yet ironically it is the best Marvel Studios film released, far surpassing The Avengers, which will surprise people who haven't seen this film. I highly recommend this movie. Although you can watch it without seeing the first Captain America – The First Avenger, or The Avengers for full appreciation of the series I recommend that you view these first as you will get so much more out of the movie. Make sure to stay until the end of the movie, as there are two post credit scenes, one of which helps lead into The Avengers 2.