Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

Release Date: March 26, 2014

Captain America: The Winter Soldier is the biggest game-changer yet for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with major ramifications for the future. Does the film itself hold up in its own right?

I forgot to put a buffer picture on the last review, so here is footage of me having my head bashed against thin air as punishment for the oversight.

While on a mission to rescue SHIELD hostages from pirates, Captain America finds Black Widow hacking the computer systems on the ship instead of helping out, and his trust in Nick Fury is put in question when the information was for Project Insight, a system of satellites and helicarriers with the purpose of eliminating potential threats. Cap is not okay with this since it’s a bit too Minority Report for him, as well as raising ethical questions about people’s privacy. For his part, Fury gets suspicious when he can’t access the data Black Widow retrieved for him. Then, every policeman in New York shows up to ram him off the road, which really sets off the alarm bells. Fury’s bad day gets even worse when he hides in Cap’s apartment because he suspects a mole in SHIELD, only to be gunned down by the mysterious and evil Winter Soldier.

SHIELD boss Alexander Pierce blames Cap for Fury’s death, and being attacked by thugs in a lift, (fortunately, these ones didn’t steal Otacon’s experimental cloaking device) he and Black Widow escape to Cap’s old training camp from World War II. There, they find a secret room containing Arnim Zola’s consciousness uploaded to a computer, as a Master Zola Program. The MZP explains that after World War II, HYDRA realised that they couldn’t achieve their goals by force, so after he was hired by SHIELD, Zola had HYDRA infiltrate the entire organization, and from there, achieve positions of influence in government, giving them power to create global terror that would make people willingly give up their freedom. He was also responsible for recovering the body of Cap’s friend Bucky and turning him into Winter Soldier, HYDRA’s version of Captain America. All that is pretty evil for the comic relief minion of the previous film.

Following the revelation that virtually the whole of SHIELD is rotten to the core, and Project Insight is really intended for the destruction of HYDRA’s enemies, Cap decides to destroy the organization outright, with the help of Black Widow, Nick Fury, who faked his death in hospital, Fury’s second in command Maria Hill, and his best friend Falcon, who he bonded with over races where Cap is much faster. Gotta go fast!

Cap and Falcon get special computer chips to disable the helicarriers, so that Maria Hill can make them destroy each other, Fury and Black Widow out HYDRA to the honest members of SHIELD and the world and kill Pierce for his treachery. However, after disabling two helicarriers, Winter Soldier attacks Cap while he tries to disable the third. The scene is set for an epic final showdown between two equally matched foes… but Cap refuses to fight Winter Soldier, and concentrates on disabling the helicarrier while letting Winter Soldier whale on him. The Helicarriers are successfully disabled and shot down, and Cap helps Winter Soldier loose from some debris as the helicarrier crashes. Possibly remembering his opponent, Winter Soldier fishes Cap out of the river he fell in and leaves.

Recreation of the final battle with two Pikachus. Not sure if adorable or depressing.

After the credits, it is revealed that Fegelein was able to escape the Downfall bunker (he could only listen to Hitler rant about being banned from Xbox Live so many times before it got old), and works under HYDRA as Baron Strucker, having somehow acquired Loki’s sceptre and captured the mutants Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch.

Once again, Winter Soldier offers something different for the franchise. This time around, we’re getting a political conspiracy. Because of this, this film arguably has a darker tone than is usual for Marvel. Like Iron Man 3 before it, the film examines serious issues; in this case, the ethical issues behind peace and issues of privacy and trust. How far can you go to fight an enemy before you become as bad as them, or worse? It also helps that, like with Iron Man 3’s tackling of terrorism, these are real world issues that concern people today, which helps the films stick in the memory once you finish watching. Captain America is the perfect character for such a plot because of what he represents as a symbol of justice, freedom and determination. The first half of the film presents a moral conflict between two shades of grey with no clear right answer. Admittedly, the second half’s revelation that the people pushing for more surveillance are all Nazis is a teeny bit of a cop-out for invoking Godwin’s Law, but it’s done well enough, and raises interesting possibilities of its own, that I can forgive it.

Speaking of HYDRA, the big twist that they’ve infiltrated SHIELD is a show-stopper that casts various events from previous films in a new light. It’s shown that the senator from Iron Man 2 is in HYDRA, and was trying to get Tony Stark to hand over his Iron Man suit so that HYDRA could have it, not because Tony Stark is reckless and irresponsible as was implied earlier on, but there are others too. Was Obadiah Stane from Iron Man 1 affiliated with HYDRA? What about the guy from The Avengers who was playing Galaga instead of working? Was slacking off his way of sabotaging SHIELD’s day to day operations? How far does the rabbit hole go? The nature of the twist is ripe for paranoia and questioning everything we thought we knew, not to mention prompting thoughts such as what if an organization like HYDRA exists for real, and they have control from behind the scenes all over the world? On that note, I think I should take off the foil hat and sandwich board, since you don’t come here to read my paranoid ramblings.

Instead, I’ll talk about the villains of the film. I’m pleased to announce that, in Winter Soldier, we finally have another villain as good as Loki. Like Loki did when he was introduced, Winter Soldier sets himself apart from previous villains. Winter Soldier does this by bringing a sense of genuine dread and menace whenever he’s on screen, which is something not even Loki can do. Winter Soldier can do everything Captain America can do, but unlike Cap, he inspires fear rather than adoration and hope. His actions and little dialogue help convey the idea of a merciless assassin who will not show mercy, and will not stop until his target is eliminated. The frightening music that plays whenever he appear also helps to set the tone and enhance the feeling of dread. Surprisingly, despite his name being in the title, Winter Soldier doesn’t get that much screen time, but in this case, less is more, and he’s able to make the most of his limited screen time. Considering how great Winter Soldier is, it's pleasantly surprising that Alexander Pierce doesn't suffer in comparison. He's a great villain in his own right, so it's a shame that he's most likely a one-off character. I wouldn't mind seeing him make a return somehow.

This spooky music wouldn't be out of place in Silent Hill.

Winter Soldier is a first for the Marvel Cinematic Universe; a sequel that’s better than the original. Not only that, but I’d argue that the added substance to the film means that it tops The Avengers as  the best film to come from the franchise yet.

Stan Lee Spotter: Stan Lee appears as a night watchman at the museum where the Captain America exhibition was held. As it turns out, the exhibits only come to life when Ben Stiller does the night shift.

Next Time: Electro Unchained

Bonus: At the start of the film, Cap is shown recording things he missed out on while frozen in a notebook. Some of the things listed vary between countries showing the film. See the list here. http://comicsalliance.com/captain-america-the-winter-soldier-movie-international-list-differences/