Superhero Media: Captain America - The Winter Solider

I was honestly a little disappointed with Wave 2, but then I hit The Winter Soldier. This is probably the first MCU film that I tend to say is a damn good film on it's own, even taken as a stand-alone, it's just that well constructed. After the events of The Avengers, Steve Rogers is working for SHIELD, taking down international criminals like Batroc the Leaper and leading a strike-team that includes Black Widow and Crossbones. When I explained to my girlfriend who Batroc was, she didn't believe me until I pulled out my Marvel Universe Encyclopedia and showed her that his main skill was leaping. Good stuff. Things start to unravel, however, when Nick Fury is killed and framed for war profiteering, only Cap can clear his name, but who can he trust if SHIELD is compromised? And who is the Winter Soldier? People who don't like the MCU films often make the criticism that all of them are "the same", meaning that they follow a similar formula, which is somewhat fair, but I like to remind them that as early as Wave 2 there was a conspiracy spy-hunt film about global surveillance and American hegemony. Fancy that. 

The Captain America series of MCU films is really the gold standard as far as I'm concerned; the characters, setting and tone work well, with the added Avengers films, Cap's journey is satisfying and concludes beautifully. The Winter Soldier is tense, fast-paced and shockingly grounded for a film in which Captain America takes on Hydra with his best pal Falcon. There's even a version of Arnim Zola on a computer screen, sure he's there to provide exposition, but the sequence is fun and he gets to revisit his "I am Swiss" line from The First Avenger. Initially, I felt that the return of Bucky Barnes as the Winter Solider was a bit quick, but it really works with Civil War and Infinity War, so it's hard to fault here, especially as Sebastian Stan does a great job of showing emotion through movement, with little dialogue. The costume looks great too, especially the bionic arm, which clearly a lot of though has been put into. Much as I tend to decry the "grim and gritty" approach, the more grounded Captain America of The Winter Soldier works well, and allows the more fantastic elements, like Falcon and Zola, to sit where they should and fit into the fabric of the world presented. 

Perhaps best of all, The Winter Soldier also works as a character piece, with Cap making his journey into the modern world (the notepad scene is inspired), trying to rebuild his life and even considering dating again, though he's a bit too old fashioned for the analyst with the septum piercing. Black Widow gets some personality, revealing that she reflects back on people, rather than having a genuine personality, which makes sense, as Tony Stark sees her as a sex object, Nick Fury sees her as an asset, Clint Barton sees her as a partner and Cap can't get a read on her. This too, gets paid off in later films, where Natasha finding her identity is pretty much her through-line, culminating in Endgame. Man, what a great series. Now I want to skip straight to Civil War. I'll leave this one off early to go watch more films. Enjoy your night and watch more Captain America.