This is one of the best Marvel movies ever made. It is one of my favorite comic book movies. Also, it is the first comic book movie to do genre bending. Logan came out in 2017 and it was a western comic book movie, but Captain America: The Winter Soldier came out in 2014 and it is a spy thriller comic book movie. Because Marvel did it first. And best.
Also, spoiler warning for all Marvel movies, but especially Avengers: Endgame.
This movie also brought us the Russo brothers for the first time. The directors' duo wasn't well known at the time, their most known work was on Community. No one knew how awesome they could be as action directors, but they proved themselves as amazing directors for Marvel straight from their first movie. This movie is terrific and very well directed.
I don't know where to start gushing about this brilliant movie. But, let's start with the brilliant cast. It's not an Avengers movie, but we have more than one Avenger in this movie, which automatically makes it more believable than Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World which got a lot of criticism for this reason. Chris Evans is back as Steve Rogers and our Captain America. Scarlett Johansson is back as Natasha Romanoff a.k.a. Black Widow. See that's already two Avengers and it makes sense since they both work for S.H.I.E.L.D. at this point. We can assume Hawkeye is with his family or on the path to recover his sanity, because usually he works with Black Widow. Other familiar faces from S.H.I.E.L.D. are also back: Samuel L. Jackson returns as director Nick Fury and Cobie Smulders returns as Maria Hill, Fury's confidant and loyal employee, plus she actually has something to do in this movie unlike in The Avengers. Another noticeable return is that of Hayley Atwell as she returns as a grandmother version of Peggy Carter. The big surprise return is that of Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes.
The bad guys are also back. Maximiliano Hernández is back as Jasper Sitwell. Garry Shandling returns as Senator Stern. It is so cool that we already know these character from previous Marvel movies even though now we know that they are part of the bad guys. Toby Jones also return as the computer version of Dr. Arnim Zola.
There are some new faces that are here to stay. Anthony Mackie is Sam Wilson, our Falcon. Emily VanCamp is Sharon Carter or Agent 13 or Peggy’s niece. Robert Redford is Director Alexander Pierce of S.H.I.E.L.D. Frank Grillo is a Hydra thug called Rumlow that we shall see again. All in all a great cast.
On your left! The movie opens with Steve and Sam running together in Washington. Well, Steve is running and Sam can barely keep up. I mean he doesn't keep up. He is barely breathing by the time they finish. Then we get Sam's introduction, he gives counseling sessions to a group of VA's who are dealing with post-trauma after their military service and have a hard time adjusting to life outside of the army. Like Captain is having a hard time adjusting to life in the 21th century. Steve has a list of all the things he needs to catch up on. That's a lot of cool stuff. Also, this scene is a great commercial for Under Armour, their logo really stands out on Steve's shirt. Their conversation is cut short by Natasha's arrival, she's here to pick up Steve on a way to a mission. It's a cool opening scene.
Then there is the mission. A S.H.I.E.L.D. ship has been kidnapped by French pirates and a team is sent to rescue it. A S.T.R.I.K.E. team led by Captain America. He jumps out of aircraft into the water without a parachute. But, then again his thing in this movie is super jumping out of things. This action sequence is pretty awesome. It is also awesome that throughout almost the entire sequence he and Black Widow banter about his dating life, or lack thereof. His action scenes are awesome. I didn't know that there was so many different ways to use the shield. Also, Captain is really good in hand to hand combat, really good. All of his action scenes in this movie are awesome, but this is a great opening for them.
Black Widow is also really awesome. The way she says the room is clear and then takes out the last guy with a crowbar is pretty awesome. But, she is the spy. While all of the guys are risking their lives and fighting to save the hostages, she is coping information for Fury. A distraction that nearly costs her and Steve their lives. Her bad. But generally she can do it all, be a spy and an Avenger.
Steve takes out his adorable anger out on Fury. Then comes the famous saying from Fury: "The last time I trusted someone I lost an eye." It was a cat! He lost is eye because Goose scratched his eye. Well, a Flerken and not cat, but still not as impressive as the saying implies. Unless you look at the general Skrulls situation which was more impressive. However, Steve's anger lead Fury to share some information. First information about himself, his grandfather loved people, but didn't trust them. Unlike Steve who does trust people even against better judgment. Then Fury share information about Project Insight. As you can imagine, Steve is not happy. Project Insight is meant to protect people, but it can also kill people before they even commit a crime. Steve calls it "pointing a gun at everyone on earth and calling it protection". This is not freedom in the land of the free. He is not wrong. There are plenty of threats that can be resolved in a peaceful manner, which will now be resolved only lethally. Fury thinks that this is being ahead of the curve and reality as it is, but we know Steve is right and Fury is wrong. And Captain America doesn't compromise here, he just walks away. Since Fury represents the government in a manner, this is the beginning of Captain America against the American government.
Then we have the funny scene of Captain America in a museum about himself. The movie just needed a clever way to remind us of Bucky so we could recognize him later. Also, not cool creeping out kids in museums!
Then Steve goes to visit the elderly Peggy Carter. She lived her life, but Steve never had a life. Only emphasizing his choice at the end of Endgame to have a life with Peggy. Peggy's Alzheimer is sad to watch. I guess she doesn't remember that Steve is her husband, or some weird time stuff. Then Peggy gives the speech that is in the Endgame trailer, you can't go back, sometimes the best that you can do is to start over. An advice that no one takes, especially not Steve.
Then we switch it up with Fury. Fury tries to decrypt the file that Natasha downloaded from the kidnapped ship, but he fails. The file is blocked by him. How odd. That makes him go to his friend, the head of the World Security Council, which supervises over S.H.I.E.L.D., Alexander Pierce. Fury's spider-sense tells him that not all is kosher so he asks Pierce to delay the launch of Project Insight. Pierce is not happy about it, soon we will find out just how unhappy he is about it.
I mean Pierce orders an attack on Fury. Before that Fury isn't happy about what is going on and asks Hill to return to Washington. Then he sees a police car next to him, and before he knows it, an entire army of police is chasing after him. When there is no official police in the area according to data. It is some incredible chase sequence. Also, Fury has the most useful car ever. Fury puts on hell of a fight, plus pulls out some amazing driving skills. But all of that won't help him with what is coming. The Winter Soldier. But Fury manages to evade even him. Because he is the best spy in the world.
Then After his trip to Peggy Steve decides to visit his new best friend Sam. He listens to Sam guiding a support group for VA's. Like Captain America runs a support group for people to move on with their lives after the snap. Keeping up Sam's legacy after he was dusted. I'm not crying you're crying. Now back to Sam in this movie, he tells us about his tragic past in the military, how he lost his partner in a flight mission. He just doesn't mention how he flew, not with an aircraft. Steve is just confused, he is considering leaving S.H.I.E.L.D., but he doesn't actually have a life outside of it. Just like Peggy said. He doesn't have a clue what to be other than a solider and following orders. He forgot that part of being Captain America is to be a leader.
After this eventful day he goes back to his apartment. Apparently the nurse that Black Widow thought that Captain should date is a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. I wonder if she knew. They have a nice chat, while Steve is oblivious to her role, and she tells Steve that he left his stereo on, which he knows he didn't. In his apartment he finds Fury. But the song in the background in this scene is the same song from Endgame, the one that he dances to with Peggy. It is so touching, and such a small and yet meaningful detail. Fury texts Steve some information about the current situation and then the Winter Solider shows up and shoot Fury three times. While he's bleeding, Fury gives Steve the USB flash drive which he tried to decrypt and tells Steve not to trust anyone. It is his mantra I think. Boy Steve is having a crappy day and it's not over yet.
Captain America is an Avenger so he goes on a revenge spree. I mean he jumps out the window to go after Winter Solider. Steve is in such great shape that he manages to catch up to him, that and he breaks everything in his path to move it. However, these two are equal in power. In mean Winter Solider catches the shield and throws it back at Captain with impressive force. Plus he manages to disappear. No revenge for poor Captain.
Then are the consequences. Steve, Natasha and Maria are in a hospital seeing Fury going through surgery. Which is odd, but ok. Right when the Hydra agents show up, Fury dies on the table. Perfectly timed. Natasha wants to know why Fury was at Steve's apartment, but Rumlow interrupts. They want Steve to return to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters immediately. Steve decides to hide the USB inside a vending machine. Not a great plan. Looks like Hydra is down to their last threat after Fury.
S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters is basically a Hydra headquarters at this point. Pierce gives Steve a fake speech about wanting to catch who kill Fury, when it was him. Pierce tries to turn Steve against Fury and he should know better. But, now Steve is a wanted man, by Hydra, but still. Steve gets in the elevator with the S.T.R.I.K.E. team and you know shit is about to happen. I love how Endgame played with this scene. But here, it is one of the best action scenes imagined. Forget hallway fights, elevator one's are better. Captain America kicked so much ass against so many people with barley any maneuver space. Brilliant.
Captain is now officially a wanted man. So obviously he goes back to the hospital to get the drive. But it's not there. Natasha has it. He still doesn't trust her. She tells him everything she know about the Winter Solider which isn't much. Together they go on the hunt for what's on the drive. It is a funny sequence. Especially when Natasha kisses him to make everyone not look at them. The small details of being a spy on the run. But they do manage to get away. She is a sneaky spy. Not only that, but Natasha figures out the drive came from New Jersey, so that is their next location.
Steve finds the secret Hydra location within a S.H.I.E.L.D. site. That is where they find Dr. Zola's computer version. He explains his evil plan. That Hydra has been growing inside of S.H.I.E.L.D. and creating chaos around the world. We also see that Stark senior is one of the accidents caused by Hydra. Oh, Steve, you should have told Tony. Now Hydra plans to use Project Insight to take over the world. The helicarriers will eliminate all of their resistance and help them rise to power. The world is so crazy that people will be willing to give up freedom for stability. Somehow that sounds more relevant as time goes by, but I am not sure it is true. All of this is a diversion and a missile hits their location, but Captain America manages to save Black Widow. Again. Earning him her never ending trust. Now Captain and Black Widow know what they need to know about Hydra and are super best friends.
Now they need to rest and a place to plan their next moves. So the place to go is Sam's house. He is someone they can trust. I like the conversation that Natasha and Steve have. Natasha says she thought she was going straight when she joined S.H.I.E.L.D., she thought she knew whose lies she was telling and Steve tells her she might be in the wrong business. Just like she tells him there is a chance that he is in the wrong business when he says she want her to be his friend. But in the end she does become his friend. His best friend. Sorry Bucky fans, but it's true. Also, Natasha has real wet hair! You can see that now it is not straight, but curly like in The Avengers movie. I live for the small and insignificant details. Now they need a plan and decide to interrogate Jasper Sitwell to get more information. Most importantly, Sam decides to join in. Natasha and Steve steal the Falcon suit wings for him. It's an impressive investigation with Natasha kicking Sitwell from the rooftop and Sam saving him, all while the dating jokes continue. Sitwell breaks like a twig and tells them everything. Which is mostly what we already knew with some new additions. Helicarriers have targets uploaded to them that will immediately kill anyone who is a threat to Hydra, or any future threats, including a Steven Strange name drop. Basically, once those helicarriers are in the air, Hydra will be in control.
That's too much talking, time for some action. Steve, Natasha, Sam and Sitwell are in a car when the Winter Solider and his crew attack. Marking the beginning of another brilliant action sequence. I particularly love how Natasha tricks the Winter Solider with her phone making him think she's behind a car, while attacking him from the back. Obviously the best part is when Captain America breaks the Winter Solider's mask to reveal his old friend Bucky. It was a shocking reveal to those who didn't know. But almost everyone did know. Still, our heroes lose. Rare thing in the Marvel world. Natasha gets shoot, but not fatally. Luckily Maria frees them from the prison vehicle. Yes, Maria is back to save the day. Good for her.
It's not just Steve who is effected by Bucky. The Winter Solider becomes unstable. He knows Steve, barley, but knows that he has to do what he is told. It's almost heartbreaking to watch. And Pierce is a jackass. In case you didn't notice until now.
Everyone are alive. Including Fury in a special underground facility. Also, the doctor taking care of Natasha is one of the Russo brothers. Now Captain America gives the orders. The order is that it all goes down. S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra. Fury and Hill give Steve three disks to replace the Hydra targets on the helicarriers. It is time for their finale mission.
Also time for the best part of the movie. The mission is to replace the Hydra target with the S.H.I.E.L.D. targets, which are the ship themselves. The speech that Captain America gives about the price of freedom is brilliant. Such great writing and getting the message across with one great not too long speech. And so the fight commences. People don't know who to trust and who to shoot. It is brilliant chaos. But you know who the good guys are, the one that follow the Captain's orders. Obviously Bucky shows up to make sure that those helicarriers are up and running and that Cap is dead. He takes out Falcon out of use along with a lot of people. But in the end Captain and his team prevail. Captain America and Falcon replace all three targets. While Black Widow takes out Pierce at the World Security Council. She basically destroys Hydra and S.H.I.E.L.D. by dumping all of their secrets online. Even though Pierce deleted Fury from the system, Fury shows up and uses his bad eye to disable the code. That cat did a lot of damage. All ends well.
Almost. While she ships are being destroyed and they fall straight into the S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarter and smash it, Captain America and the Winter Solider continue fighting while they're on the falling ship. Cap lets Bucky beat the shit out of him, while talking straight to his heart. Bucky almost comes around, but he does saves Steve from drowning. It's something. While Steve is recovering at the hospital, Natasha gives a statement to the Congress basically telling them to shove it. They can't put her or Steve in jail because they need them. The world needs the Avengers, that's for sure.
In the end, our heroes go their separate ways. Black Widow needs a new cover. She give Steve and Sam everything she found on the Winter Solider before she leaves. Fury is going to continue to pretend to be dead while going after Hydra thugs. Steve and Sam refuse politely to join him, looks like they will search for Bucky. Agent 13 joins the C.I.A., while Maria Hill joins Stark Industries. It's a new world. A world without S.H.I.E.L.D. The world is free of Hydra. Or so we thought. The mid-credit scene shows us a different side of Hydra. A part of Hydra which has Loki's scepter with the mind stone in it. They have been experimenting on humans with it and two humans survived. The Twins. Wanda and Pietro Maximoff – The Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. The post credit scene of Bucky in the museum is less exciting.
This movie is just brilliant and awesome. I mean the action is phenomenal. The dialogue is both funny and well written. Sure, no one dies in this movie, plus a few return from the dead, but it is still great. The moral dilemma here is very profound. What is the cost of freedom? Is it actually worth it? How much can we trust the government to have the people's best interest in mind? I think that it is a pretty anti-government movie. It's hard to ignore that the government epically failed in this movie. I feel like the most negative thing I have to say about this movies is that they put on way too much makeup on Chris Evans. No I don't care that the previous movies did nothing to set this one up. I mean Hydra are good at keeping their secrets. Captain America is the only one to be trusted. Also, the chemistry between Captain America, Black Widow and Falcon is great. I mean they just playoff each other perfectly. And at least it's the only movie in Phase 2, which has more than one Avenger in it. It is a brilliant thriller and the first kind of an intellectual Marvel movie. It is still one of the best Marvel movies ever made with an honorary place in the genre's history.
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