Review: Captain America: The Winter Soldier Is A Perfect Super Spy Epic
- Feb 4, 2018
- 2 min read
After Avengers: Age Of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War, it's strange to think that political superhero espionage epics didn't really exist before 2014's Captain America: The Winter Soldier. But here we are, in a world where the Avengers visited the U.N. and Black Widow (with some help from Cap) all but carried a team full of superpowered people through a fight with Ultron in Korea. And it's all possible thanks to this groundbreaking sequel to 2011's Captain America: The First Avenger.
There's really no way to talk about this film without revealing a twist regarding S.H.I.E.L.D. from about halfway through the film, so spoilers ahead!
Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) is ambushed in his van by the mysterious Winter Soldier (???) and his men. After escaping, he goes to Captain America (Chris Evans) in his apartment, warning him that S.H.I.E.L.D. is compromised, but Fury is shot dead by the Winter Soldier. Using a flash drive given to him by Fury, Cap teams up with Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) and they discover a secret S.H.I.E.L.D. bunker containing the digitized brain of Arnim Zola (Toby Jones), who reveals that (last warning) S.H.I.E.L.D. employs potentially thousands of secret Hydra agents. Alongside Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), they must take down S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra, and stop the Winter Soldier.
This film is overwhelming on first viewing, but really the plot is extremely simple. Hydra agents within S.H.I.E.L.D. plan to use their new Project Insight helicarriers to defeat all their enemies at once; the Winter Soldier is a creation of Hydra who is working to ensure the plans go smoothly; Arnim Zola pretty much orchestrated the entire thing in the 70s (or maybe the computer version of him he created in the 70s orchestrated it). Yet it's incredibly effective, and one of the most gripping spy stories of recent years, told through the lens of a superhero movie.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier just might be one of the best movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It's got plenty of great action to satisfy, heartfelt character moments, and a world of intrigue and mystery. Chris Evans' Steve Rogers is the perfect man for the job, and ScarJo as Black Widow is absolutely the other star of the show.
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