MCU Rank & Review: Part Nine: Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

Runtime: 02:15:51

Total Runtime: 18:43:28

I'm back after another brief hiatus, only about a week this time. I'd like to promise these will come faster, but I'm dealing with a mild case of depression that is dampening my drive to get these out there despite the next couple of movies being really good.

This will probably be a bit more detailed than Thor The Dark World's discussion because this movie isn't a total slog to get through. Before I get into it, I've been watching WandaVision as well, first three episodes are out, and the reviews of those will come out once I finish these TWENTY-THREE movie reviews. Those will be a review per episode, I think, either that or since it's 9 episodes, I'll break it down into 3 episode chunks. I haven't decided yet. But we're only on Part Nine of this series, and Black Widow will probably be out before I get to Part Twenty-Three anyway. We'll see.

Let's Begin.

We open with Cap (Chris Evans) doing laps on our first new character, Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) - soon to be known as The Falcon. Sam does not like that Steve keeps passing him on his left.

Following the destruction of Sam's Ego, he and Steve meet and discuss their respective military services. Sam gives Steve the knowledge that the "Trouble Man Soundtrack" by Marvin Gaye will tell him everything he missed while under the ice. 

Natasha (Scarlett Johansson) shows up to pick Steve up for a mission.

Their mission is to infiltrate a boat and rescue SHIELD agents held captive aboard. They rescue Agent Sitwell (Maximiliano Hernández) among others, Steve fights Georges Batroc (George St-Pierre) and Natasha had a secret second mission to steal some info.

Steve confronts Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) about Natasha's secret mission, he states that everyone has secrets and "the last time I trusted someone, I lost an eye." Later revealed to have been done by a cat, sorry, Flerken. Fury shows Cap "Project Insight" and reveals that the mission he went on was a cover for Natasha to steal info regarding this project. The project involves three very large "next-gen" Helicarriers.

We are also introduced to Alexander Pierce (Robert Redford), a secretary of the World Security Council. discussing the events of the mission with other World Security Council members. Fury interrupts the meeting and asks for a delay in the initiation of Project Insight.

Understanding each other Steve leaves and visits the Smithsonian to reminisce about the good old days of World War II, and then visits Peggy in the hospital. She is now much older as she wasn't also trapped in ice for 70 years, and suffers from Alzheimer's. 

We are then shown that Sam helps veterans struggling with PTSD, and then transition to Fury now under attack by an unknown organization that is obviously Hydra. We get our first image of the Winter Soldier (Sabastian Stan), looking super bad-ass. Fury escapes certain death through a manhole. The hit on Fury was ordered by Pierce.

Steve arrives in his apartment briefly talking to his neighbor (Emily VanCamp) in the hallway. Noticing his music is on in the apartment, Steve enters cautiously to find a wounded Fury. Fury warns the apartment is bugged and they must speak cryptically. Fury is shot through the wall, Steve's neighbor arrives revealing herself to be a SHIELD agent, and Rogers gives chase to the shooter - The Winter Soldier. 

Fury is shown to die in the hospital, Steve and Natasha are sad. Steve hides the drive that Fury gave him in his apartment in a vending machine behind some gum. Steve runs off to SHIELD Headquarters and meets with Pierce. Steve is attacked by undercover Hydra agents in an elevator. They stood no chance, stating "Before we get started, does anyone want to get out." Captain America is then named a "fugitive of SHIELD." Natasha bought the drive from the vending machine, leaving with Steve she tells him of the Winter Soldier. 

They go to a mall and masquerade as a couple to hide from Hydra agents looking for them. They use the drive at an Apple Store and get coordinates to a secret bunker at a military base.

they head to the bunker knowing which is correct through Steve's military expertise. "This building is in the wrong place." In the bunker, they are trapped by a now computerized Dr. Zola who attempts to blow them up to cover up his secret Hydra scheme. Pierce is revealed to be Hydra, but if you didn't know that by now, you need to work on your movie analysis skills. They escape the explosion.

Sam shows up and recruits himself to the team assisting Steve and Natasha. They run off to interrogate Sitwell, Sam mentions knowing where to find a suit. Meanwhile, Senator Stern (Gary Shandling) from Iron Man 2 is revealed to be Hydra, what a shock.

Steve and Natasha interrogate Sitwell, he doesn't play along so they kick him off a building. Sam catches him in his fancy Falcon suit and Sitwell proceeds to spill all the beans about Project Insight.

It's a secret Hydra plan to eliminate all potential Hydra threats, though I doubt it'd kill Bruce Banner, considering Bruce can't even kill himself with a bullet. Though the best part of the scene here is the Stephen Strange reference confirming the future Dr. Strange movie yet unannounced upon release of this film.

They head out to stop Hydra's plans and the Winter Soldier kills Sitwell via delivery truck.

A big fight ensues with some of the best choreography in the MCU to date.

The Winter Soldier picks up Cap's shield, a potential foreshadowing if they decide to have several Captain America's moving forward. But also, his mask is removed revealing him to be Bucky, to the shock of only Steve and the six-year-old in the theater watching the movie behind me.

Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) saves the three of them from The Winter Soldier and takes them to a very much alive Nick Fury. 

They infiltrate SHIELD again, and Steve outs Hydra's plans. Hydra Agent Rumlow, otherwise known as Crossbones (Frank Grillo), over-rides their attempts to stop Project Insight, activating the helicarriers. Natasha infiltrates the council disguising herself as one of the councilors.

The Winter Soldier comes to stop Cap and Team from preventing the success of Project Insight by changing the targets from millions of people to just the three helicarriers. Fury has one up on Pierce cause he has two different eyes.

Steve and Bucky fight, Steve breaks Buckys arm and chokes him out so they can complete their mission. Meanwhile, Falcon fights Crossbones and the building collapses on Crossbones while Falcon is saved by Fury via helicopter. Steve and Bucky go down in one of the helicarriers. Bucky pulls him out of the water, visibly unsure of why.

 

Cap wakes in the hospital with Sam "on [his] left." Fury goes into hiding, pretending to be dead - gravestone and all. Natasha gives Steve a dossier on The Winter Soldier and drives off. Sam and Steve remain, Sam willing to help with the search for Bucky asking "When do we start?"

Mid-credits Hydra are revealed to be performing tests on Loki's scepter. Baron Wolfgang von Strucker (Thomas Kretschmann) is revealed. He confirms Hydra is bringing about "the age of miracles" revealing the twins Wanda and Pietro Maximoff portrayed by Elizabeth Olsen and Aaron Taylor-Johnson respectively. Our first tease for Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Post-credits Bucky goes to the Smithsonian exhibit from earlier to find out more about himself presumably.

The Winter Soldier is by far, without a doubt the best MCU movie put out to this point. While a simple script, all the MCU movies are not exactly complicated, this is by far the best narrative put out by Marvel Studios. The political intrigue of the film allows the MCU to continue to shift into multiple genres, up to this point primarily having focused on similar feeling films. Though for the most part, they won't go far from the comfortable feel they've grown accustomed to. The announcement of Deadpool 3's R rating leaves me hopeful that the MCU can continue to grow and be more than it is currently.

Steve's questionable devotion to Bucky begins here. Expanded further in Civil War, we begin to see Steve struggling with what to do with his friend, turned war criminal, and the only remnant remaining of his previous life.   

Official MCU 23 film ranking:

1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
2. Iron Man 3 (2013)
3. Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
4. The Avengers (2012)
5. Iron Man (2008)
6. Thor (2011)
7. Iron Man 2 (2010)
8. The Incredible Hulk (2008)
9. Thor: The Dark World (2013)

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) is next. Coming Soon™.

MCU Rank & Review: Part Five: Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

Runtime: 02:04:08

Total Runtime: 10:02:07

 

Here we are now with the first installment of the first (and only so far) consistently great trilogy of films. Also, this is the first and only period piece MCU film, unless you count the 90's as a "period," then "Captain Marvel" counts as well. Also also, the birth of America's ass.

Also also also, our movie opens with the revelation of Captain America being found in some ice. In the present day. We then go all the way back to 1941, World War II in full swing. A very skinny Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) wants to be a soldier, but can't, cause he's a skinny boy.

Though he may be small, he makes up for it with his bravery and smarts. This skinny Steve is probably my only issue with the movie. It's a well-done effect in that you can't tell it's an effect. Basically, they took Chris Evans' body and shrunk it down using computer magic.

Instead of the body double/superimposed head, the filmmakers used a “shrinking” technique and computers to basically erase portions of Evans' strong physique on screen. “We filmed over 250 shots of Chris and used digital technology to 'shrink' him down to what we called 'Skinny Steve,'” said Johnston. (Source)

Only that at points his head is way too big for his tiny body. The acting is great, the writing is great, the directing is great. But sometimes little baby Steve looks weird (to me) and it distracts from the story.

Steve tells a guy in a theater to be respectful to the military and gets beat up. he can "do this all day," but Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) shows up and shoos the bully away. In Germany, we see Nazis blow up a wall. They are led by Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving), and he has a cool Hydra pin. Hydra, for those still unaware, are a secret organization in the Marvel Universe that wants to take over the world. They steal the Tesseract from people that were safeguarding it on Earth.

It's worth pointing out that this is the first, and only, pro-military film. This is because the US military during WWII were the good guys, but now, they're just greedy people looking to make themselves rich - apparently. Moving forward, we see a young Howard Stark, played in this movie, and in the Peggy Carter series, by Dominic Cooper instead of the usual John Slattery. Stark is displaying his flying car prototype and states they're a few years away. I guess a few years is more than eighty, cause they still aren't a thing in the MCU unless you count that Wakanda tech as cars.

Steve meets with a doctor during his next attempt to join the military. Dr. Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci) offers him a chance to join the army. Rogers accepts. He goes through a series of trials with other candidates for a Super Soldier program. Here he meets Colonel Chester Phillips (Tommy Lee Jones) and Agent Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell). Back in Germany, we see Schmidt and Dr. Arnim Zola (Toby Jones) trying to harness the power of the Tesseract, they succeed.

In the tests, Steve proves to be the weakest and the smartest candidate. He's in the last place in every physical test, but, he successfully performs a task that no one has ever done before by taking the pole down to retrieve a flag, while every other person tried to climb the pole. He proves his bravery when Phillips throws a fake grenade into the group of test subjects and he willingly chooses to sacrifice himself for everyone's safety. But, "he's still skinny." 

Back in Germany again, Johann is getting his portrait taken, the red paint hinting at his true identity as Red Skull. Meanwhile, Steve is chosen as the candidate to receive the Super Soldier Serum. He comes out stronger and taller.

The pec touch by Peggy was apparently completely improvised (source) which is quite funny and greatly humanizes the character. Hydra attacks the testing facility, kills Dr. Abraham, and steals a serum vial. Steve chases the guy down, breaks him out of his escape submarine, and destroys the vial in the process. The hydra agent states that he is "the first of many. Cut off one head, two shall take its place. Hail Hydra." 

For some reason, Phillips doesn't want Steve to be a soldier, because "he's just one man" and he "wanted an army." So Steve does a propaganda tour and punches Hitler a lot.

His propaganda tour is accompanied by the reveal that Captain America comics exist in this universe, more propaganda, just like the original Captain America comic, whose cover is also shown in the movie in the hands of some kids. Complete with Hitler punching action. 

Steve hates not being a soldier, and the soldiers don't like him being a propaganda machine. Steve learns that Bucky's battalion was taken captive and he wants to go save them. Phillips says no, cause Steve is a "Chorus girl." Peggy and Howard fly Steve out to rescue the POWs. Steve frees them and finds Bucky in the process - Bucky subtly reciting code words that brainwash him into becoming the Winter Soldier. Johann Schmidt takes off his face and reveals his Red Skull.

Steve is now honored as a good soldier boy. His newfound war hero status earns him some cred with the ladies and is kissed by a girl that isn't Peggy Carter, and Peggy sees and gets mad. She shoots at his new Vibranium shield for revenge. Steve is supposed to receive the Medal of Honor, but no shows to be a better soldier boy. A montage of Steve and his Howling Commandos happens and we see Steve keeps a picture of Peggy in his compass. Red Skull is shown to be mad, Hugo Weaving's acting is deliciously over-the-top.

The Commandos eventually arrive at a mission to retrieve Dr. Zola from a train. It goes bad. bucky falls from the train, but they successfully capture Zola. Before falling from the train Bucky picks up the shield. First hints at his possible taking of the mantle, which no longer appears to be the direction we're heading. But it's a good tease for comic fans, none the less.

Zola sells out Red Skulls location. Steve makes the plan to "knock on his front door" and they infiltrate the mountain base. There's a big fight, Steve is captured, but it's a trap! Steve chases Red Skull and Peggy kisses Steve before he jumps on the plane to confront Red Skull.

Red Skull picks up the Tesseract with his bare hands, and he is sky beamed into space. Steve can't safely stop the plane, so he rainchecks his dance with Peggy "next Saturday at eight" and crashes into the arctic where he naps for 70 years.

Howard searches for him but only finds the Tesseract. He keeps searching but never finds him. Steve wakes up in 2010, only he's in a fake room masquerading as the past. SHIELD makes a mistake by playing a game from Steve's past as if it's currently happening and blows their cover - Steve bolts. he's in modern-day Time's Square and looks really confused.

Fury shows up and tells him he's "been asleep for almost seventy years." Post credits he breaks a punching bag and Fury asks him to help save the world and we get a teaser trailer for "The Avengers" - Coming next summer.

The issues I have here are the same issues I had with "Iron Man," only this movie has a better climax. The romance here, between Peggy and Steve, is the only romance more believable in the MCU than Tony and Pepper. The CGI of skinny Steve is the only "real" flaw for me, it distracts slightly removing me from the story.

Official MCU 23 film ranking:

1. Captain America: The First Avenger
2. Iron Man
3. Thor
4. Iron Man 2
5. The Incredible Hulk

Next in the line-up: "The Avengers" (2012)