Preface

• Captain America: The Winter Soldier is the second movie in the Captain America movie series and a movie I like more and more every time I watch it.
• The movie originally came out in 2014, I remember seeing it early on a Saturday morning, and it was one of my Top 10 Favorite Movies the year it came out.
• And in preparation for this Friday’s sequel to it, Captain America: Civil War, I thought I’d give my thoughts on the movie (right now) that has the best action in any superhero movie!

Premise

• So Captain America: The Winter Soldier is essentially what Agents of SHIELD wanted to be.
• This movie follows Steve Rogers and he’s now working for SHIELD, but Nick Fury informs him that SHIELD has likely been compromised by some rogue agents.
• And following that, we evolve into an action-packed, well-shot, extremely well-paced political thriller and amazing spy adventure.

Review

• So the first time I saw this movie, the thing I loved the most was the relationship between Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff.
  • Aka, Captain America and Black Widow.
• I didn’t know going in that Black Widow would be the secondary protagonist to this movie, but she was and I’m glad she was!
• There are scenes of the two of them together, like one in a mall and another in a hospital, where you get to see these two very different but very intertwined minds having very cut back-and-forth.
• And that back-and-forth is also what makes this movie great, because even the minor things like dialogue between Steve and Natasha keeps you interested.
  • There’s nothing of huge scale going on, but seeing these two have different mindsets about each other is still really engaging to watch.
  • Seeing two characters learn about each other is never a bad thing, especially when these characters are larger than life superheroes.
  • Taking them down a peg for just a couple minutes is awesome.
• So there’s that.
• The Steve/Natasha relationship was great, and really all the character relationships are.
• Sam Wilson/Falcon is introduced in this movie, Nick Fury has his time to shine.
• It’s cool to see how he interacts with Alexander Pierce, the movie’s villain.
• Robert Redford was great casting as Pierce, by the way.
• And tying him into the movie’s story, Pierce has great interactions with the antihero/secondary villain of the movie: The Winter Soldier.
• I won’t spoil the movie if you haven’t seen it, but the fights between Cap and The Winter Soldier were also just so rewarding…
• Not to mention, the action?
• The first time I saw this movie, I loved the characters.
• The second time I saw this movie, I loved the story.
• The third time I saw it (the most recent time), I loved the action blended with those.
• You notice at first that the action is cool, but when I really think back on it, I can’t think of ANY scenes in another superhero movie that’s cooler than the elevator scene in this movie, or the pirate takedown at the beginning of this movie, or the Nick Fury car scene…
• The action is shot in such a realistic way, where almost nothing blows up.
• It’s all gunshots and grit and action that you can grasp the scale of.
• The Avengers action was awesome, don’t get me wrong, but something about the realistic feeling of the action in Winter Soldier just made it more impactful.

• Essentially, what I’m trying to say, is that Captain America: The Winter Soldier ties together writing and directing in the perfect way.
• All of the characters in this movie were written well and they were portrayed by excellent actors who all came to play.
• Not only were the characters written well though, the overall story was compelling and keeps you engaged throughout.
• And that engagement is topped with fantastic emotional payoff that directors Joe and Anthony Russo employ effectively.
• The action is great, and when viewed with the great character interactions, and great action…
• Guys, Marvel is at the top of their game now, and after Guardians of the Galaxy I would say Captain America: The Winter Soldier is probably my favorite Marvel movie.
• I’m really psyched for Civil War because of the story, but also because this creative team is coming back and I really want to see what the Russo Brothers can do next.
• And guys, this grade may seem kinda low for how much I love this movie, but it really is a great grade!
  • I always grade kinda low on Marvel movies… Like Iron Man 3 and Avengers: age of Ultron are the only ones in the ‘A’ range with A-’s, then Guardians of the Galaxy, and Avengers are at B+’s.
  • Event though I’d actually put Guardians over Iron Man 3 in a Top 10 list…
• Well, whatever, my grades don’t make much sense!
• Just go see this movie!
• Captain America: The Winter Soldier, in my book, is completely deserving of the very positive grade of a B+.

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But guys, those are just my thoughts on Captain America: The Winter Soldier! Be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments down below. And to stay up to date with everything from me, feel free to subscribe my Youtube channel (http://www.youtube.com/MyMovieThoughts) or go over and follow me on Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/JohnMHayeck). And as always, thanks for reading guys.