Hey everyone welcome back to Silver Screen Spectacle. Today we’re continuing our MCU Flashback with 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier. While the film was a critical and commercial hit, I remember the atmosphere was mixed before release. There was a feeling that Marvel had peaked with the first Avengers and it would be downhill from here. Thankfully, we got proved wrong and a new golden age for the MCU began. So now that Captain America’s story got finished, it’s time to look back at part two of his trilogy.
This movie was fantastic in 2014, and it’s still just as good now. When this came out it was easily the best non-Avengers film yet. Chris Evans is better than ever here. Dropping this character in a modern-day political thriller was a genius idea, and Evans doesn’t miss a step. Scarlett Johansson finally gets some strong material to work with. Black Widow is finally a fully developed character, and she plays the mysterious super spy flawlessly. Anthony Mackie was an impressive addition to this cast. He can keep up with everyone in the action scenes, but also has great chemistry with Evans and Johannson. Sam Jackson is still good at playing Fury, but it’s a much smaller role here. Robert Redford and Frank Grillo play still some of the better villains in the MCU. Redford is believable as the twisted corporate head while Grillo is a menacing physical threat. Sebastian Stan returns as Bucky, aka The Winter Soldier. He’s mainly just a physical threat for Evans, but still nails the few dramatic moments he gets.
Longtime Marvel directors Joe and Anthony Russo started their journey with the company here, and it’s easy to see why they got kept around. While the action occasionally has a few too many cuts for my taste, it’s overall fantastic. Every set-piece gets wonderfully constructed and is incredibly thrilling especially the mid-film highway fight. The script is fantastic, but not without a few issues. The way this film updates its title character to a modern-day setting got done flawlessly. The humor is still there without taking away from the dramatic moments. As for the big twist here aka SHIELD is HYDRA, I think it was a brilliant choice that suitably is still impacting the MCU. However, as much as I may love the twist, the scene where Zola is explaining everything to Cap and Widow is nothing but a ten-minute exposition dump. The mid-credits scene was a good way to set up Ultron with introducing Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. The ending scene is just a good tease showing Bucky trying to learn about himself.
So overall I really love this movie despite my couple of flaws. Captain America: The Winter Soldier restored my hope that the best of Marvel was still yet to come. So guys, that’s it for this Flashback: MCU Edition. Next time we’ll be covering what I assumed a risk the first Guardians of the Galaxy.
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