Review: Captain America: The Winter Soldier

The last decade or so has seen a real growth in the superhero genre. We are now at a time when we see about four or five films released each year that are inspired by a graphic novel. The company that is leading the way in terms of box office takings is Marvel, who seem to be releasing three or four films each year.

The first installment of 2014 is here and it concerns Captain America who returns after his efforts in Avengers Assemble.
I was pleasantly surprised with Captain America: The First Avenger. I was originally expecting bog-standard filler for The Avengers, but I felt there was enough in there for it to stand alone, despite it being part of something bigger.

As for The Winter Soldier, it seems the Captain America franchise is still proving me wrong. There is a lot of interesting ideas the directors and his team have presented about Steve Rodgers, SHIELD and the development of the Marvel universe.

Most Marvel films usually get the character development in the first feature of each franchise, but this one seems to keep growing the longer it goes on for. You can easily care for these characters as you get to know them a whole lot during the action packed 2 hours and 16 minutes.
As for the action, it is great. It packs a punch and still shows vintage Marvel. There are lots of great set-pieces to indulge in, involving each one of the main characters. But like all Marvels, there is a solid amount of humor to deflect from the seriousness of the action which kept me laughing constantly.

The performances were pretty solid. The chemistry between Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson is probably the best part of it. That is except for one scene with Evans and another character, who both created by far the most moving and emotional scene of the film. Samuel L. Jackson gives us a pleasant and different approach to give us some variety. Robert Redford's arrival on screen instantly gave me a predictable outcome for his character, which came true.

I felt this to be quite grittier compared to Marvel's predecessors and one of the few sequels to do better then its origin story. There is a great mix of action, thrills, conspiracy and adventure that delivers on a grand scale. The First Avenger gave us an enjoyable atmosphere with a nice dash of WWII nostalgia. This one remains to have an atmosphere, but with a new modern feel that still works.

Finally, as with all Marvel films, there is not only a post-credits scene but now a mid-credits scene. I will not obviously not spoil it, but I felt the mid-credits scene was very interesting and builds us up nicely for the next big film involving the Avengers. As for the post-credits scene, it is nothing spectacular but still important enough to see.

Rating: 8/10