The Marvelous Marvel Rewatch (Now Playing: Avengers: Infinity War)

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Captain America: The Winter Soldier

I just rewatched this movie again for like the 5th time.  As always there are spoilers below, so don't read if you haven't seen the movie.

 

Pluses:

I love that the vibe of this movie is totally different from the first one, and yet both totally feel true to Captain America as a character.  In the first Avenger, Cap was the epitome of a WWII soldier.  In this movie he is the epitome of modern special forces.  He fights the good fight against the bad guys, but he also questions whether his side is really the good guys.  

The action in this movie is fantastic.  I really like the gritty, visceral feel of punches and kicks and guns and knives and so forth.  The action scenes between Cap and Winter Soldier are probably my favorite, since there is a lot of up close fighting.  Cap also beats up a plane.  That part almost goes into cheesy territory, but they manage to make it seem cool in the end.

I like that there are a couple of recurring MCU characters that we now see are Hydra: Sitwell and Senator Stern.  Now we know the real reason why Stern wanted to get the Iron Man armor in Iron Man 2.

I love Nick Fury and Samuel L. Jackson in this movie.  The part where he is in his SUV fighting off all of the Hydra agents is awesome.  This is the movie where we get to see how much of a badass Nick Fury really is, but he doesn't shine so much that it steals the movie away from Cap.

The ending to this movie may be the best in the whole MCU.  Cap gives up.  He lets Bucky "win" by letting him beat the crap out of him.  In the end Bucky comes to his senses and pulls Cap out of the water.  This is a much better ending than the classic "climactic battle between hero and villain".


Minuses:

I've seen both Winter Soldier and First Avenger about 5 times now.  I still really enjoy watching First Avenger, but I am tired of Winter Soldier at this point.



In conclusion, Captain America: The Winter Soldier is an amazingly good movie in every way.  The plot, characters, action, and theme are all highly captivating.  This movie is satisfying to both the mind and the heart.  The only criticism I can raise is that you may only enjoy it the first four times you watch it.   


9/10



Current Rankings:

1. Captain America: The First Avenger
2. Captain America: Winter Soldier
3. Iron Man
4. Black Panther
5. The Avengers
6. Iron Man 3
7. Thor
8. Hulk
9. Iron Man 2
10. Thor 2