Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier

[emperorzombie]

All right I has the STRONG CAP 2 FEELS and frankly all my other social media options suck for spoilers, so:

Honestly I'm not sure I took all that in, oh no I may have to rewatch it. Like that it's all trust and identity and figuring out where you fit in. Scattered thoughts:

Robert Redford lends a film some gravitas.

Agent 13: her aunt with insomnia is Peggy? I liked that she was in it and had good stuff but it was low-key, as I don't think you could fit more in.

CROSSBONES! It nagged me for ages that his second-in-command guy looked familiar and IMDB reveals he was Draz the skateboarding teen off Heartbreak High, dating myself a bit there.

The fight scenes were awesome - more ripping things to pieces with your ROBOT ARM, Bucky - but super choppy and sometimes hard to follow. I liked that they were kinda brutal, especially the one in the lift.

Sam and Natasha were great - well-used, get their own excellent scenes, and show how Cap ends up trusting two very different people to have his back.

Mostly I have Bucky feels, though. "Who the hell is Bucky?" YISS. I would've liked a bit more closure at the end, but he's gotta be back for Cap 3, right? The scene where they're about to brainwash him and hand him the mouthguard was a killer, and Steve standing on the bridge wondering if he could take him out, and "Please don't make me do this". And basically when everyone goes off at the end to find their new place in life, Steve's mission in life: Bucky is his mission. Till the end of the line. I dunno, my slash goggles are not generally that strong but I could see that one.

Bonus side effect: suddenly, I am interested in seeing what Agents of SHIELD does next.

Comments

[coalescent]

So I think within the constraints of its genre this was about as good as it could be.

Politically it's incoherent. Hydra as the uber-conspiracy is disappointing -- but, OK, they lean heavy on SHIELD as the other side of the same coin and dismantle them both -- but then they add the Black Widow testimony scene about how what we really need is a bunch of exceptional people to protect us. I think the script has its heart in the right place, but because they're only going to deconstruct SHIELD and not the whole rationale for superheroes, it ends up in a rather libertarian place, distrusting all forms of organisational power.

But the fight scenes are brilliant, the character work is brilliant, the overall structure and pacing are pretty good, and I really loved the feel of it.

Whoever cut the trailer is a genius. Not just "Your work has been a gift to mankind" -- which bugged me from the get-go, as it didn't make sense addressed to either Cap or to Fury, and I couldn't see the third possibility -- but "You need to keep both eyes open" and in particular "Are you ready, for the world to see you as you really are?" -- the latter surely being the most obvious hook for a Black Widow solo film ever.

It's an interesting feeling seeing a film this deep in the MCU, though. It does feel like its own thing, but it's also so much part of a larger thing, I feel a bit like I've seen two hours of an incredibly slowly made TV series.

[princessofgeeks]

Yeah, Redford was a fantastic choice. I did not see coming that he was a bad guy. I really enjoyed him. He sold the role, which was actually hard.

Also could Jackson BE MORE AWESOME? No. He could not.