100 Movie Challenge 2014 - # 154: Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Director: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo

Genre: Action/ Adventure/ Science Fiction

Runtime: 136 minutes

Year: 2014

Starring: Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Cobie Smulders, Samuel L. Jackson, Anthony Mackie, Emily VanCamp, Robert Redford, Hayley Atwell, Sebastion Stan, Toby Jones, Frank Grillo, Gary Shandling

Description: Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) struggles to embrace his role in the modern world and battles a new threat from old history: the Soviet agent known as the Winter Soldier.

Review: Off course we could expect a sequel to “Captain America: The First Avenger”, a movie about the patriotic superhero that got mixed reviews in 2011. In “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”, Steve Rogers tries, like his Avenger colleagues, to get his life together after the big battle in New York (in the movie “The Avengers” from 2012). He is trying to find his place in society, but working for S.H.I.E.L.D. keeps him busy. Together with Black Widow, aka Natasha Romanoff, he solves problems easily, but Steve starts doubting S.H.I.E.L.D. When he is about to discover a conspiracy, the mysterious Winter Soldier enters the playing field.

I think I was one of the few people that actually really liked “Captain America: The First Avenger”. Off all the superheroes, Captain America has the least impressive powers, but he has always been my favorite. In “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” he proofs that again. The movie does this cool superhero justice. Chris Evans shows us again that he was the perfect choice to play the role of Steve Rogers. It’s also great to see Scarlett Johansson in a bigger role as Black Widow. This movie actually made her a real character.

The action sequences are pure joy, with minimal use of CGI. Off course it sometimes feels a bit over the top.

“Captain America: The Winter Soldier” is a great action movie, with a strongly written script, sharp humor and outstanding action scenes. It’s probably one of the best Marvel movies. If you wait until after the credits, we see a cool preview of “Avengers: Age of Ultron”. People keep saying that there is a superhero movie overkill. I don’t agree, if they are all as good as this.

Rating: 4,5/ 5