Written by Sara Mullins
Photo from Flickr
For DC Comics fans, it’s natural to be skeptical around the Marvel franchise. Not because Marvel films are bad — the exact opposite, actually. Marvel films have been and continue to be funnier, more complex and more faceted than DC’s recent incarnations.
Nevertheless, there’s good reason to be skeptical of “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.” The first film–mediocre at best–merely chronicled the creation of Steve Rogers from weakling to overnight sex god. Steve and his companions lacked depth in a plot that echoed its origin material rather than sought to improve upon it. Our Captain America remained a hero of pure and noble heart, but otherwise boring. So naturally, with this in mind, “The Winter Soldier” should invite similar skepticism. How does one make the perfect superhero into an interesting character to watch for two and a half hours?
The film opens in Washington, D.C., perhaps the most American America that America can find. We’re introduced to a number of new characters, including Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), a.k.a. Falcon, and Alexander Pierce (Robert Redford), who was one of Nick Fury’s early partners in S.H.I.E.L.D’s development. Wilson, Pierce and the rest of the Cap cast are somewhat lacking in depth and character development. Sam, though charming and handsome, takes orders as flatly as Steve does. Despite Marvel being owned by Disney, these are superheroes, not Disney princes. Similarly, Pierce doesn’t make strides in archetypes; instead he transforms Redford into an otherwise shifty partner in crime.
And the triumphs of a multifaceted Black Widow are somewhat lost in this film. Natasha Romanoff has her moments of self-doubt, but for a good portion of the film she’s a prop to make Steve uncomfortable. She’s intelligent, secretive and efficient, but for some reason obsessed with finding Steve a love life. All the while spending the film filling the role of ingénue without having to make any of the commitment. Not to mention she diminishes the introduction of one Agent 13, played by Emily VanCamp, whose presence is negligible.
And let’s not forget the title of the film, “The Winter Soldier,” leaves something to be desired. The Winter Soldier himself is pretty much a shadow character for the majority of the movie.
There is, however, one shining surprise in Nick Fury, whose status as a cold and ruthless leader is beginning to shift. We get to learn a little bit about his and S.H.I.E.L.D.’s history and how that might change in the coming films. What the film lacks in side character development, it makes up for in its attention to the leading males.
Steve continues to recover from being abruptly thrust into a modern world, but surprisingly he’s adjusting rather well. Instead of his transition into this brave new world, the film focuses on Steve’s redefinition of what it means to be a soldier and the world’s definition of what it means to be free. While the movie is over saturated with fight scenes and explosions like any other action film with an astronomical budget, it’s refreshing to see the Cap flaunt his super soldier abilities.
If nothing else, the film is about taking orders. It’s about what Steve Rogers will do when the two facets of his alter ego — Captain and America — no longer coincide. Despite its shortcomings, the film is consistently funny, surprising, intriguing and occasionally heart wrenching. It takes a previously flat character and makes him question everything he has done up to this point. It leaves us with a question: What exactly does it mean to be Captain America?
The end of the film also leaves a number of surprises for Marvel fans to mull over until the next film comes out — or perhaps just a few days until the next episode of “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” premieres. Needless to say, the end of “The Winter Soldier” changes the face of the Marvel world as we’ve seen it thus far. The status quo is shifting. The fact of the matter is, in the Marvel universe, all rules can be broken.
