Anthony & Joe Russo's CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER

February 26, 2015 Dennis D. McDonald

Film review by Dennis D. McDonald

I enjoyed the first Captain America movie even though the villain was not to my liking. This second Captain America movie was a bit too serious for my tastes. Marvel movies are getting a bit too large and ponderous and this one really tipped the scales.

I didn’t enjoy the fanciful integration of S.H.I.E.L.D. with the Washington DC area. The car chase action obviously didn’t take place around here — where are those wide streets? — even though the DC police cars looked real. Also I don’t think the the far end of the Memorial Bridge would ever be modified as shown here. But of course fiction is fiction.

My biggest problem with the movie was that, towards the end, I just couldn’t really tell what was going on. I know that three humongous heli-carriers were circling around and Capt. America was chasing some kind of a MacGuffin that had something to do with shutting down a massively murderous event of some kind, I’m not sure what.

Of course he was fighting a villain at the same time this is all happening but for the life of me I couldn’t tell where these giant vehicles were or which end was up especially when the scene shifted to the inside of (one of?) these massive aerial monstrosities.

I figure I’m not the target demographic for this sort of thing anymore so I can’t really complain. But I really would like to see something new and original given all the effort that goes into these productions.

For me the saving grace of this movie were the lead characters: Chris Evans of Snowpiercer fame as Capt. America, and Scarlett Johansson (Her, Lucy, Under the Skin, Chef) as Black Widow. They do a good job making their characters seem real. If only the stories and action surrounding them were more interesting!

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