You know, the subtitle for this movie kinda makes it sound like Cap is the winter soldier. Doesn't that seem misleading? Anyone? Just me? M'kay.
All right. I have a somewhat skewed perspective of this movie, since the thing it does really well is ratchet up the tension with a lot of mystery as the plot progresses. That never worked for me, since I knew before it started how it ended. Because I was watching Agents of SHIELD season 1 at the time, and I watched the concurrent episode from that show before I watched this movie.
That said, the episode was really good because of how it ratcheted up the tension with a lot of mystery as the plot progressed. So there was no viewing order that wouldn't kinda ruin one of those things for me, and in balance I'm glad I watched AoS first, since I was way more emotionally invested with those characters at the time.
In the end, though, it's pretty easy to say "The Winter Soldier is a well made movie that focuses more on Steve Rogers' character than the development of Captain America as an icon, which makes it different than the first movie but certainly not any worse", and hey look at that, I just said it. Beyond that, I'm really not sure what else needs to be said.
8 out of 10. Would happily watch again.
But seriously folks, maybe my only issue with this movie is that, like some other movies, it's a little too dark for my tastes. It's a personal preference, but while I think they do a good job of making the situation grim and hopeless and then try to drop some humor in, I don't think the humor worked as well as it needed to in order to act as a release. The movie is clearly trying to work off of the Joss Whedon method of "make it dark, make it grim, make it tough, but then, for the love of God, tell a joke." Problem there is I don't think the jokes quite worked. It's the opposite problem from what Doctor Strange had, where that movie was good fun but never managed to really feel dark or grim.
It's a minor issue of form is all, and I think YMMV based on preference, so it's not a dealbreaker. But I would feel remiss not to mention that the episode of AoS that takes place at the same time as this movie in the MCU timeline does this exact thing very, very well. So... that's a Whedon for the win.
Beyond that slight tonal issue, I think the movie is great. The camerawork is smooth enough and contiguous enough during the action sequences to see just how fantastic the choreography was in this movie (c'mon, Russo's, what happened with Civil War? This one was so good!). The story uses a familiar arc, but it's a well liked form and is executed in an entertaining way, so it's hard to complain. It's a good movie. I like it.
8 out of 10. Would happily watch again.
All right. I have a somewhat skewed perspective of this movie, since the thing it does really well is ratchet up the tension with a lot of mystery as the plot progresses. That never worked for me, since I knew before it started how it ended. Because I was watching Agents of SHIELD season 1 at the time, and I watched the concurrent episode from that show before I watched this movie.
That said, the episode was really good because of how it ratcheted up the tension with a lot of mystery as the plot progressed. So there was no viewing order that wouldn't kinda ruin one of those things for me, and in balance I'm glad I watched AoS first, since I was way more emotionally invested with those characters at the time.
In the end, though, it's pretty easy to say "The Winter Soldier is a well made movie that focuses more on Steve Rogers' character than the development of Captain America as an icon, which makes it different than the first movie but certainly not any worse", and hey look at that, I just said it. Beyond that, I'm really not sure what else needs to be said.
8 out of 10. Would happily watch again.
But seriously folks, maybe my only issue with this movie is that, like some other movies, it's a little too dark for my tastes. It's a personal preference, but while I think they do a good job of making the situation grim and hopeless and then try to drop some humor in, I don't think the humor worked as well as it needed to in order to act as a release. The movie is clearly trying to work off of the Joss Whedon method of "make it dark, make it grim, make it tough, but then, for the love of God, tell a joke." Problem there is I don't think the jokes quite worked. It's the opposite problem from what Doctor Strange had, where that movie was good fun but never managed to really feel dark or grim.
It's a minor issue of form is all, and I think YMMV based on preference, so it's not a dealbreaker. But I would feel remiss not to mention that the episode of AoS that takes place at the same time as this movie in the MCU timeline does this exact thing very, very well. So... that's a Whedon for the win.
Beyond that slight tonal issue, I think the movie is great. The camerawork is smooth enough and contiguous enough during the action sequences to see just how fantastic the choreography was in this movie (c'mon, Russo's, what happened with Civil War? This one was so good!). The story uses a familiar arc, but it's a well liked form and is executed in an entertaining way, so it's hard to complain. It's a good movie. I like it.
8 out of 10. Would happily watch again.
Comments
Post a Comment