Captain America: The Winter Soldier Discussion Thread - SPOILERS

I'm surprised this hasn't been started yet. It's out in the UK now; I saw a midnight showing last night. While my review is spoiler-free I'm sure this thread will be filled with spoilers before too long so enter at your own peril.

Here's a link to my review but overall I thought it was great. It was everything I hoped for and more. The action was awesome, the character dynamics were excellent and the story was really engrossing. I'm interested to see what the implications are for the rest of the Marvel properties.

So who else has seen it?

 

Re: Captain America: The Winter Soldier Discussion Thread

Seen it a few minutes ago and and I liked it very much. I'm gonna drop a few spoilers so beware, don't read any further if you want to remain spoiler-free.










So the main reason for the deployment of Insight is because HYDRA wants to get rid of a few threats (oh only 20 millions) such as Banner (no kidding?!) and....... Stephen Strange! I was so psyched by that name dropping!
So HYDRA had infiltrated SHIELD for the past 60 years and had been shaping the major political scene after WW2. I didn't read the previous thread so I had no idea Toby Jones would be back as Arnim Zola, in an interesting form (albeit not the one we all know from the comic book but close).
The action is non-stop, with no idle time.
A few things deserve mention. Of all the MCU interconnections, I didn't expect a tie-in with Iron Man 2, here Senator Stern (Gary Shandling).
I don't remember hearing hints about the TV show MAoS. I may have missed it if any.
Natasha is wearing a necklace with an arrow! (that one is for you, Kira's Mom!!!)
At one point, Cap is at a cemetery looking at Nick Fury's tombstone on which it is written: Nicholas J. Fury - "The Path Of The Righteous Man..." I almost died laughing!!! It took me by surprise so I couldn't see if it was written Ezekiel 25:17 though.
End Credit Scene #1: Von Strucker is talking about the Age of Miracles (instead of mutants) when he introduces Pietro and Wanda who are in glass cages.
End Credit Scene #2: Bucky visits the Smithsonian and reads his bio.

 

Re: Captain America: The Winter Soldier Discussion Thread

Yeah, when Stephen Strange was mentioned I almost yelled out in delight!

There weren't any tie-ins with the tv show but I'm curious to see what happens next and how the show deals with what happens here.

Speaking of Hawkeye, I was surprised he didn't get a mention. Even a 'he's out of the country on a mission' line would have been nice, given that the film was so S.H.I.E.L.D heavy a lot of other character from the agency returned here.

 

Re: Captain America: The Winter Soldier Discussion Thread

I saw it on Monday…immediately after I thought about making the thread because of how great it was and the huuuuuge ramifications the movie has for the MCU. But I realized that those who can't see it earlier than the 4th will wander in this thread and be compelled to read spoilers.

I’m glad you've taken that burden upon your shoulders!

(Kind of non-spoilery review)

The first Cap was nice. In fact I thought it was the best comic book movie in 2011- which really wasn't all that hard with the competitors - Thor (eh) Green Lantern ().

The sequel is in my opinion the best MCU movie to date. Better than Iron Man AND The Avengers. The fight choreography was outstanding. I love almost everything about TDK trilogy yet have to admit - Nolan should take lessons from the Russo's on fight scene cinematography. The brisk pacing of the story makes you forget the longer (for Marvel) run time.

I won’t get too in depth up here, but the commentary on our current surveillance state debate was deeper than most comic book movies have gone on the issue and I’m glad the trailers don’t really spoil what Project Insight was.

Many reviews have mentioned that two weaknesses of the film are the lack of a back story and screen time for the Winter Soldier, but when his identity is revealed I think a detailed explanation becomes unnecessary. More screen time would have been awesome, but the movie had so much to fit in that I'm not sure where else they would have fit him in without going beyond their already extended run time.

Intially I was one of the haters who wasn't on board with the casting of Chris Evans as Captain America. He surprised me in the first movie and upped his game here. Cap's a character I had always thought of as square and Evans has made him compelling and upped my interest in the character's history.

Falcon was excellently portrayed by Anthony Mackie. He didn’t feel like a token and I’m always ready to pounce on that. I hope to see more of him in the future.

This movie added more depth to Black Widow and I finally ended up liking her. Not giving her a solo flick at this point would be a crime against geekdom.

Thor:TDW and to an extent IM:3 seemed to occur in a vacuum. I know I’ve said it and will probably mention it after this, but the effects that this movie has on the MCU will reverberate for a while. This movie successfully accomplished weaving a (somewhat) solo movie in to the larger world- in contrast to the unfocused mess that was IM:2. I was expecting this movie to be great and it far exceeded my expectations. I can see why Marvel and the movie cast would be unafraid of competition from Batman/Superman. DC was wise to move it.


Mega Spoilers below
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*So did the destruction of SHIELD HQ and the dumping of all intel on the internet just effectively cancel Agents of Shield!? A friend of mine joked that the last scene of the show should be a birthday party at SHIELD HQ that's interupted by the helicarrier crashing in to the building!

*I always thought it was odd to have the Avengers operating as an arm of SHIELD, but that's how this world was built. How will the Avengers Assemble now? What role can Nick Fury play going forward if he's a ghost without an intel service at his helm.

*I can't wait to see how Age of Ultron deals with this aftermath. It can't be ignored!

 

Re: Captain America: The Winter Soldier Discussion Thread

I really don't think there were. After watching the movie it puts this story: http://www.hitfix.com/news/agent-of...hy-she-freaked-after-seeing-captain-america-2 about Ming Na freaking out after watching it in a new light. Now it seems like a "Did I just get fired?" freak out...

 

Re: Captain America: The Winter Soldier Discussion Thread

This basically was a SHIELD movie, not just Captain America movie. And I cant wait to see what happens next in the universe. This would have been a great season or series finale for Agents of SHIELD. But basically this means that secrets of Skye's origin and Coulson's revival are also revealed to the public? I cant understand how they are going to continue the series. Maybe team rooting out the bad guys on the organization. I guess we will see that in couple of weeks time..

But there has to be some kind of and SHIELD or other defence organization. Probably Maria Hill in charge or will they skip straight to Stark? That would be nice easy future role for RDJ just in case he doesnt want, or Marvel doesnt want to pay, for main role.

And did anyone catch any of the the names when Insight was targeting? Atleast there was Anthony Stark and some guy on the baseball(?) field. Anyone else interesting?

 

Re: Captain America: The Winter Soldier Discussion Thread

^Stephen Strange was the biggest one. I think there was someone mentioned in high school as well (maybe a thin reference to Peter Parker?).

As for Agents of Shield...I didn't actually realize it when I watched the movie but apparently it's set two years after Avengers. So I think the show has a little wiggle room, because that's still about a year post-Avengers, right? But I don't know how they'll handle it when they get to that point. Can't really be agents of SHIELD if SHIELD doesn't exist.

I actually thought they should have killed Nick Fury off, when he died I thought, "yeah, he'll probably turn up alive later on," and as much as I love Samuel L. Jackson it would have been way more of a shock if he had actually died.

 

Re: Captain America: The Winter Soldier Discussion Thread

Yeah, I didn't believe for a second that he died. Esspecially when Maria Hill said she had to take him away.
I was surprised when she resurfaced, though.

For a moment I waswondering, if he'd let himself be resurrected the same way Coulson was, but that might have been a bit to expositionary for the movie audience who didn't watch the latest Agents of SHIELD episodes.

 

Re: Captain America: The Winter Soldier Discussion Thread

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS GET YER SPOILERS HERE!



Saw it last night - Don't get me wrong when I proceed to nitpick, I liked it an awful lot and it is is a really good movie...just, for what is essentially a SHIELD film? The amount of opportunities for a crossover with Agents of and how they not only not take those opportunities but not even mention them at all was supremely disappointing to me. I figured when they found Fury again would have been the perfect time to reintroduce Coulson and by extension have cameos from the rest. Oh well.

Didn't really enjoy Fury's long and drawn out fight for survival at the start too. I liked when it was an actual chase, but when he's pinned in for 3 minutes talking to a car...seemed a tad too kiddy for me, especially for this being such a heady film involving government conspiracies and surveillance.

The final fight was great though. And is it me, or does Alan Dale have a very similar "member of a council dying unexpectedly" face/scream? :P Also - where did Captain America learn to steal a car? That had me laughing in my seat.

 

Re: Captain America: The Winter Soldier Discussion Thread

I actually liked that. Nice nod to larger universe and Iron Man. And in some ways foreshadowing Age of Ultron. AI is spreading to all kinds of devices, not just Jarvis in Iron Mans suit and house. So I'm expecting all kinds of cars and other devices being hijacked and joining Ultron in in Age of Ultron

 

Re: Captain America: The Winter Soldier Discussion Thread

It gives MAoS a great way to dispose of cast-members whose storylines aren't working out.

"Ward was in there!"

 

Re: Captain America: The Winter Soldier Discussion Thread

The movie came out in Germany today, and so I caught the first screening at my local movie theater.

While I'm really enjoying these Marvel movies and I'm looking forward to every one of them, I was a bit sceptical when I heard that they wanted to make this a "70s paranoid thriller." Could they really pull it off to make a 1970s-style spy movie that also works as a big modern superhero blockbuster? The answer, of course, is yes. Whenever we're not in the middle of one of the many massively spectacular action setpieces, "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" feels very much like a film in the vein of "Three Days of the Condor," helped of course by the presence of Robert Redford.

One of Marvel's best decisions was, rather than making this purely another Cap solo picture, to team him up with Black Widow and, to a lesser degree, Anthony Mackie's Falcon. While Chris Evans is strong in the role and certainly capable of carrying a movie on his own, the addition of Scarlett Johannson is very welcome. She puts in her best performance in the role here and their interplay and teamwork are one of the coolest aspects of the movie.

With some of the "Phase 1" Marvel movies, there were often complaints that they felt like stepping stones to "The Avengers" rather than stand-alone movies. But whereas "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" is even more closely connected to the Avengers movies, it felt to me almost like a full-fledged sequel to The Avengers that can absolutely stand on its own (while also being very much a sequel to the first CA movie). Or maybe it's just that I'm much more invested in the Marvel Cinematic Universe at this point and the connective tissue thus feels like a bonus rather than a distraction.

All in all, "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" is immensely entertaining, both as a big superhero action movie and as a 70s-style spy thriller. Definitely up there with the very best of the Marvel movies.
Oh, and don't leave the theater too early: like Thor 2, this one has mid-credits AND post-credits scenes.


Rating: 9/10

 

Re: Captain America: The Winter Soldier Discussion Thread

Saw it yesterday.

Spoiler: spoilero

Yeah it was fairly beyond obvious Nick Fury wasn't dead, esp seen as I read a little interview with him that morning about how he is in Avengers 2, although according to him he's not playing a very big role in it.


Also at the end, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver!! So the MCU did get them on the screen before the X-Men movies could

Also a nice selection of trailers too. Transformers 4, Amazing Spider-Man 2, X-Men: Days of Future Past (albeit the teaser, not the new trailer) and Guardians of the Galaxy

 

Re: Captain America: The Winter Soldier Discussion Thread

Exceptionally entertaining film. Good pace, solid structure, filled with top notch action, lots of lovely comic throwbacks and some really lovely emotional beats. Plus, a real game-changing end that will impact significantly on the universe. Nice effort Marvel. If I gave a hoot about the TV show then I'd be curious to see how "Agents" will adapt to the shift in the universe status quo.

Not only the best Marvel sequel, but the best they have put out all together thus far. As much as I enjoy The Avengers, having re-watched it just prior to this, it does feel overstuffed and over-long. With approximately the same running time TWS just flew by.

Evans played wonderfully off all the main cast and apart from Crossbones I felt that all of the principles gave top-notch mega-movie performances.

Plus, the best Pulp Fiction Easter Egg ever!


Hugo - The path of the righteous man. Ezekiel 25:17

 

Re: Captain America: The Winter Soldier Discussion Thread

Loved, the repercussions are humongous. I already did a review of it on my blog, so I'll just link that here

 

Re: Captain America: The Winter Soldier Discussion Thread

So i've slept a night and thought about it some more and it's still one of the best comicbookmovies i ever saw. The mix of action, drama, humor and character moments is near perfect. As has been said it is a gamechanger movie from which Marvel can't bounce back easily andand they might even don't even want zo.

One special mention - the Winter Soldier. While he's "only" the action villain used to oppose Captain America in the field he still was a brilliant character especially when the personal connection to Cap is revealed. I'm also happy that his story isn't immediately resolved but that it will form the basis for the third film.

Last but not least i'm also curious what that may mean for the Shield show, should be an interesting next few weeks.

 

Re: Captain America: The Winter Soldier Discussion Thread

That's one of the things I think the film did particularly well; it had this big SHIELD v HYDRA thing going on that's going to have a massive impact, but the film managed to balance that with the personal battle of Cap v Winter Soldier, so the it felt intimate and spectacular all at the same time. It's easy to see now why Marvel were so quick to give the Russo brothers Cap 3, even before this film was released.

 

Re: Captain America: The Winter Soldier Discussion Thread

I agree. Best one to date (and I loved Iron Man I). The use of all the supporting cast was excellent - so many nods to fans of the comic too - Peggy's cameo was clever and cool.

 

Just saw it today, fantastic movie but it has me wondering about how AoS is going to manage now.

And athough someone else already pointed it out:

Spoiler: Him

Natasha's little silver arrow necklace throughout the movie.