Captain America: The Winter Soldier

The Captain’s second stop will wipe the grin off the faces of most doubters. A pithy techno-thriller atmosphere starts the opening unbelievably. Well, opening... The first half hour is perfect, crowned by the fight on the freeway which takes your breath away in Heatstyle. The ending then heads into familiar Marvel waters and in a raunchy finale it easily abandons the endeavor to do it slightly differently. Nothing exceptional, but never mind. Evans was born for the role of Steve Rogers, but I hope the Winter Soldier gets his own movie some day, or else they’ll deal with it comic book style (if you read it, you know what I mean ;-) because it... I mean he has the mojo for it. Redford disappointed me a little for not being the man I thought he was, and with the final confrontation. The Russo brothers are on an outrageous roll and maybe it’s thanks to Opaloch’s dynamic camerawork, but the action is a feast for the eyes. The moments where the story diverges from the comic book are interesting, offering many interpretations of things to come. The glance into the Age of Ultron also lured into and hinted at the dark atmosphere I mentioned above. Sock to me, I want more. (06/04/2014)

The second Captain America, reasonably moved to the “present”, is more serious and filled with more physical action. It takes place predominantly in the streets (cars and shootings) and it’s nice that the movie’s best scene is dominated by Samuel L. Jackson. However, the conspiracy plot is unsurprising and becomes chaotic in the second half. The initial diversity of the action-scene settings also disappears in the second half. And the action scenes are not helped much by being finished with contrived twists (anyone can be rescued from anywhere at the last moment). However, the audience will be kept on their toes with respect to the identity of the intriguing villain until the end. And the villain’s shared past with the Captain saves the plot. As a spectacular comic book blockbuster that you can watch with your brain turned off, it’s not bad. (08/04/2014)

First of all, interpreting the first half of Captain America through the prism of the espionage genre requires a relatively high degree of tolerance for the reckless and simply transparent twists, but which, I’m afraid, also leads to disappointment about halfway through, when inevitability comes to the fore and the Captain reminds us that he can hardly break the Avenger’s rules (in a way, the IM3 twist is much more subversive, but it somehow fits into the humorous style). In other words, for me, this film maintains a stable level of simplicity. To perceive it as a subversive and overlapping moment, when the symbol of American war propaganda plays out on the aggressiveness and unscrupulousness of US foreign policy, requires a certain degree of leniency. The true and authentic values are not particularly endangered, because the main character carries them from beginning to end. In this respect, Marvel films do not test the integrity of their heroes much and they bend the world to their image (no one is going to tell me that not only is contemporary America troubled by the snooping of citizens and "leaks", but also by the problem of internal enemies and denazification). But no more criticism. This is truly a superstructure that one can / does not have to build. Otherwise, the Captain ticks off the Marvel blockbuster box par excellence. The film has the best directed action of the entire Avengers series (great kinetics and physical contact surprisingly survive without opacity and 3D glasses). In his muscular version of Grandpa Simpson, Chris Evans still finds enough fragility and goodness, the supporting characters have their "careful magnetism" and this time the storytelling does not suffer from overlong exposition. Although it makes it difficult for me to get emotionally hooked on it, I still have a good time. Definitely one of the three best Avenger films. [75%] P.S. Out of competition: isn't the Marvel Universe a little too divergent and unmanageable? Terrifying destructive objects levitate in the air, and one wonders ... where the hell is Tony Stark? (04/04/2014)

For Marvel, good. I’m usually not a fan of this colourful conglomerate of comic book superheroes, but The Winter Soldier is (unlike its predecessor) a solid action blockbuster that entertained me a lot. The theme is relatively interesting and stimulating, though Marvel’s habit of “not going too deep” can make it frustrating at times with how superficially and simply the political, philosophical and technical aspects of the of the script are presented. But, as a summer blockbuster for the masses, it works fine. So, as I say, for Marvel, good. Next, on the umpteenth episode of your favourite series… (22/05/2014)

A movie with two different halves. In the first, Marvel departs from its usual, inoffensive colorful safe family content into as yet unexplored waters of the more seriously-inclined comic book movies like those from DC. And believe it or not, this does the Captain unexpected good; the hand-to-hand, nineties style action is exactly what Marvel movies so badly needed. Unfortunately, everything falls apart after the bunker in New Jersey when the movie suddenly turns into a parade of one dumb deus ex machiny after another. Which wouldn’t necessarily have to matter in a standard, painted “ha, ha, ha" Marvel cartoon, but it seems really out of place here. When you add the unnecessarily disproportionate length, the unused potential of certain characters and with regard to all preceding contact action in the form of utterly unsuitable, commonplace CGI, editing-party finale, then... This way, this is certainly a good Marvel movie (and one of the three best so far), but nothing more. And the pleasant first half promised “more" in a style that I have been waiting for from Marvel since the first Iron Man. (02/04/2014)