Captain America: The Winter Soldier

A Rare Successful Sequel

Director: Anthony and Joe Russo
Release Date: 2014
Rating: 12
Running Time: 140 mins
Genre: Action/Adventure
Actors: Chris Evans. Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlet Johanson

It's difficult normally when watching a sequel for it to be anywhere near as good as the first. I think it's fair, looking at Marvel's attempts at continuing their 'Avengers' franchise, the sequels that they have released are just not as good as their predecessors. But maybe this is just that after seeing how amazing they made 'Avengers Assemble'  nothing will ever live up to anything as good. Let's face it, who can beat 6 superheroes teaming up together and smashing stuff? However, I don't think it's wrong to say that with the second 'Captain America' instalment, it may have managed to do a 'Terminator 2' on us. That being, Marvel may have actually released a sequel better than the first. No doubt about it, the first 'Captain America' film 'The First Avenger' was poor, perhaps even the worst film released so far. Nevertheless, regardless of sequels or spin offs or anything, taking this new Marvel instalment into account purely from a single film point of view, it was highly entertaining and actually very well received by audiences.

In the film audiences are able to enjoy exhilarating scenes including: Nick Fury (Sam Jackson) in a high speed car chase, firing a massive turret out the window whilst the car is driving itself, Captain America (Chris Evans) throwing his massive Frisbee at the bad guys saving the world and just Scarlet Johanson as Black Widow in general, why she never got her own film I will never know. It was refreshing to see Nick Fury finally getting his hands dirty and kicking some ass and getting involved as one of The Avengers rather than just the leader S.H.I.E.L.D. But the one problem I found with this film was that it was called 'The Winter Soldier', referring to the villain of the film, however he is probably on screen for about 20 minutes most and in all honesty he really doesn't do much, so maybe not the most fitting title ever for a film.

Not too long after the 'Avengers Assemble' is set but about 75 years after the 'Captain America: The First Avenger' is set, we join Steve Rogers/ Captain America is settling into modern life and doing what he does best. However, a sudden attack from inside S.H.I.E.L.D results in himself, Black Widow (Scarlet Johanson) and Nick Fury going on the run to escape an imminent death from an evil co operation that has taken over. The concept does sound like a fairly cliche y, boring plot but somehow it managed to keep me entertained for the whole 140 minutes that the film ran.

Despite finally giving Captain America the chance to redeem himself for his first film and his contribution to 'Avengers Assemble', there were so many occasions where it would've been much easier if they had called in Tony Stark/Ironman, or Bruce Banner/The Incredible Hulk rather than just let Captain America and Black Widow deal with it themselves. No one could argue that a film would be immediately improved by adding the legendary Robert Downey Jr.

However overall a highly successful Marvel Installment, was it the best one yet? Who knows. I'm certainly hoping that now that they have set up all the characters backgrounds and stories, they are going to release the ultimate Avengers film now, and perhaps even another. All I know is I feel that this ensemble of Superhero films are drawing to a close, until they decide to reboot them years later. But this film has certainly shown promise that it's developing into something brilliant.

6/10