Movie Review – Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
Opening this weekend is Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the next big-budget Marvel comic book film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to be released to the theaters.
Set a couple of years after the events in The Avengers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier puts Captain America and the Black Widow against a powerful assassin known as the Winter Soldier. As they battle the assassin throughout Washington, D.C., the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. learn that there’s a much greater conspiracy at play, something that dates back to World War 2 and the events in Captain America: The First Avenger.
Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, Captain America: The Winter Soldier stars Chris Evans in the title role of Steve Rogers / Captain America. Co-starring in the film are Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow, Sebastian Stan as James “Bucky” Barnes / Winter Soldier, and Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson / Falcon. Also appearing in the film are Robert Redford as Alexander Pierce and Samuel L. Jackson as S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier begins with Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) exercising one morning in Washington, D.C. While out running he meets Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), a former Air Force special forces pararescue soldier who now counsels war veterans with PTSD. Rogers is still adjusting to living in the 21st century, and he’s been catching up on the history of the past sixty years as well as the changes in culture.
Suddenly Rogers’s cell phone alerts him to an urgent mission with the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division (S.H.I.E.L.D.). Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) picks him up in a Corvette, and they race away to SHIELD’s headquarters. Read more…
Categories: movie reviews Tags: Captain America, comic book film, Marvel, movie review
Movie Review – The Avengers (2012)
What do you get when you combine the mighty forces of Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, and the Hulk?
The answer, my friends, is The Avengers, a major motion picture that combines the Marvel Cinematic Universe into one massive movie. What started in 2008′s smash hit Iron Man has grown tremendously and culminated into The Avengers.
Before seeing The Avengers, you’re best off seeing Iron Man (2008), Iron Man 2 (2010), Thor (2011) and Captain America (2011). With all of the back stories and references to the previous movies, you’ll get so much more out of The Avengers if you’ve recently seen the other Marvel super hero movies. That is, if you’ve seen the movies and little teaser clips after the credits in the movies, too.
What about The Incredible Hulk (2008)?
Although The Incredible Hulk is a great movie, very little of it is mentioned in The Avengers. The production crew even switched actors and this time around it’s Mark Ruffalo playing the role of Dr. Bruce Banner, and not Edward Norton. Basically, all you really need to know about The Incredible Hulk is that Bruce Banner gets angry and transforms into the Hulk, and he destroyed part of Harlem in New York City during a rampage in the previous movie. That’s about it as far as The Avengers is concerned.
The Avengers (2012) – (c) Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
The Avengers begins on a distant world as Loki (played by Tom Hiddleston), makes a deal with the Other (Alexis Denisof), the leader of a race of aliens. If Loki is able to provide him with the Tesseract (seen in Captain America and after the credits in Thor), then the Other will provide Loki with an army of aliens that he can use to conquer the Earth. Read more…
Categories: movie reviews Tags: Captain America, comic book film, Hulk, Iron Man, Marvel, movie review, sci-fi, Thor
Movie Review – Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
Captain America: The First Avenger is the final prequel movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe before the superheroes return in the highly anticipated movie, The Avengers (2012).
Although it was released last in the series, Captain America: The First Avenger is chronologically the first movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as 95% of the movie takes place in 1943, whereas the other four movies primarily take place in modern times.
Captain America: The First Avenger begins in Norway in March of 1942.
Nazi officer Johann Schmidt (played by Hugo Weaving) and his men invade a castle in Norway. The Tower Keeper tries to hide the Tesseract, but Schmidt finds it hidden in a mural of Yggdrasil (Norse legend of Tree of the World). After finding it, he has his men open fire on the people in the castle, killing all witnesses.
Over in New York City, a skinny young man named Steve Rogers (played by Chris Evans) is rejected for military service. Apart from his frail build, he’s also full of health problems. His pleas for being accepted for service fall upon deaf ears. The medical examiner claims that denying Rogers for service is actually saving his life from certain death.
As we later learn, that was not Steve Rogers’ first time being denied for military service. He’s known for using fake names and addresses to get into the service, but all of his attempts have ended in failure.
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) – (c) Paramount Pictures
Down on his luck, Rogers goes to a movie theater only to have to deal with an unappreciative bully making rude comments during the news reel. Rogers stands up for what’s right and isn’t afraid to fight him in an ally behind the theater. Naturally, the physically larger bully beats Rodgers again and again, knocking him down to the street. But Rodgers keeps getting back up to his feet claiming that, “I can do this all day.” Read more…
Categories: movie reviews Tags: Captain America, comic book film, Marvel, movie review, sci-fi