Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Dir. Anthony and Joe Russo
Marvel Studios, apparently with
another decade's worth of sequels and movies planned ahead, show no
signs of letting up with the sequel to Captain America: The First
Avenger. I can't split from the consensus where The Avengers and
their offshoots are concerned; they are the most anticipated and
arguably high-quality of all lighthearted superhero movies. This
includes their outsider Marvel Universe cousins, Spiderman and X-Men,
neither of whose respective studios, to date, have created a film to
truly rival the enjoyment of Thor, Captain America, or Iron Man. Part
of this is largely the approach taken in the screenwriting; it is
snappier, more self-aware, willing to address its apparent
silliness, yet never feels ironic or condescending toward its subject
matter. It is happily referential to its roots without feeling overly
self-serious.
The Winter Soldier takes
place after the events of Loki's foiled Tesseract attack on New York.
Steve Rogers is shown in Washington DC, working for SHIELD on various
military assignments and attempting to come to terms with the
seventy-something years he has lost. Literally a man out of time,
Steve also struggles to adjust to the complexities and sliding moral
scale that the modern government partakes in. Samuel L. Jackson
returns as Nick Fury, and Scarlett Johansson, as Natasha (The Black
Widow) provides a more roguish counterpoint to Captain America's
earnest righteousness.
The Russo Brothers intelligently blend
the shadowy workings of Hydra with a criminal political conspiracy at
the heart of SHIELD. As many other critics have mentioned, casting
Robert Redford in the film undoubtedly alludes to the 70's political
thriller, with his starring roles in All the President's Men and
Three Days of the Condor. The Winter Soldier
explores topical events, basing its twisty plot – and much of
Captain America's indignation - around ideas of freedom vs. security
and the questionable morality of pre-emptive military strikes. Most
saliently, it seems to address the NSA and a right-wing conspiracy to
spy on and eliminate potential political subversives.
Of course, all of this is oblique – but quite clearly there if you choose to scratch the surface.
Ultimately The Winter Soldier is a brilliantly entertaining
blockbuster, and like many such big-budget films, it toys with
liberal ideas before reneging or simply forgetting about them in the
excitement of the conclusion. After all, audiences want to see superheroes fight a villain, and it's too difficult to make the
lovable, patriotic super-soldier into an emblem of anti-militarism.
The Black Widow's speech near the end cleanly assures us, and the
world at large, of the essential 'necessary evil' of SHIELD's existence. Politically muddled though it may be, it still manages to engage with some genuine concerns.
Certainly, Marvel has done well to
place Steve Rogers in a modern setting, while addressing the
quaintness of his values. All heartfelt decency and loyalty, with
straw-blond hair and a square jaw, it would have been easy for Chris
Evans to have been a bore – the dated superhero better left on the
page. Instead of attempting to modernize or update the character, a
stumbling block is worked wonderfully into the plot. He writes lists
of things he hears about and doesn't understand (The Berlin Wall?
Rocky?) and is constantly the butt of other characters' jokes. The
simplicity and essential goodness of his character seems charmingly
old-fashioned rather than dull or obtuse, and allowing him to
question and tackle his own superiors' decisions makes him more than
a yes-man.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
is enormously enjoyable, and finely tunes the balance of elements –
self-awareness and silliness, vague philosophical notions and genre
trappings – which make for an addition to Marvel Studio's list of
fine superhero movies.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Dir. Marc Webb
It's a shame to have to immediately
mention The Amazing Spiderman 2 in comparison to Marvel Studios'
output, but it is almost inevitable; this sequel to Marc Webb's
re-boot of the Spiderman franchise really does pale in comparison.
Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone, as the romantic leads, have an
onscreen rapport and warmth that sweetens the film, and gives great
flexibility to sometimes overwritten scenes. Nonetheless, Peter
Parker's on-again-off-again romance with Gwen Stacy – combined with
a revelation about his parents – leaves an otherwise unassuming and
affable Garfield sniffling and teary-eyed much too frequently.
Spiderman, of course, is known for his
wisecracking, kindly charm. It is something Webb captures in part,
but there is simply too little of it, with jokes and antics cut out
for an overabundance of villain origin stories. The narrative is
weighed down by several unwieldy elements, including the dangerous
downward spiral of Peter's old friend Harry Osborn (a reasonably
sinister Dane DeHaan) and the freakish creation of Electro (Jamie
Foxx) who for somewhat arbitrary reasons becomes hellbent on
destroying Spiderman. Combined with the personal and family elements
of Peter's life, there are simply too many threads and too few of
them that are truly engaging. The best bits are when Spidey is at his
witty, skyscraper-swinging finest, saving kids from harm and juggling
bottles of uranium in the back of a gangster's speeding lorry.
It must be said that Garfield and Stone
provide bolstering performances - they play off one another in such
a lovestruck manner that the narrative seems to pause at any point to
watch them banter. I just wish the real-life couple could display
their charm in a better movie. As a matter of fact, I wish my
friendly neighborhood Spiderman would be allowed the same
opportunity.
Now showing at Cineworld Nottingham