'Captain America: The Winter Soldier' is the best of the 'Phase 2' Marvel movies by far. It felt like a complete film (unlike 'Iron Man 3' and 'Thor 2'). It was smart, engaging and fun to watch. With any luck, Marvel Studios will learn from this and make the 'Phase 3' franchises as smart and sophisticated as Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
Just a little something i noticed: During the scene where Cap, Falcon, and Widow were interrogating the bald Hydra guy by throwing him off the building, his glasses impossibly don't fall off during his fall lol
Well actually I can imagine the glasses wouldn't fall off. Gravity pulls on things of different masses differently. Because of this feature of gravity, the glasses would fall at the same acceleration as the man they were attached to. Unless the glasses were remove or dislodge via some outside force such as him being snapped back up by the Falcon (which is largely dependent on how he is pulled up and how quickly), It is quite feasible that he could fall with his glasses still on his face. Not really an error, it is quite possible given the right conditions.
As someone who wears glasses full time, they don't fall off if you have them even slightly adjusted for your head correctly... As the guy didn't exactly look poor, I'm thinking he has so decent expensive ones, personally adjusted to his dimensions, so them falling off is very unlikely, even with a decent jerking stop like I'm sure he experienced when Falcon caught him...
I loved this, I didn't much care for the first film but this one was excellent, played on very real fears of the right to privacy and drones killing without trial, it felt like a very real threat. Scar Jo had a great slice of this film to get her teeth into, the Falcon was incredible, the Pulp Fiction ref at the end was incredible...so much action, didn't skimp on the character development either...creative use of his shield...and the after credits intro Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver...9/10, great.
Glad they mentioned the different fighting styles of the characters. I especially liked the brief fight between the Black Widow and Winter Soldier. You could really see that she was really trying to KILL him, not just capture him, not just subdue him. You can really see that Widow is an assassin, as opposed to Cap, whose goal is to capture the bad guys.
Fury was hospitalized with injuries that made it believable that he had died. Widow nearly bled out. Bucky got his arm broken. everyone Cap hit was either incapacitated for a while or never heard from again. What the fuck is Ben talking about in reference to "people not getting hurt"? Does he not realize that Cap has SUPERHUMAN durability?
The more I watch these reviews, the more I suspect that Ben has a bias against action movies. He gives it a 6.5 with his only criticism being the action is repetitive? It is after all an action movie.
blackrock316 but man of steel was extremely repetitive, i get his point dude, i really do, all this fist fight is meaningless if nobody is going to get hurt by a punch
Arthur Coelho I will say this,I can say with the Avengers they have done some repetitive stuff, I don't hear fans complaining about that. If you look at the fighting scenes for either DC or marvel animated films, they have some repetitive scenes in them when it comes to the fighting part, I don't complain about that. Plus I don't think Ben reads comics or is into comics, he said it himself I think when he did Thor 2 review since he didn't see the first one.
blackrock316 That's the thing about action movies... it's the only genre where according to critics, you can have too much of... well the genre. No one ever walked out of a comedy and said "Wow I laughed so hard, that was terrible" or came out of a drama and said "That was so dramatic, what a piece of shit" but apparently it's a totally acceptable criticism for action movies
Ben must have not had his coffee before seeing the movie. This movie was extremely entertaining and thought provoking. You never quite knew where a lot of the action scenes were going, which lead you to really pay attention, that's good action in my opinion.
Have to agree with Ben here. I was trying to think of what I found a little off about this movie and I have to say there's that sense of mindless fighting at times where there's no real tension and I never thought for a second that Cap was in any real danger. It got a little repetitious and the runtime of this movie could have been easily trimmed a bit from some unnecessary dialogue and repetitive fight scenes. That said, yes the choreography is awesome, but it lacked real tension and substance at times. The first Captain America movie was better I think, but this is still a good movie with some good political points to it. 7/10 for me. The movie's being over-hyped, but it's still worth seeing.
I wasn't ever really worried about Cap, and of course we all know they'll save the day because... really, that's the point, right? But... I absolutely HATE car chase scenes. And, I do NOT know what they did in this film, but they had me on the edge of my seat when they were going after Fury. I really thought they were going to kill him. (Although I had to tell you my first thought in the hospital--and you know when I mean-- was... Coulson?) Not sure if it was the way the sound was done (you could really hear the cars hit very individually, as they crashed, crisply) or the way they shot the scene? I also felt the same way when Winter Soldier was going after Black Widow. I think it had something to do with the camera work? I really don't know. But honestly this is the ONLY action movie I have EVER not wanted a fast forward button for the fight scenes, and where I ever felt at ALL emotionally invested. I remember during Avengers being impressed because Whedon kept me from being bored because he didn't make the fight scene a long "car chase" --you could see the team develop as the scene played out, and it was actually relevant to the characters. Which was also quite interesting, but different than this.
Tarotiste I generally don't like car chase scenes either, but I do have to admit that I liked the one in this movie. Fury looked like he was really screwed and it had me on the edge of my seat too. That said, I didn't much care for the car chase scene in Avengers though... I thought it was a little too sudden to place right at the beginning of the movie without much buildup and I didn't find the cinematography of it all that impressive. Still, there was plenty to like about Avengers in spite of that scene.
At the moment I can't remember which one you meant, I'm sure it's not the same one. I'm thinking of the really long fight scene near the end with Loki and the Chitauri. Normally I'd be bored spitless, but because there was an obvious change in their group dynamic throughout the fight, and there was interesting dialogue scattered throughout it, and you could almost physically see them gelling as a team... it was really cool. I remember thinking afterwards how really WEIRD it was that I didn't hate a fight sequence. I almost feel a little guilty, I know they really work hard on choreography and spend billions on CGI and crap... but... nah, I just cannot wait til they're over and we can get back to STORY...
I am of arabian heritage, was born and raised in Germany and thus I have always been a little biased against Captain America. But after watching this movie I think hes the most badass Hero of all the Avengers. Thats how awesome this movie is..
Using guns glorifies them, is an easy solution and doesn't require as much choreography, effort or acting on the part of the actors. I don't understand his point at all. And to that point, my only quibble with the film at all involved when Cap got shot... how he "couldn't get up" to put that computer chip in and then not 5 minutes later was standing up and pulling up pieces of the building to try to save the Winter Soldier... that made no sense to me. So, if he got shot... and there were no guns... how exactly did that happen again?
Guys you almost forgot to talk about robert redforfd, just till the very end!.. and the feel of the old spy movies this one has..this is the best marvel entry in my opinion
I found the actual action scenes were shot too tight, and adding in the shaky cam made them really hard to track and engage with. I thought we were over shaky cam?
May I just say how refreshing it is to see that not only have u all seen the movie (thank you), but ur actually saying more positive than negative things (unusual but welcome). Way to go (although I'd hope this was more the rule than the exception)!
I do think these super hero movies suffer from this problem that it's really REALLY hard to intuit the stakes - especially when they're not explicit. That's something I love about Iron Man. Even though they take liberties with real physics, there's a regular guy in there. When Thor was crushing his arm plates, you get that instant feeling of 'oh shit, this could break his arms'. I'm not sure that Captain America really suffered from that much though. Not as much as, say, Superman did. But it is something I'd like movie makers to consider. It's hard to write within restrictive rules, but it helps audiences engage with the action and the greater story.
I guess it depends on your life experience. I'm retired military and this film was pretty subtle, so what *I* got was that Steve Rogers was suffering from PTSD, and heartbreak from having essentially lost EVERYONE and everything he'd ever known. He's *dealing* with it, with humor and work... but it obviously hurts. They show him actually walking into a VA meeting where people are going to get help, and to visit Peggy who he loved and is now old and weak, while he's young and hale. How exactly is Superman's plight worse? Sometimes pain just is.
Tarotiste I'm talking about the stakes of the action. I actually enjoyed the story and characters of The Winter Soldier more than the action scenes, which is strange for an action movie. The physical stakes in superman were almost impossible to track. The movements were so fast and yet none of the super heros seemed to be physically hurt that badly, beyond lying there for a minute to recover a bit. But then they'd be back hitting just as hard as if the beating they just took never happened. The Avengers handles this really well.
I think that's kind of what Ben was trying to get at; watching these people beat the shit out of each other when there is no physical consequence to them, it's kind of hard to care that Cap got punched in the face again...
I hadn't really put 2 and 2 together before now, but Dark Knight really did touch on the same NSA government overreach themes as Cap 2. The only difference is Dark Knight seemed to excuse them "just one time because the Joker's just so bad we need to spy on everyone", whereas Cap 2 actually has a firm position on it. No matter who is in charge of a huge spy-security mechanism for any purpose, it's wrong. As Cap said: "This isn't freedom." Makes me like the movie even more.
As an ex-soldier, we need more movies with super heroes going through the moral dilemma of following orders. I love marvel. I hope movies are the new visual comic book.
This Movie was amazing good, the fighting was amazing, damm I just feel bad for DC they really have to do something really amazing with their next movie
I just saw this movie an hour ago and have it was AWESOME!. It's one of if not the best Marvel movie ever made. And as Loki would probably say: "That's definitely worth a look."
I liked this sequel, only thing that I didnt like was the whole recycled Hydra plot, was abit silly and just uninspired. But other than that, was enough action, I luv Cap's more modern suit they've got it perfect now I think because its still totally in the style of the comic, but also doesnt look silly but actually very practical. And I do like how this sequel kind of has that nod to his classic Golden Age suit, its like a last fair well to that suit because that was cool also.
I don't disagree that on technical merits this movie is good. The only problem I had with it and movies of this genre...I've reached saturation point! That is just me of course, but I just can't take any more of these movies! I walked out of "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" feeling nothing...but boredom. I only went because there was literally nothing of note playing at any of the movie theatres in my city. I've already seen the few indie movies that are any good, and the choices where either an animated movie, a horror movie or this. This what moviegoing has been reduced to! Now when this whole superhero trend took off once again back in 2000 with the first "X-Men" movie, I was excited and more than willing to pay up and see them with all the bells and whistles. The releases of these movies were spaced out enough that there was breathing room between them. But now it's just overwhelming, one after another, and if that is not enough they are starting to crowd television also. It's pure and simple a question of overload! I think that I will give "X-Men: Days Of Future Past" a chance, seeing that I have followed this franchise and it's different off-shoots for more than a decade now ("X-Men: First Class" remains my favourite). But after this I am done. I just don't care anymore...I know that I am in the minority now, and that these movies seem bulletproof and infallible at the box office, that will change...and soon enough these movies will go the way of the dodo bird! Remember when disaster movies and movies with aliens/alien invasions were all the rage...yeah now it's like "where are they now?". Well mostly they appear as a SyFy movie of the week! Wait and see, the exact thing will happen to Marvel and everyone else, once audiences had their fill and will look for the next new thing...
I liked The Winter Soldier, but some of the action and fight sequences were tedious and numbing, as Ben said. They could've cut some of hand-to-hand combat scenes a bit and focused more on character development and the government intrigue angle, which I thoroughly enjoyed.
Don't Watch this in 3D. Really one the worst films in 3D i have ever seen. The camera shakes way to much and in 3D it can get a little difficult what's going on during the fight and action sequences.
I was forced to see it in 3D due to scheduling issues of when I was available to see the film. I agree with you. The small gains you get in depth (it certainly feels converted rather filmed in 3D) are lost to the darker image you see through your glasses. It is a very enjoyable film though.
+basquat76 I could imagine, I saw it in 2D, and I just knew it had to be a nightmare in 3D......but I'm seeing Civil War in IMAX 3D. So I guess I'll figure out how it was
For me the movie is really entertaining and the action secuences are very good (with the exception of the final fight between the Captain and the Winter Soldier, that scene was a little lazy and shaky) Getting into the 3/4 of the movie i was getting a liiiitle bored, then the movie lifts up again by the end with really good surprise moments. The movie is full of conveniencies and by the moment Redford appears you know is the bad guy, but in the end you leave the theatre entertained and pleased. The gravitas feeling of the movie is good but not great and the mention of the germans working in USA post WWII is spot on.
It's about time the Russo brothers get some sort praise for their directing. Even their work on TV series like Community and Arrested Development were amazing.
I just saw this today and I thought it was great. Also loved the post-credits scene setting up the villains for Age of Ultron. Unfortunately I was not aware there was going to be a second post-credits scene, and now I'm really mad. They need to fucking warn you, honestly.
This is the thing, they started off with putting a scene right at the end of the credits and that's what you need to expect; they then started putting in mid-credits scenes and that's what's confused people. When you go into a Marvel movie, you have to assume you're going to have to sit there until the screen goes completely black and the lights have come up. As to the second scene, there was nothing particularly dramatic nor important, setting wise. Well, at least as far as I can tell without being a reader of the comics and an encyclopaedic knowledge of the Marvel-verse. If you haven't seen it, nor read up on it: * S P O I L E R S P A C E * You're back in the Smithsonian Captain America exhibition, there's somewhat Inception-like music doing a build up as the camera pans around the room bringing the glass display tribute to Bucky into view and there's someone stood in front of it wearing a hoodie. Can't quite remember if the camera panned around and zoomed in, or if it just did a straight cut, but you see that it's Bucky looking at the picture of himself, obviously realising who he really is, then it just cuts to black.
^ doesn't sound arrogant or ignorant at all... Wow I couldn't even say that without feeling like an arse clown, how do you function like this everyday?
I really liked this movie The main problem I've got is with what Alonso eludes to is not set up at all........if the other movies are connected to each other then surely there should have been little references to it. Didn't Tony Stark decrypt SHIELD's files in The Avengers? Surely he would've found something. That said, this movie is great, the casting of Robert Redford is a nice touch.....screams "1970's government conspiracy thriller" :)
littlemar22 O.K, then. It's not that big of a deal for me because it's very good movie anyway. It's just strange that if the marvel movies are connected then they could've set that up at least a little...... that's all - when it came out it was the best stand-alone marvel movie since the 1st Iron Man so it doesn't bug me that much :)
I would really like to see a hulk movie where he isnt his own enemy. I dont know why they mess those up all the time. Not really on topic, but speaking about the marvel heros.
I enjoyed it immensely. I was somewhat disappointed that in the end it just resulted to be Hydra and that's all.. Truth be told I actually cried when he met the girl from the first movie and she's now really old and has dementia.
So you say it good, I want to see it but how does this movie compare to the first one because the train seen and the lair seen were my favorite parts in the first one. Is there any amazing action seens similar to that in this one, and does this film work well to fit in the series. I worry that yes it will be a great movie but it might not have any epic seens because in the frist movie, they made it seem like he was more like a batman short of carater and yet he did have powers, he was into helpping people and ending bad things in the world while being realitic as heck (in a great way) They dont need to make captin america be more super hero, but keep him more like a person helping people. I just loved the fact that captin was more like a human more than all the other. I just hope they dont mess up like they did with ironman 2 because even though the frist was good, the s3cond one was not as good. My second question, is this a good date movie or would you say that its better to go in a group to see this movie.
Types of movies will have certain recurring elements, without them the movie will feel "off" or "missing the mark" so I don't think "repetitive" is a fair or even specific enough reason to not like this movie. It sounds like Ben might just be a bit jaded from all the superhero movies, which is a different problem altogether.
Fighting style makes a difference too though. Pencak Silat is so foreign to the western world that there was really no way that the Raid Redemption's fight sequences could be repetitive unless the choreographer and director completely didn't give a shit.
Barbara Gordon The Raid 2 shot most of their fight scenes with long shots, and some long takes, this one was shot with more of a Bourne style quick cutting system. I thought it worked really well sometimes (elevator fight), and not as well sometimes (the final fight scene). Good film overall though.
Matt Goddard I think Iko Uwais does all of his stunts, making it easier to do long shots. The quick cutting system works better for doubles. Notice When Captain America and the Winter Soldier made physical contact/ when jabs connected you never saw the character/actor's face.
The Raid has great action scenes but only on a technical level, the story and characters are bland and I could care less about them and that's why I felt the scenes in that movie were repetitive because it was just fighting over and over. In this movie there are a lot of different scenarios with different situations that make it unpredictable and that makes it more fun to watch.
I don't understand Ben. This was my favorite superhero movie EVER! And no I'm not American, I'm a so called "Socialist European" but I loved every second of it, and yes, the captains speeches about freedom totally made me tear up and I'm not ashamed to say it. My favorite marvel superhero so far with Tony Stark as a close second.
My biggest issue with the film was just how cliched it all was. Fury dying was groan worthy, as was his return. Seriously Hollywood, fuck off with the fake deaths; it's running characters actually dying since part of me assumed they're just gonna come back. Also that Black Widow face mask thing was god awful.
Oh, and fuck them and their 'we're super elite soldiers on a highly dangerous and critical mission but let's make small talk about dating in the middle of it' cliche.
I didn't really like this movie just because I find Captain America to be kind of boring and generic as far as superheroes go. I agree with the points they made about the action matching up well with their characters and I wish they would do that same thing with Spider-Man because he is a much more dynamic character that I find more relatable.
I agree about the pg 13 point. Also captain America did feel almost as indestructible as Thor or superman. Death blows do seem arbitrary and this limits the amount of concern you feel for the characters. Obviously captain America isn't going to die but neither is nick fury or any other main character.
Why make it stop? If you don't like them the solution is simple, don't watch them. If they are being made they are being made for a reason, there's a market for them.
Make it stop?? Are you insane comic book movies aren't going anywhere buddy and I personally love them.....i think about a billion people would agree with me
Many of them are good movies. Especially the MARVEL ones. Superheroes is not just one genre, it would be similar to saying "PLEASE STOP MAKING MOVIES BASED ON BOOKS!"
Saw it in IMAX 3D. Totally not worth the bother. The 3D is underwhelming, dim, and didn't enhance the movie at all. I'll probably go see it in 2D to enjoy it more. (I sneeked a peek in the multiplex and it looked brighter and much more exciting.) Big movies like this deserve the best 3D treatment. Too bad.
Everyone here in the comments has seen the movie, including me and probably came here to here a discussion so WHY THE HELL DOES IT NEED TO BE SPOILER FREE??????
I've really grown sick of bens opinion; he despises all science-fiction/action/comic book movies and takes up entire reviews spewing his crap. I wish he'd just leave the show.
duane639 +Joshua JAMZ +Forscythe80 Spider-man's movie rights are owned by sony-columbia not fox. disney-marvel own the tv rights though. and Disney has the daredevil rights. and is devolping a netflix series that star daredevil iron fist and luke cage, that will tie into the movies.
duane639 I assume that marvel has his rights but there are no plans for him that I know of. the netflix thing is leading up to "the defenders" basically they are gonna be the street level hero team.
Ben claims the fighting was repetitive and that he craves gunplay, but in the film there were 3 weapons specialist, and their weapon of choice...GUNS. I kinda think Ben didn't see this film either.
He meant it in the sense that if you see someone shot in the head, or heart, you know that's it for them. In these fist fights, people get pummelled over and over, and you're just wondering which one is going to be the finishing blow, when it seems like any one of the hits could be.
Matt Goddard "people get pummelled over and over, and you're just wondering which one is going to be the finishing blow" It's still a petty/weird complaint. When Cap hits a foe with his shield...it's over. One doesn't have to do much "wondering" about the final blow. That's what's predictable. And the final scene didn't involve any of the stuff he's complaining about.
Marvel movies are starting to be way over hyped. Thor 1, Thor 2, Iron Man trilogy (except for the first one maybe) are all average at best movies. Even Avengers is not all that, more the hype of all those super heroes together than anything. No special acting, no special score, no lasting impact. I hope this movie is better.
I liked the movie, but I have a small, or not so small gripe with it. Again with the fucking nazis, when they said "heil hydra" I started to laugh. And I totally disagree with Alonsos analysis. This movie in my view doesnt question the US govt., it does the opposite because it again shifts the blame on nazis. Ironman does a better job of being critical of US policy than this. But I did enjoy the movie though.
'Captain America: The Winter Soldier' is the best of the 'Phase 2' Marvel movies by far. It felt like a complete film (unlike 'Iron Man 3' and 'Thor 2'). It was smart, engaging and fun to watch. With any luck, Marvel Studios will learn from this and make the 'Phase 3' franchises as smart and sophisticated as Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
Just a little something i noticed:
During the scene where Cap, Falcon, and Widow were interrogating the bald Hydra guy by throwing him off the building, his glasses impossibly don't fall off during his fall lol
Well actually I can imagine the glasses wouldn't fall off. Gravity pulls on things of different masses differently. Because of this feature of gravity, the glasses would fall at the same acceleration as the man they were attached to. Unless the glasses were remove or dislodge via some outside force such as him being snapped back up by the Falcon (which is largely dependent on how he is pulled up and how quickly), It is quite feasible that he could fall with his glasses still on his face. Not really an error, it is quite possible given the right conditions.
As someone who wears glasses full time, they don't fall off if you have them even slightly adjusted for your head correctly... As the guy didn't exactly look poor, I'm thinking he has so decent expensive ones, personally adjusted to his dimensions, so them falling off is very unlikely, even with a decent jerking stop like I'm sure he experienced when Falcon caught him...
Ben hated The Dark Knight so I don't tend to care about his comic book movie opinion lol
I loved this, I didn't much care for the first film but this one was excellent, played on very real fears of the right to privacy and drones killing without trial, it felt like a very real threat. Scar Jo had a great slice of this film to get her teeth into, the Falcon was incredible, the Pulp Fiction ref at the end was incredible...so much action, didn't skimp on the character development either...creative use of his shield...and the after credits intro Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver...9/10, great.
I think it's common knowledge that this movie was outstanding.
Glad they mentioned the different fighting styles of the characters. I especially liked the brief fight between the Black Widow and Winter Soldier. You could really see that she was really trying to KILL him, not just capture him, not just subdue him. You can really see that Widow is an assassin, as opposed to Cap, whose goal is to capture the bad guys.
Fury was hospitalized with injuries that made it believable that he had died.
Widow nearly bled out.
Bucky got his arm broken.
everyone Cap hit was either incapacitated for a while or never heard from again.
What the fuck is Ben talking about in reference to "people not getting hurt"? Does he not realize that Cap has SUPERHUMAN durability?
9:05 There was SO MUCH gun play in this move wtf? I felt that the action scenes were more grounded in "reality" than any other Marvel movie so far.
The more I watch these reviews, the more I suspect that Ben has a bias against action movies. He gives it a 6.5 with his only criticism being the action is repetitive? It is after all an action movie.
and he says that a lot with other comic book movies like Man of Steel, things being too repetitive
blackrock316 but man of steel was extremely repetitive, i get his point dude, i really do, all this fist fight is meaningless if nobody is going to get hurt by a punch
Arthur Coelho
I will say this,I can say with the Avengers they have done some repetitive stuff, I don't hear fans complaining about that. If you look at the fighting scenes for either DC or marvel animated films, they have some repetitive scenes in them when it comes to the fighting part, I don't complain about that. Plus I don't think Ben reads comics or is into comics, he said it himself I think when he did Thor 2 review since he didn't see the first one.
blackrock316 That's the thing about action movies... it's the only genre where according to critics, you can have too much of... well the genre. No one ever walked out of a comedy and said "Wow I laughed so hard, that was terrible" or came out of a drama and said "That was so dramatic, what a piece of shit" but apparently it's a totally acceptable criticism for action movies
Ben has a point, when you know the hero and villain aren't showing any signs of hurt, you wonder why either are even bothering.
~The First Avenger, The Winter Soldier, Civil War~ A Great Modern Movie Trilogy . . .
Oh good lord Mankiewicz....
Ben must have not had his coffee before seeing the movie. This movie was extremely entertaining and thought provoking. You never quite knew where a lot of the action scenes were going, which lead you to really pay attention, that's good action in my opinion.
A recommended thoughtful superhero movie commenting on the current political climate on fear-based military expansion.
Have to agree with Ben here. I was trying to think of what I found a little off about this movie and I have to say there's that sense of mindless fighting at times where there's no real tension and I never thought for a second that Cap was in any real danger. It got a little repetitious and the runtime of this movie could have been easily trimmed a bit from some unnecessary dialogue and repetitive fight scenes. That said, yes the choreography is awesome, but it lacked real tension and substance at times. The first Captain America movie was better I think, but this is still a good movie with some good political points to it. 7/10 for me. The movie's being over-hyped, but it's still worth seeing.
I wasn't ever really worried about Cap, and of course we all know they'll save the day because... really, that's the point, right? But... I absolutely HATE car chase scenes. And, I do NOT know what they did in this film, but they had me on the edge of my seat when they were going after Fury. I really thought they were going to kill him. (Although I had to tell you my first thought in the hospital--and you know when I mean-- was... Coulson?) Not sure if it was the way the sound was done (you could really hear the cars hit very individually, as they crashed, crisply) or the way they shot the scene? I also felt the same way when Winter Soldier was going after Black Widow. I think it had something to do with the camera work? I really don't know. But honestly this is the ONLY action movie I have EVER not wanted a fast forward button for the fight scenes, and where I ever felt at ALL emotionally invested.
I remember during Avengers being impressed because Whedon kept me from being bored because he didn't make the fight scene a long "car chase" --you could see the team develop as the scene played out, and it was actually relevant to the characters. Which was also quite interesting, but different than this.
Tarotiste
I generally don't like car chase scenes either, but I do have to admit that I liked the one in this movie. Fury looked like he was really screwed and it had me on the edge of my seat too. That said, I didn't much care for the car chase scene in Avengers though... I thought it was a little too sudden to place right at the beginning of the movie without much buildup and I didn't find the cinematography of it all that impressive. Still, there was plenty to like about Avengers in spite of that scene.
At the moment I can't remember which one you meant, I'm sure it's not the same one. I'm thinking of the really long fight scene near the end with Loki and the Chitauri. Normally I'd be bored spitless, but because there was an obvious change in their group dynamic throughout the fight, and there was interesting dialogue scattered throughout it, and you could almost physically see them gelling as a team... it was really cool. I remember thinking afterwards how really WEIRD it was that I didn't hate a fight sequence.
I almost feel a little guilty, I know they really work hard on choreography and spend billions on CGI and crap... but... nah, I just cannot wait til they're over and we can get back to STORY...
Having a bunch of gun fights seems more repetitive.
I am of arabian heritage, was born and raised in Germany and thus I have always been a little biased against Captain America. But after watching this movie I think hes the most badass Hero of all the Avengers. Thats how awesome this movie is..
WHY U HATE 'MURICA BEN!!!
HE CRAVES GUNPLAY!
IT WAS TOO BORING and REPETITIVE!
kingragnork Lol, you sure you watched the right movie?
their inner child is either dead or dying. i can pretty much say that to anyone who hates this and the avengers movie.
I completely disagree with Ben, i find gunfire to be reallllly boring and tedious.
Agreed. The last movie that I enjoyed with guns was Equilibrium.
Using guns glorifies them, is an easy solution and doesn't require as much choreography, effort or acting on the part of the actors. I don't understand his point at all. And to that point, my only quibble with the film at all involved when Cap got shot... how he "couldn't get up" to put that computer chip in and then not 5 minutes later was standing up and pulling up pieces of the building to try to save the Winter Soldier... that made no sense to me. So, if he got shot... and there were no guns... how exactly did that happen again?
Stephen freaking Strange
Lol its about time y'all uploaded your review. I saw this movie Thursday night! Its damn near perfect :-) 9/10
Guys you almost forgot to talk about robert redforfd, just till the very end!.. and the feel of the old spy movies this one has..this is the best marvel entry in my opinion
Ben is crazy.
Nah, I found my problems with it to be similar. Still an entertaining, good time.
Yeah Ben's score is far too low on this amazing film, but the man is entitled to his opinion.
yeah ben seems like the old whiny film critic, he doesnt enjoy kids movies or nerdy sci-fi genres.
I found the actual action scenes were shot too tight, and adding in the shaky cam made them really hard to track and engage with. I thought we were over shaky cam?
May I just say how refreshing it is to see that not only have u all seen the movie (thank you), but ur actually saying more positive than negative things (unusual but welcome). Way to go (although I'd hope this was more the rule than the exception)!
I do think these super hero movies suffer from this problem that it's really REALLY hard to intuit the stakes - especially when they're not explicit. That's something I love about Iron Man. Even though they take liberties with real physics, there's a regular guy in there. When Thor was crushing his arm plates, you get that instant feeling of 'oh shit, this could break his arms'.
I'm not sure that Captain America really suffered from that much though. Not as much as, say, Superman did. But it is something I'd like movie makers to consider. It's hard to write within restrictive rules, but it helps audiences engage with the action and the greater story.
I guess it depends on your life experience. I'm retired military and this film was pretty subtle, so what *I* got was that Steve Rogers was suffering from PTSD, and heartbreak from having essentially lost EVERYONE and everything he'd ever known. He's *dealing* with it, with humor and work... but it obviously hurts. They show him actually walking into a VA meeting where people are going to get help, and to visit Peggy who he loved and is now old and weak, while he's young and hale. How exactly is Superman's plight worse? Sometimes pain just is.
Tarotiste I'm talking about the stakes of the action. I actually enjoyed the story and characters of The Winter Soldier more than the action scenes, which is strange for an action movie.
The physical stakes in superman were almost impossible to track. The movements were so fast and yet none of the super heros seemed to be physically hurt that badly, beyond lying there for a minute to recover a bit. But then they'd be back hitting just as hard as if the beating they just took never happened. The Avengers handles this really well.
What movie did Superman suffer in? Don't say Man of Steel because that movie was terrible bad.
I think that's kind of what Ben was trying to get at; watching these people beat the shit out of each other when there is no physical consequence to them, it's kind of hard to care that Cap got punched in the face again...
I hadn't really put 2 and 2 together before now, but Dark Knight really did touch on the same NSA government overreach themes as Cap 2. The only difference is Dark Knight seemed to excuse them "just one time because the Joker's just so bad we need to spy on everyone", whereas Cap 2 actually has a firm position on it. No matter who is in charge of a huge spy-security mechanism for any purpose, it's wrong.
As Cap said: "This isn't freedom." Makes me like the movie even more.
I saw the movie last night and I loved it. It was so good totally exceeded my expectation.
How do you guys determine your numbers? Decimal points too! So precise!
Didn't see Iron Man 2&3, Thor 1&2 or Cap. America 1..Don't watch the T.v show either....But this one is a must see!!
Wow. I'm kinda shocked. I was fully expecting them to rip the movie a new one. I'm glad they tended to like it.
As an ex-soldier, we need more movies with super heroes going through the moral dilemma of following orders. I love marvel. I hope movies are the new visual comic book.
This Movie was amazing good, the fighting was amazing, damm I just feel bad for DC they really have to do something really amazing with their next movie
I just saw this movie an hour ago and have it was AWESOME!. It's one of if not the best Marvel movie ever made. And as Loki would probably say: "That's definitely worth a look."
I liked this sequel, only thing that I didnt like was the whole recycled Hydra plot, was abit silly and just uninspired. But other than that, was enough action, I luv Cap's more modern suit they've got it perfect now I think because its still totally in the style of the comic, but also doesnt look silly but actually very practical. And I do like how this sequel kind of has that nod to his classic Golden Age suit, its like a last fair well to that suit because that was cool also.
I don't disagree that on technical merits this movie is good. The only problem I had with it and movies of this genre...I've reached saturation point! That is just me of course, but I just can't take any more of these movies! I walked out of "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" feeling nothing...but boredom. I only went because there was literally nothing of note playing at any of the movie theatres in my city. I've already seen the few indie movies that are any good, and the choices where either an animated movie, a horror movie or this. This what moviegoing has been reduced to!
Now when this whole superhero trend took off once again back in 2000 with the first "X-Men" movie, I was excited and more than willing to pay up and see them with all the bells and whistles. The releases of these movies were spaced out enough that there was breathing room between them. But now it's just overwhelming, one after another, and if that is not enough they are starting to crowd television also. It's pure and simple a question of overload!
I think that I will give "X-Men: Days Of Future Past" a chance, seeing that I have followed this franchise and it's different off-shoots for more than a decade now ("X-Men: First Class" remains my favourite). But after this I am done. I just don't care anymore...I know that I am in the minority now, and that these movies seem bulletproof and infallible at the box office, that will change...and soon enough these movies will go the way of the dodo bird!
Remember when disaster movies and movies with aliens/alien invasions were all the rage...yeah now it's like "where are they now?". Well mostly they appear as a SyFy movie of the week!
Wait and see, the exact thing will happen to Marvel and everyone else, once audiences had their fill and will look for the next new thing...
I liked The Winter Soldier, but some of the action and fight sequences were tedious and numbing, as Ben said.
They could've cut some of hand-to-hand combat scenes a bit and focused more on character development and the government intrigue angle, which I thoroughly enjoyed.
Don't Watch this in 3D. Really one the worst films in 3D i have ever seen. The camera shakes way to much and in 3D it can get a little difficult what's going on during the fight and action sequences.
I was forced to see it in 3D due to scheduling issues of when I was available to see the film. I agree with you. The small gains you get in depth (it certainly feels converted rather filmed in 3D) are lost to the darker image you see through your glasses. It is a very enjoyable film though.
presterjohn71 Yup, same thing here. It was a fantastic movie, but the 3D was pretty much useless.
+basquat76 I could imagine, I saw it in 2D, and I just knew it had to be a nightmare in 3D......but I'm seeing Civil War in IMAX 3D. So I guess I'll figure out how it was
Thank you Ben, completely agree!!!!!
why cant Ben just have fun lol he never seems to enjoys movies ever.
For me the movie is really entertaining and the action secuences are very good (with the exception of the final fight between the Captain and the Winter Soldier, that scene was a little lazy and shaky) Getting into the 3/4 of the movie i was getting a liiiitle bored, then the movie lifts up again by the end with really good surprise moments. The movie is full of conveniencies and by the moment Redford appears you know is the bad guy, but in the end you leave the theatre entertained and pleased.
The gravitas feeling of the movie is good but not great and the mention of the germans working in USA post WWII is spot on.
Ben, welcome to Comic Book Movies.
It's about time the Russo brothers get some sort praise for their directing. Even their work on TV series like Community and Arrested Development were amazing.
This movie is amazing in IMAX 3D. This is the best Marvel movie since Iron Man
was it just me, or did anyone else miss them talking about that other dude in the title, The Winter Soldier?
I don't agree that it was that subtle but I was pleased overall.
I heard the words 'Civil War' and 'Marvel' in the same sentence......damn
How does the writing compare to The Bourne Ultimatum.
3:20 Fuck, Alonso had a vision
I just saw this today and I thought it was great. Also loved the post-credits scene setting up the villains for Age of Ultron. Unfortunately I was not aware there was going to be a second post-credits scene, and now I'm really mad. They need to fucking warn you, honestly.
This is the thing, they started off with putting a scene right at the end of the credits and that's what you need to expect; they then started putting in mid-credits scenes and that's what's confused people. When you go into a Marvel movie, you have to assume you're going to have to sit there until the screen goes completely black and the lights have come up.
As to the second scene, there was nothing particularly dramatic nor important, setting wise. Well, at least as far as I can tell without being a reader of the comics and an encyclopaedic knowledge of the Marvel-verse.
If you haven't seen it, nor read up on it:
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You're back in the Smithsonian Captain America exhibition, there's somewhat Inception-like music doing a build up as the camera pans around the room bringing the glass display tribute to Bucky into view and there's someone stood in front of it wearing a hoodie. Can't quite remember if the camera panned around and zoomed in, or if it just did a straight cut, but you see that it's Bucky looking at the picture of himself, obviously realising who he really is, then it just cuts to black.
Also those weren't the villains for the next Avengers film. That is Quicksilver and the Scarlett Witch.
Rule of thumb when going to a MARVEL movie....never leave until the lights turn on. you just never know
I'm 100% with Ben on this.
I am polar opposite to Ben...I like nothing he does & everything his disses is awesome
^ doesn't sound arrogant or ignorant at all...
Wow I couldn't even say that without feeling like an arse clown, how do you function like this everyday?
I really liked this movie
The main problem I've got is with what Alonso eludes to is not set up at all........if the other movies are connected to each other then surely there should have been little references to it. Didn't Tony Stark decrypt SHIELD's files in The Avengers? Surely he would've found something.
That said, this movie is great, the casting of Robert Redford is a nice touch.....screams "1970's government conspiracy thriller"
:)
littlemar22 O.K, then. It's not that big of a deal for me because it's very good movie anyway. It's just strange that if the marvel movies are connected then they could've set that up at least a little...... that's all - when it came out it was the best stand-alone marvel movie since the 1st Iron Man so it doesn't bug me that much
:)
I would really like to see a hulk movie where he isnt his own enemy. I dont know why they mess those up all the time. Not really on topic, but speaking about the marvel heros.
I enjoyed it immensely. I was somewhat disappointed that in the end it just resulted to be Hydra and that's all.. Truth be told I actually cried when he met the girl from the first movie and she's now really old and has dementia.
So you say it good, I want to see it but how does this movie compare to the first one because the train seen and the lair seen were my favorite parts in the first one. Is there any amazing action seens similar to that in this one, and does this film work well to fit in the series. I worry that yes it will be a great movie but it might not have any epic seens because in the frist movie, they made it seem like he was more like a batman short of carater and yet he did have powers, he was into helpping people and ending bad things in the world while being realitic as heck (in a great way)
They dont need to make captin america be more super hero, but keep him more like a person helping people. I just loved the fact that captin was more like a human more than all the other.
I just hope they dont mess up like they did with ironman 2 because even though the frist was good, the s3cond one was not as good.
My second question, is this a good date movie or would you say that its better to go in a group to see this movie.
Types of movies will have certain recurring elements, without them the movie will feel "off" or "missing the mark" so I don't think "repetitive" is a fair or even specific enough reason to not like this movie. It sounds like Ben might just be a bit jaded from all the superhero movies, which is a different problem altogether.
Usually i disagree with Ben but this time he has a point. The sad thing is that Raid 2 set the bar very high for action movies.
Fighting style makes a difference too though. Pencak Silat is so foreign to the western world that there was really no way that the Raid Redemption's fight sequences could be repetitive unless the choreographer and director completely didn't give a shit.
Barbara Gordon The Raid 2 shot most of their fight scenes with long shots, and some long takes, this one was shot with more of a Bourne style quick cutting system. I thought it worked really well sometimes (elevator fight), and not as well sometimes (the final fight scene).
Good film overall though.
Matt Goddard I think Iko Uwais does all of his stunts, making it easier to do long shots. The quick cutting system works better for doubles. Notice When Captain America and the Winter Soldier made physical contact/ when jabs connected you never saw the character/actor's face.
The Raid has great action scenes but only on a technical level, the story and characters are bland and I could care less about them and that's why I felt the scenes in that movie were repetitive because it was just fighting over and over. In this movie there are a lot of different scenarios with different situations that make it unpredictable and that makes it more fun to watch.
really 6.5.... dude your old
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I don't understand Ben. This was my favorite superhero movie EVER! And no I'm not American, I'm a so called "Socialist European" but I loved every second of it, and yes, the captains speeches about freedom totally made me tear up and I'm not ashamed to say it. My favorite marvel superhero so far with Tony Stark as a close second.
You don’t like it when people dislike a movie you love, is what you’re saying?
My biggest issue with the film was just how cliched it all was. Fury dying was groan worthy, as was his return. Seriously Hollywood, fuck off with the fake deaths; it's running characters actually dying since part of me assumed they're just gonna come back. Also that Black Widow face mask thing was god awful.
Oh, and fuck them and their 'we're super elite soldiers on a highly dangerous and critical mission but let's make small talk about dating in the middle of it' cliche.
"e crave gunplay"... hum, wasnt everyone using guns except cap?
most ridiculous thing ist that there is an arial battle at the end of every freaking marvel movie (exept thor maybe, cant recall that one)
This movie was fricking AWESOME. Easily one of the best movies i have seen.
As soon as he said 'Captain America 2' I knew he would trash on this movie.
He didn't trash it. He just addressed what he saw as its flaws. 6.5 is not a bad score, either.
Walter Kovacs ii
+Walter Kovacs Sorry, but his criticisms were trash. Fuck that guy.
I didn't really like this movie just because I find Captain America to be kind of boring and generic as far as superheroes go. I agree with the points they made about the action matching up well with their characters and I wish they would do that same thing with Spider-Man because he is a much more dynamic character that I find more relatable.
Liked this a lot my guy GSP was in the beginning giving Captain America hell.
I agree about the pg 13 point. Also captain America did feel almost as indestructible as Thor or superman. Death blows do seem arbitrary and this limits the amount of concern you feel for the characters. Obviously captain America isn't going to die but neither is nick fury or any other main character.
I believe we will see important character deaths take place in the Avengers films and not the standalone ones. Whedon likes to kill off characters.
According to IMDb, this is the 137th superhero movie since 1990... make it stop!!!
Why make it stop? If you don't like them the solution is simple, don't watch them. If they are being made they are being made for a reason, there's a market for them.
kalcaron
They also make shows about the Kardashians... there is a market for them too. But it doesn't make it a good thing.
TC Candler It doesn't make it a bad either, just something not to everyone's tastes.
Make it stop?? Are you insane comic book movies aren't going anywhere buddy and I personally love them.....i think about a billion people would agree with me
Many of them are good movies. Especially the MARVEL ones. Superheroes is not just one genre, it would be similar to saying "PLEASE STOP MAKING MOVIES BASED ON BOOKS!"
The most interesting thing will be seeing how the consequences of the story ripple through the Marvel movieverse
Be advised, Captain America is a complete badass, proven by this movie. Repetitive my ass!
He made a statement about his "retirement" that he's really taking a break and directing. Stay in tune guys!
Who I was asking the last questions in my last comment was matt (guy in the red shirt)
lol the winter soldier and black widow are always using guns
So is the falcon
I've been confusing Chris Evans and Ryan Gosling for the longest time now. Totally thought they were the same person.
Best gun fight ever is in Hurtlocker, Ben.
loved it 4.5 but the 3D was blurry garbage in action scenes
Saw it in IMAX 3D. Totally not worth the bother. The 3D is underwhelming, dim, and didn't enhance the movie at all. I'll probably go see it in 2D to enjoy it more. (I sneeked a peek in the multiplex and it looked brighter and much more exciting.) Big movies like this deserve the best 3D treatment. Too bad.
Everyone here in the comments has seen the movie, including me and probably came here to here a discussion so WHY THE HELL DOES IT NEED TO BE SPOILER FREE??????
jimmy2k4o I'm here for the exact same reason . they should do a spoiler free and a spoiler one for those who've seen it
I loved the movie.
I like these reviews and all, but those arbitrary scores, the 8.4's, the 7.9's, the 9.1's. Why 9.1, specifically?
The Nolan Batman movies were PG-13 and surprisingly bleak!
I've really grown sick of bens opinion; he despises all science-fiction/action/comic book movies and takes up entire reviews spewing his crap. I wish he'd just leave the show.
Is spider-man tied in to this marvel universe the other marvel movies are in?
Spider-Man's movie rights are owned by FOX, so don't hold your breath on seeing an appearance as much as we want it.
Joshua JAMZ Since Black Widow has been in movie after movie after movie, I keep expecting Matt Murdock to show up.
duane639 +Joshua JAMZ +Forscythe80 Spider-man's movie rights are owned by sony-columbia not fox. disney-marvel own the tv rights though. and Disney has the daredevil rights. and is devolping a netflix series that star daredevil iron fist and luke cage, that will tie into the movies.
Javo So, basically Marvel Knights. How about Moon Knight?
duane639 I assume that marvel has his rights but there are no plans for him that I know of. the netflix thing is leading up to "the defenders" basically they are gonna be the street level hero team.
I agree with him how PG-13 is killing the movies right now. How the hell can you make a horror movie PG-13
i am with ben here, too repetitive. and kind of bournesque...
You're dull if you didn't find the dilemmas and themes in the movie, it's incredible relevancy, compelling and intriguing.
this was as a great movie it is my favourite film of 2014 so far
Dark Knight like reviews. Awesome.
Ben claims the fighting was repetitive and that he craves gunplay, but in the film there were 3 weapons specialist, and their weapon of choice...GUNS. I kinda think Ben didn't see this film either.
He meant it in the sense that if you see someone shot in the head, or heart, you know that's it for them. In these fist fights, people get pummelled over and over, and you're just wondering which one is going to be the finishing blow, when it seems like any one of the hits could be.
Matt Goddard "people get pummelled over and over, and you're just wondering which one is going to be the finishing blow"
It's still a petty/weird complaint. When Cap hits a foe with his shield...it's over. One doesn't have to do much "wondering" about the final blow. That's what's predictable. And the final scene didn't involve any of the stuff he's complaining about.
Ben has admitted that he sometimes doesn't even remember the movies he has seen, so really, it's like he has maybe seen 5 movies.
There was a significant amount of gun play!
Ben is right about comic book movies being repetitive, and Matt and Alonso are just fanboys, unable to think critically about comic book movies.
The film's 3rd act is a mess, but I enjoyed it overall!!! 8/10.
The reviewer that gave it a low score must be a hydra agent lol
Just me or was there extremely little fanfare preceding this film's release?
Up there with the 'Avengers' movie.....
At least they didnt make the Winter Soldier, some bozo like they did with Mandarin in Iron man3.
The wanna be Quentin Tarantino guy is the Russian judge of movie critics
Marvel movies are starting to be way over hyped. Thor 1, Thor 2, Iron Man trilogy (except for the first one maybe) are all average at best movies. Even Avengers is not all that, more the hype of all those super heroes together than anything. No special acting, no special score, no lasting impact. I hope this movie is better.
4:42, thanks for the spoiler. Now everyone knows there's a big fight scene at the end of this Marvel movie. wtf.
Isn't Captain America a poster boy for performance enhancing drugs? Part three should be "Captain America: The Senate Hearings"
I liked the movie, but I have a small, or not so small gripe with it. Again with the fucking nazis, when they said "heil hydra" I started to laugh. And I totally disagree with Alonsos analysis. This movie in my view doesnt question the US govt., it does the opposite because it again shifts the blame on nazis. Ironman does a better job of being critical of US policy than this. But I did enjoy the movie though.
I agree. It starts off as a fairly powerful critique of imperialism and police states but in the end it's just hydra. *shrug*