Why I Saw It: A well reviewed summer popcorn movie in April? Do I even need to explain my reasoning?
Cast: It took me a while to see Chris Evans as Captain America and not "that guy who was also Johnny Storm" and now that I have, he's about as natural a fit as you could hope for. It's really the grace notes about the character that he plays so well. He's a completely genuine character and impossible to root against. For god's sake, he's a genetically altered super soldier and he still bothers to exorcize. Scarlett Johansson gets her meatiest role yet as Black Widow and nails it. Especially since getting the Whedon treatment in The Avengers, Black Widow is hot as hell but also a fully functioning character. Anthony Mackie is the black sidekick that seems to be virtually required these days and does well with it. Robert Redford actually tries in his role when he could've relied on gravitas alone. Samuel L. Jackson gets to play Nick Fury as a character rather than an exposition delivery system. Cobie Smulders is there in the periphery being awesome. Revenge fans should be warned, Emily VanCamp is in the movie but barely. Clearly, there's future plans for her.
Plot: Captain America fights against a police state is what this boils down to. Without getting into too many details, S.H.I.E.L.D goes a little Big Brother crazy and the Captain's crew has to save S.H.I.E.L.D from itself...sort of. Regardless of the specifics and plot twists, the social commentary is pretty think, but certainly played as allegory more than overt comparisons to real life, which I appreciated. It never forgets that it is an action movie though which has at times been the biggest issue of the Phase 2 movies so far. Oh, and I can't forget The Winter Soldier. He's awesome! In the "match for our hero" sense, he's the best villain from Disney's Marvel Universe (Loki, of course still holds the distinction as "Best Marvel Villain"). They don't use the Winter Soldier as much as the title would suggest but it was the right amount for the movie.
Elephant in the Room: I hear this one is a little more violent. Absolutely. I haven't done the match but the human head count for this movie is probably more than the 7 movies that came before it. The movie doesn't bother keeping characters around any longer than it must and it doesn't force Captain America to have any qualms about doing what he must. He's a soldier after all. If people are shooting at him, he'll shoot back (or rather, launch his shield like a discus). Which reminds me, the movie does a fantastic job of showing the Captain's sheer power. He doesn't just hit. He pummels. He blasts through doors like that are paper walls. He falls 50 feet and lands running. He's a super hero, not a really strong guy.
To Sum Things Up:
Marvel has handled Phase 2 interestingly so far. Iron Man comes to terms with his own Mortality. Thor tries to understand in what world he belongs. Here, Captain America figures out his role in the world he's in now and I'd say, of the three, this has done the best job overall. As much as this is part of a larger cinematic universe, it functions completely as a good action movie. While Tony Stark is the character that jumped of the page the quickest, Steve Rogers is the one who has most developed over time.
More than I could say for Iron Man 3 or Thor 2, now I'm really excited for the next Avengers movie.
Verdict (?): Strongly Recommend
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