The Avengers (Marvel) franchise continues to have legs with yet another character chapter, this time focussing on the all-American good guy, Captain America (Chris Evans).
Having been defrosted some 60 years after his first mission, Captain America is adjusting to modern life; but these are not such simple times. Compared to his youth where it was the patriots against the foreign threat, today it seems knowing who to trust is more complex.
SHIELD wants Captain America to commit as an agent, but he isn’t so sure their motives are pure. When he was a young soldier, he fought against forces trying to dominate the world through advanced weaponry, and he wonders whether SHIELD should have as much power as it does in setting the global agenda.
A mission to retrieve stolen data raises more questions for him, but when SHIELD’s leader, Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson), is hunted down by an old soviet enemy, Cap finally has a bad guy he can go after with a clean conscience—or can he?
Joined by sultry fan-fave, the Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Captain America must revisit his past to determine whom he will be fighting for in the future; and the poster-boy of pure must get a little dirty to dig up the truth.
Like its predecessors, this latest Marvel superhero film is bursting with action, top-class special effects and a cast that most would envy. The additions of Robert Redford as SHIELD bureaucrat Alexander Pierce, and Anthony Mackie as ‘The Falcon’, add to the familiar characters we’ve come to know and love.
Personally, I find the Nazi storyline that defines the Captain America narrative a little ideologically overworn, but fans of the comics will expect nothing less. All in all, Captain America: The Winter Soldier is another quality addition to a Marvel universe franchise that continues to succeed where others fail.
It’s a lot of fun, and fairly clean fun at that.
Directed by: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
Starring: Chris Evans, Samuel L Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Robert Redford
Rating: TBC
Runtime: 2 hours, 17 mins
Release Date: April 3
Reviewer rating: 3.5/5