Captain America: The Winter Soldier Movie Review

Summer has come early.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier is directed by Joe and Anthony Russo and sees Chris Evans reprise his role as "cap" for the third time, in a movie which is a sequel to the Avengers and the first movie Captain America: The First Avenger. The film follows Captain America who's trying to settle into his new life in the 21st Century, who is working various top secret missions for SHIELD. However, when an unlikely enemy threatens the security of the world, it's up to the cap and Black Widow to save the world.

The film may surprise you in that it isn't actually a comic book action flick but is rather at its strongest when it is a spy/espionage movie. The Winter Soldier is the best movie to come out this year by far and is probably the best movie within this cinematic universe which isn't the Avengers.

The fact that the writers and directors decided to make this film a little bit differently by making an espionage movie is just genius in my opinion. Not only is it new territory in a universe which continues to expand, but the plot is so dynamic and so interesting. I was so caught up in this story and when certain reveals happened which evolved the plot, I was genuinely surprised by them.

It is also probably the smartest written Avengers "set-up" movie again down to a plot which plays on the idea that Captain America should really think about what characters to trust. The film brilliantly brings in elements from the first Captain America movie, has a few small nods to the Avengers and also has a lot of plot elements which drastically change the Marvel universe.

I wanted this movie to invigorate my passion for Captain America because while I liked him, I thought that Iron Man and Hulk were the ones that really shone in the Avengers. Within 5 minutes of the film that passion was invigorated, during an incredible action sequence which sees him board a vessel full of pirates. As soon as he does, he literally kicks someone metres into the air and stealthily takes out the rest of them aboard this ship. Chris Evans, of course, kills it as Captain America.

And that ship-boarding sequence is one of many fantastic action sequences which I thought were just amazing. There's a car chase sequence, an elevator scene and of course the final action piece of the film which I thought were filmed expertly by the directors, as they really did a good job at putting you within the action as it is happening. Its a good looking movie.

I also loved what they did with the characters of Nick Fury and Black Widow, both played convincingly well by Samuel L Jackson and Scarlett Johansson. Both characters change sufficiently from the opening scene to end credits, meaning there is sufficient character development.

I won't finish the review by not talking about him; The Winter Soldier. The film sees Captain America try and adjust to modern life, development with Nick Fury and Black Widow, a plot that sees big reveals within the Marvel universe and sees numerous clever twists and turns, and on top of all that you have the Winter Soldier, the biggest badass in Marvel history. There I said it.

I loved how they used him as an important plot device because you actually do care about him. He really is one of my favourite aspects of the film.

If I have complaints then they're only minor ones. Once or twice the plot slows down from it's wicked pace and also I think that some characters were a little under used, particularly the Falcon. Anthony Mackie did a great job with him and I would love to see him in Avengers: Age of Ultron.

If I haven't already expressed how much I enjoyed and loved this movie already, I will now. The Winter Solider is fantastic, it's incredibly enjoyable and an impressively well made film. Go and see it, please:


Rating - A


1 sentence summary - Impressively filmed and cleverly written, The Winter Soldier is a great and enjoyable entry into Marvel's cinematic universe, and is probably one of the best.


Thanks for reading,
Matt

RoboCop Movie Review

January releases are finally out of the way, so let' sit back and pray that February has more to offer in terms of quality. First up is Robocop...

Robocop is the science-fiction remake movie which retells the story that had become so popular due to the success and cult-following of the 1987 original. This time the story is re-mastered and given a new spin. The film follows enthusiastic cop and family-man Alex Murphy, who unfortuanetly sustains fatal wounds when a group of criminals try to kill him using a car bomb. In order to survive, the remnants of his body are combined with a mechanical suit, thus he becomes Robocop. He is half man, half robot, all cop.

To my surprise Robocop isn't actually that bad! I was shocked to find myself enjoying this movie so much, despite all of it's flaws. The movie excels when it doesn't take itself too seriously when it becomes a fun action movie, which is refreshing to see because my expectations for this flick were initially very low.

Boasting a very creditable cast with the likes of Samuel L Jackson (who brilliantly plays a satirical news reporter), Michael Keaton (the villain and owner of Omnicorp; Robocop's creators) and Gary Oldman (a scientist), who actually delivers the movie's best performance in my opinion. All are good in their respective roles because they don't take things too seriously, and have fun with the film.

Robocop himself has an awesome looking suit and the action sequences all play out pretty well. What I was also surprised with was the amount of detail they went into to flesh out the characters. Their motivations are always understood, plus Robocop himself is a more complex character in this movie. The plot explores the balance between how human/robotic Robocop is. If he's too robotic, his family and friends are completely ignored and he becomes an emotionless vessel, yet he becomes an incredibly efficient cop (access to the entire city's CCTV and criminal records doesn't do him any harm either!). The same can be said vice versa. All in all, it makes the movie more interesting from a character stand point, which makes up for the lack of initial emotional attachment.

However this brings me on to my first criticism. I was never really that emotionally invested in the struggles of Alex Murphy or is family. Rather, I was enjoying the concept of the story along with the fun action sequences. Also, the film does slow down in the middle and the plot accelerates without it ever really progressing for about half an hour, which is irritating because you want to see Robocop fighting crime on the streets!

The directing is fairly good and some of the action is nice to watch. However, the movie could have benefited more from a steady directing style as some of the sequences are nauseating to say the least! I understand that they want to make the movie feel hands on as if you're following Robocop through hallways taking out the bad guys, but for me a steadier hand would have been much appreciated.

Joel Kinnaman plays Robocop and he's ok. However, at times it does show that this is his first major role in Hollywood as some of his reactions are pretty darn bad. He'll improve with age, but in this movie sometimes it is unfortuanetly laughable some of the acting he delivers.

The beginning 10 minutes of the movie was fantastic, with Samuel L Jackson reporting to us (as a TV presenter) about the use of robots to police people in other countries. Then the classic Robocop tune kicks in, which I really thought should have been used a lot more in the film because there are some musical choices which detract from the film in some scenes.

Robocop to my surprise is still a fun movie to watch. It has many flaws but when it gets good it borders into greatness at times, and is strongest when it avoids being overly dramatic and becomes a fun action flick:


Rating - B-


1 sentence summary - Flawed but fun, a good time once you see past it's flaws!


Thanks for reading,
Matt