Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Even though superhero movies are at a historic high point in both quality and commercial viability, the genre appears to be falling into a rut. They remain solid entertainment, but they’ve settled into a rather assembly line format. The first entry always follows the same arc: introduce the hero and their powers, bring in a bad guy, and have the hero defeat them. For sequels, they bring in a new villain or two, possibly add a personal problem for the main character, and have them overcome both by the end. Every superhero picture across all studios and comic lines follows this pattern, with the only exceptions being those that are meant as lead-ins to other films (like Thor for The Avengers).

Fortunately, Marvel seems to have noticed, and acted. Last year’s Iron Man 3 brought some substance by having the title character suffer PTSD. It still fit snugly into the standard sequel mold, but the film had a bit more dramatic weight as a result. But Captain America: The Winter Soldier not only breaks out of those parameters, it knocks down the whole Marvel Cinematic Universe structure and changes things completely. This is the first superhero film in a while that’s actually engrossing, rather than just an adequately entertaining distraction.

The film catches up with Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), still working for S.H.I.E.L.D. and still getting reacquainted with the present after his seven-decade frozen slumber. But when Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) is killed and S.H.I.E.L.D. becomes compromised, Cap and Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) find themselves on the run from both the agency and a master assassin known only as The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan).

That’s a rather lean synopsis, but saying any more would ruin the surprises, and there are a lot of them. What I will say is there’s a real sense of drama to the narrative and characters. All of them. Evans is as charismatic and righteous as ever, shining even brighter than before in such a dark and uncertain world. The new faces big and small are strong, and the villains effectively menacing. And the story finally has Johansson and (especially) Jackson play direct, meaningful parts, rather than relegate them to secondary characters or, in Jackson’s case, merely a thread to connect the franchise’s many entries. Fans of the comics who know what’s what will be pleased that the characters they love are utilized in equally strong roles, while those who’ve only seen the movies will get a yarn full of shocking and unexpected turns. Almost every plot development you expect in a comic book movie goes a different route, always for the better.

Winter Soldier is also the most politically astute blockbuster in years. A plot point involving S.H.I.E.L.D. gunships is clearly aimed at the United States’ drone policy. The main plot of a whole government agency being secretly under control sounds preposterous. But, is it so unbelievable amidst talk of a shadow government watching over our elected leaders? It’s potent stuff here and now, completely obvious yet also hidden in plain sight, a snapshot of our times but unspecific enough that the movie won’t become immediately dated.

But while at its heart the film’s a smart and compelling paranoid thriller, it’s also a Marvel movie, with all the hard-hitting action and humor that have made them so entertaining. Given, it also has all the flaws that come with that, like obvious plots holes, too-convenient plot resolutions, and a few eye-rolling lapses in logic. But the fact that it has intelligence, edge, and a sense of the times makes it so much better. Just when it looked like the modern superhero movie had started its decline, this makes it clear that at least Marvel may still have ideas left.

Then again, their next movie has a talking raccoon…