Captain America: The Winter Soldier (Disneycember)

(The Disneycember logo is shown, before showing a poster for Thor: The Dark World and one screenshot from that film)

Doug (vo): So I'm just gonna take a wild guess and say the comments in the last video I did, Thor: The Dark World, are probably not very positive. I'm also gonna take a guess that people are gonna say, "Well, what did you want? What were you actually looking for?"

(We are then treated to trailer clips and stills from Captain America: The Winter Soldier)

Doug (vo): Captain America: The Winter Soldier is what I was looking for. This is a sequel that had a previous film that was good and did a lot more with its premise than anybody would probably give them credit for. And the sequel dives even further into it. It takes the drama, it takes the characters, it takes the story, and it ups it to 10. When this film came out, nobody was expecting much. "Yeah, it looked like it'd be fun. Okay, let's go in and see Captain America kinda do his thing. You know, it's...not Avengers, but I'm sure it'll be good." Everyone was blown away by how much work and effort went into this one. The development, the twists and turns, the action...holy smokes! This is actually a great comic book movie.

Story

Doug (vo): Captain America returns in modern-day Washington, D.C., where he finds he's still having trouble fitting in, but not in the ways that you'd think. It's not the "tee-hee, ha-ha, what's this thing I don't recognize", it's him trying to deal with the fact that a lot of the people he knew are gone. It actually opens with him visiting his old girlfriend who's mentally and physically fading away. And you know what? It's kind of a tearjerker. (A picture of young Peggy Carter and the poster for the ABC series, Agent Carter, are shown) This is a woman who was really likeable in the first film, has her own show right now, (Back to the film) and then suddenly to see her like this? It's sad! You really friggin' feel something for this. But that's not where it stops. S.H.I.E.L.D., it looks like, is being taken over...by the same people that tried to stop Captain America in the first film. Nick Fury is dead, and the Captain is told not to trust anybody, so he goes rogue. He gets a few people to join him, including Black Widow, and it's a chase to not only outrun S.H.I.E.L.D., but also stop that evil organization, now known famously as (Whispers) HYDRA, while also trying to figure out the story behind their newest weapon, the Winter Soldier. I think most of the people know what the story is behind this guy, but I'm not gonna ruin it.

Review

Doug (vo): Okay, so this is about as standard, a filler, in-between plot that you can get. The idea of being chased down by the people you worked for is recycled. The evil organization from the first film, literally recycled. A lot of these characters you've seen before, some from their own TV show, yeah, this seems about as recycled as you can get. But again, in this movie, it's not the subject, it's the delivery. The atmosphere and the pacing is so good that whenever there's a new twist or turn, it feels like a big deal. You're surprisingly really invested in what's going on with a character that a lot of people found kind of uninteresting originally, because it knows what to talk about to make him interesting. It talks about how he has a hard time fitting in, it talks about how he has a hard time figuring out who's on his side and who isn't. It takes the fact that he is such a boy scout to its advantage. Because he likes working for people and he likes doing good, the idea that he hasn't been doing good or is going to continue not to do good is something that would make him feel really bad and you would feel the turmoil in that. He's fighting for something you know he would fight for and, hey, you would probably fight for, too.

(A still showing a cameo by Senator Stern from Iron Man 2 is shown, before resuming showing clips and stills)

Doug (vo): There's a scene with Garry Shandling that's actually a creepy scene. Yeah, a creepy scene with Garry Shandling, somehow this movie made that work. And when you do find out who the Winter Soldier is, it creates a lot of emotional baggage. It's interesting because you feel their connection, and that's what this movie does. It takes all this standard stuff and you feel for it. They know the right elements to focus on, they know where to put the emphasis. It's also nice to see Black Widow and Captain America working as a team. Yeah, she still hasn't gotten her own movie and clearly she deserves it, but if we're not going to get it anytime soon, the more we can see of her, the better, and she's great as always.

(One of the film's main villains, the Winter Solder, is shown in several stills)

Doug (vo): If I did have one nitpick, and it really is a nitpick, I'd say I could've used a little bit more with the Winter Soldier. Don't get me wrong, it's good. But I think because the rest of the film was so strong and I was so invested, I wanted a little bit more of a rivalry there. Now, you do care, but not as much you do a rivalry between someone like Batman and the Joker or Superman and Lex Luthor. And I know. Those are different kind of relationships, but those also made the films feel so much bigger, and I wanted this to feel as big as possible because, hey, it kind of got on the right step. This could be one of the great, big, grand comic book movies. But I think because the relationship can't be delved with too much because of all the other things going on, it sort of holds back a little bit from that. But again, it's a super-big nitpick.

Final thought

Doug (vo): Everything else in this movie is really, really solid, I'm actually amazed at how good they made this. It clearly was just supposed to be a filler film, but they did their damnest to make it as amazing as possible. This is taking the idea of a superhero and developing him even more, even one that a lot of people didn't find that fascinating. It took something standard and it made it intriguing. That's what a good sequel is supposed to do. Good action, good story, good characters, it hits everything. Suit up, 'cause it's one hell of a ride.

(A scene showing Steve fighting the Winter Soldier is shown)