Captain America: The Winter Soldier

The wife and I went and saw Captain America: The Winter Soldier tonight. It was fantastic.

The cast was large enough that I felt bad that there were only two specific characters mentioned in the title. I think it would be very difficult to come up with a title that would be more inclusive. I mean, Captain America has to be there. He's the main character. You can't call it, "Some of the Avengers," because there are only two in the movie, and that would leave out the Falcon (he was perfect, by the way). You could just call it "A Day in the Life of S.H.I.E.L.D.," but that would leave out the Captain. It's a conundrum.

The Winter Soldier, as a character, was executed perfectly. He has a great look. The costume, the arm, his mask; all perfect. He gets a good character arc. He is a good foil for the main character.

The Falcon was awesome. When they introduced him I started smiling. My smile grew wider with every scene he was in he stole. His action scenes in the air were rather breath-taking. Just a great character on-screen. Really executed well.

The Black Widow. I liked her a lot in the movie. Her character had more depth than she's had before. I almost wish they had included Hawkeye, as he and the Black Widow really had good chemistry in the Avengers, but that would have been too many characters.

Brock Rumlow aka Crossbones in the comic books. When I finally figured out who he was I just about squeed. Really. It would have been embarrassing. Added a lot to the movie. Can you imagine being the guy who got his part. You read the script, find out his name, do a web search, find out more about the character from the comics and realize, "They're going to bring me back for more movies." That would be a great moment.

Georges Batroc. Batroc the Leaper. More bad-ass than he's ever been in the comic books! Wish he had more screen time.

Really, I think this sequel was a great action movie, even if you don't get all the extra nuances that come from knowing who all these characters are. The plot twists make sense. You get all the excitement and suspense of a Bourne movie. You watch a great bunch of actors working together to create a cohesive film. You get a contained story that still provides elements for the larger Marvel cinematic story. When you think of all the elements that the film's creators had to juggle and blend, this movie could have been a mess. It wasn't. It was a lot of fun.

What more could you want?