Production for CAPTAIN AMERICA:
THE WINTER SOLDIER snarled Cleveland
traffic for an entire month last summer.
Directors (and Shaker Heights natives) Anthony and Joe Russo (WELCOME TO
COLLINWOOD) clogged several main arteries and major intersections in hopes of
capturing a bit of the superhero celluloid magic that’s become standard for
Spring / Summer blockbusters over the last fifteen years. Were the rush-hour headaches worth it?
Depends on who you ask. The movie—the latest installment in Marvel’s ongoing
AVENGERS-related saga (and third major superhero flick partly shot in C-Town,
counting SPIDER-MAN 3)—won’t sway those who
never cared much for cartoon heroes, comic books, or the lure of Hollywood
spotlights in the first place.
I get that the tie-ups and detours sucked. My main office is downtown, right where a lot of the action in CAP 2 transpires. But I grew up
watching superhero cartoons and collected comics (mostly Marvel titles) in the
‘80s, so it’s been a surreal, if belated (and somewhat guilty), pleasure
watching pen-and-ink pulp legends like Spider-Man, Wolverine, and Punisher
light up the big screens in ways we never thought possible when I was a
kid.
My enthusiasm stems not merely from
the fact that CAP 2 is a solid AVENGERS
“Phase Two” entry with requisite action bits and assorted eye-candy, but also
from the film’s standing as one of the best superhero films ever made (which I
understand is saying a lot, so soon after THE DARK KNIGHT RISES and MAN
OF STEEL). With this picture, the
Brothers Russo turn in not only a hefty hunk of lip-smacking escapist
entertainment, but one whose story and themes address important elephant-in-the-room issues about our supposed “free” existence in a post-911
world.
Two years have passed since THE
AVENGERS, wherein Earth’s mightiest heroes (Iron Man, Captain America,
Thor, Hulk, etc.) thwarted an alien attack on New York
City. We caught
up with “billionaire, playboy, philanthropist” Tony Stark in IRON MAN
3 and the God of Thunder in THOR: THE DARK
WORLD. Now, with CAPTAIN AMERICA:
THE WINTER SOLDIER, we reconnect with everyone’s favorite star-spangled Super Trooper.
Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) is
still acclimating to 21st century life after being defrosted from seven
decades of hibernation at the end of CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER. We learn he’s chronologically 95 years old, but
he looks 27 and (thanks to an injection of super-serum back in the 1940’s)
boasts the physique of an Olympic athlete.
Cap’s grown comfortable with his enhanced speed and strength (and runs
Bionic Man-like laps around his Washington, D.C.
environs), but he’ll need more time to absorb the social and technological
advancements of the Internet age. He
lives in a modest apartment (next to a suspiciously curious nurse) and still
listens to swing music. When people
suggest something of cultural import for Steve to check out (like a Marvin Gaye
album or ROCKY movie), he pencils it in an old-school notebook, not an
iPod.
In one of the film’s few truly
poignant scenes, Steve’s reunited with World War II love interest Peggy Carter
(Hayley Atwell), who is now elderly and bedridden. During the misty-eyed exchange, we learn
Cap’s “best girl” helped launch counter-terrorist organization S.H.I.E.L.D
before her retirement from the Strategic Scientific Reserve. Cap’s been working for that agency—now headed
by Director Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson)—ever since they thawed him out, but a
nighttime raid on a merchant vessel seized by Algerian pirates sets in motion a
chain of events that eventually reveals a legion of double-agents buried deep
within S.H.I.E.L.D.’s rank-and-file.
The power-brokers on the World
Security Council have developed itchy trigger fingers in light of the national
(and global) security risks exposed in New York. They demand proactive counter-terrorism,
encourage preemptive military strikes and—during a holographic
conference—badger Council President Alexander Pierce (Robert Redford) into
deploying three massive S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarriers as part of “Project Insight.” Bristling with surveillance equipment and
artillery, the carriers will identify and “neutralize” anybody, anywhere who rouses
government suspicion. Naturally, idealistic
Cap is squeamish about the dole-out-punishments-before-the-crime thing.
“This isn’t freedom,” he deadpans,
surveying a cavernous warehouse of weaponry.
“This is fear.”
Fury reminds Steve they don’t
have the luxury of waiting for terrorism to occur. “We take the world as it is,
not as we want it to be,” he says. But
the line separating good from evil is blurred when a regiment of assassins
(disguised as D.C. metro police) ambushes Fury in his SUV. The hit-men have a super-powered leader who,
like Cap, hails from yesterday: The
shadowy, mechanical-armed Winter Soldier. Steve senses something familiar about the
fellow, and it’s nothing to do with the moppy hair, dark eyes, and ill
temper—all of which render Winter Soldier something of a Nine Inch Nails
dropout.
Cap and fellow Avenger Natasha
“Black Widow” Romanoff (Scarlett Johannson) are declared fugitives by their
S.H.I.E.L.D. employers, and their former S.T.R.I.K.E. team associates—headed by
brawny Brock Rumlow (Frank Grillo)—relish the chance to hunt the heroes down.
Steve suspects a computer flash
drive confiscated from the steamship thugs might provide answers. The data leads to an abandoned (but eerily
familiar) army base outside New Jersey, in whose secret underground lab a
certain ex-nemesis has had his cerebral functions electronically
preserved. Steve and Nat start
unraveling the mystery behind the agency they thought they knew, but an air
strike nearly obliterates the ambiguously romantic couple.
Fortunately, Steve’s taken in by
jogging buddy Sam “Falcon” Wilson (Anthony Mackie), an Iraqi serviceman who reconciles
his own war guilt by counseling other PTSD-afflicted veterans. Sam agrees to help Steve and Natasha
infiltrate S.H.I.E.L.D. and prevent the Helicarriers from triangulating and raining
death along the East Coast by donning an experimental rocket pack and Da
Vinci-esque wings. Steve, Nat, and
Sam—now in full-on Cap, Black Widow, and Falcon mode—are each assigned a
carrier to disable and given a microchip to stop the timers. The only thing standing in their way is,
well, everything and everyone—unless Cap can convince the world otherwise.
Charged with Cold War-like
paranoia, CAP 2’s darker first half
out-muscles the incendiary—but less substantive—second. It’s not easy maintaining continuity in the
increasingly unwieldy Marvel cinematic universe, but the Russos and their writers
somehow distill a lot of comic-borne mythology into one brisk, engaging caper
replete with jaw-dropping car chases, shootouts, and fistfights. Colbie Smothers is back as S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent
Maria Hill. Vice President Rodriguez
(Miguel Ferrer) and Senator Stern (Gary Shandling) reprise their IRON MAN
roles (with the latter wringing an additional chuckle from a lapel pin joke). LOGAN’S
RUN hottie Jenny Agutter returns as a World
Council Member, and Marvel head honcho Stan Lee makes another now-obligatory
cameo. And the Russos do a nice job calling back Cap’s personal journey in each of his first two appearances via
flashback and clever exposition: If you
forgot what happened the first time out, the film’s built-in visit to the
Captain America Smithsonian exhibit will bring you up to speed on his origins.
We were impressed with the
staging and choreography of the many fight scenes, all of which evince the
combatants’ hyper-athleticism and martial arts training. The brawls happen fast and suffer from a bit
of shaky cam syndrome on screen, but at least the Russos honor the laws of
superhero physics: When the
physiologically superior Captain America strong-arms a “normal" human henchman
or kicks a crook, they go flying as if blindsided by Mack trucks. Steve isn’t bashful when it comes to using
firearms and cutlery (he pins a gunman’s hand to a wall with a knife) but his
go-to accessory is still his trademark shield, which he boomerangs off
bulkheads and ricochets off rafters.
Black Widow, Falcon, and Fury get their licks in, too, and it’s
downright giddy. We lost count of how
many times people jumped off building or were blown through windows. The automobile incursions are executed with
the proper balance of merriment and finesse, and Cap’s elevator fight here
surpasses John McClane’s bloody escape from the “lift” at the Federal Reserve
in DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE.
Cleveland
comic fans will drool at the number of downtown buildings and landmarks on
display. The slugfest between Cap and
Winter Soldier on Lakeside will turn the Justice
Center’s front plaza into a tourist
attraction. Cap’s blown through a bus
beneath the Shoreway overpass on W. 3rd (and almost reduced to Swiss
Cheese by bullets). The Fairview
Bridge is the setting for a spectacular
motorcycle getaway, but is barely recognizable post-CGI
effects. The intersection of E. 9th
and Euclid may now be regarded as
Marvel’s “ground zero” for mayhem (look for the Capital Building digitally
painted in where Cleveland State’s
Fenn Tower
would be).
But what resonates most about
CAPTAIN AMERICA:
THE WINTER SOLDIER is not its abundance of munitions, but its mature handling of
trust and loyalty in tumultuous political times. The plot reminds us that sometimes the real
“villains” might ride in squad cars decorated with slogans like “To Protect and
Serve,” or might even hold seats in Congress.
Bona fide “heroes” can pop up anywhere.
It’s just a matter of doing the right thing when it counts most.
Bravo, Russos.
Oh, and be sure to hang out past the first few credits for a sneak peek at two potential new AVENGERS. 3 out of 4 stars
Oh, and be sure to hang out past the first few credits for a sneak peek at two potential new AVENGERS. 3 out of 4 stars
I liked this one even more than you, Pete. Maybe not as much fun as 'The Avengers', but I think this is the best overall movie Marvel studios has made to date.
ReplyDeleteDoes this mean they're done filming it, and the roads are open again? I was in danger of being one of those mummified corpses later found trapped inside my house.
ReplyDelete