Captain America: The Winter Soldier review: How does it impact Infinity War?

Credit: Marvel Studios/Walt Disney Pictures; from Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

What worked?

Chris Evans already proved himself the ideal Steve Rogers/Captain America twice-over with The First Avenger and The Avengers (2012). Winter Soldier, however, gives him much more to work with. There are moments where he displays charming levity, such as his run around the National Mall which opens the film. It’s also a chance for him to show his dramatic side, too. The scene where Steve visits an elderly Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), and the sense he’s had this conservation with her more than once, is appropriately bittersweet. All throughout, he remains dignified and low-key, without a shred of falseness in his performance.

Credit also goes to Sebastian Stan as the eponymous Winter Soldier. Although he has very little dialogue, he has the harder task of coming across as a relentless, near-unstoppable human killing machine. Not only does he convey that sense of remorseless menace, but of someone under constant physical pain and quiet, confused rage.

Scarlet Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson, and Cobie Smulders do decent jobs reprising their roles as Black Widow, Nick Fury, and Maria Hill. Anthony Mackie and Frank Grillo as Sam Wilson and Brock Rumlow are also welcome additions. I’d be remiss, of course, if I didn’t also mention Robert Redford. This film is one of the few times the award-winning actor and director plays a villain, even a sophisticated one like Alexander Pierce, and proves he’s good at it. What’s makes the performance effective is how Redford doesn’t make Pierce’s maliciousness so obvious. Instead, he’s calm, attentive, even conciliatory at times. Thus, he feels all the more dangerous because of how sincere he is.

This leads into the first of Winter Soldier‘s two big twists. I know I wasn’t ready for the return of Toby Jones’ Arnim Zola, or the revelation about S.H.I.E.L.D.’s connection with Hydra, the first time I saw this movie. Watching it again, it’s still impressive how this twist sneaks up on you and makes perfect sense within the film’s context, while also logically building upon The First Avenger. That it also plays into themes about liberty versus security makes it crucial for the story as well. Not to mention plays upon virtually every single conspiracy theory you can imagine.

Finally, Winter Soldier boasts some of the best action set-pieces in all the Marvel Studios filmography. That’s because, when possible, the Russo Brothers favored practical effects and stunt work. Thus, scenes such as the ambushing of Nick Fury, the elevator fight, and Winter Soldier’s highway attack carry a real sense of urgency and tension rare in modern comic book movies. There’s still plenty of CGI, of course, especially during the film’s climax, but it never overwhelms the senses, and always in service to the story.

Little wonder then why Marvel Studios hired the Russo Brothers to direct the sequel after the test screening of this movie. They managed to make even Batroc the Leaper look cool.