Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Movie Review | Top 5 MCU Film?

”Captain America: The Winter Soldier” is a Top 5 
MCU movie as of this moment recording this video.  
Don’t believe me? Let’s get into the review!
 
How are we doing everybody, this is Let’s B 
Reel with Brad. Today, on our MCU Mondays,  
we will discuss the 10th film chronologically 
with “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.”  
This film is a top 5 MCU film because it totally 
refines the MCU in such a meaningful way, with its  
storyline affecting all the other movies to come. 
It also sets up the more severe action-packed tone  
making many of these upcoming films less cheesy 
comic book movies and legitimate superhero movies  
that can be taken seriously.
This movie’s most significant accomplishment  
is that it is a fresh, memorable, 
and unique movie because of its tone  
and the way it tells its story. This feels 
like an espionage spy movie taken quite  
seriously throughout, which mostly leads to 
positives except for a few negatives.
 
The story itself is what I like the most because 
it does change the whole franchise as a complete  
moving forward—the S.H.I.E.L.D. Organization is 
a significant part of the comic books that has so  
much history behind it. However, S.H.I.E.L.D. 
has been compromised, making for an exciting  
storyline that adds a stakes level, a first 
for the MCU. Yet, on rewatch and with other  
Marvel films being released, the re-watchability 
has gone down because you know what happens with  
these characters and events in later films, 
but I still think it manages to

keep you on
edge throughout. Captain America’s arc, which is
the entire movie’s backbone, is easily my favorite
aspect. Steve Rogers has always been known for
his patriotic soldier mentality being loyal to
the core, but since he has come back from being
frozen in ice, he doesn’t understand the new world
that he is in. The whole movie has to continually
challenge those views throughout, seeing that
loyalty and patriotism being questioned.
Steve does start to become one of the
most compelling characters in the series due to
philosophical changes. He starts to not trust the
people he cares about, making him a more enjoyable
and complex character. We get introduced to the
Winter Soldier, who is a fantastic villain
being a menacing and terrifying foe to Cap
all throughout this film. He doesn’t crack jokes
or any one-liners, just a one minded psychotic
killer that added to the intense tone this movie
took. Many comic book fans already knew who the
winter soldier was, but this is a big twist
that I know many have enjoyed for ordinary
everyday people. Even if you are a comic book
fan, the reveal was executed perfectly, which
satisfied everyone. The final big battle sequence
was unique from the previous Marvel films, which
I enjoyed more. It had more than just the last
fight with the villain at the end of the movie.
It felt like stakes were involved with the
ending, leaving many exciting unanswered
questions that get you too excited for the next
few movies to come. It was executed well as I
wished more Marvel films took this route.
The acting is also pretty good in this film,
with Chris Evans back in Captain
America’s role, killing it as usual.
Samuel L Jackson again returns as Nick Fury
with having his most significant role yet,
which I think he was incorporated perfectly into
this movie. Scarlett Johansen was also in the film
back as Black Widow giving a solid performance.
Everyone else in the movie is solid.

The next positive I can give this film is the
action. I think it is some of the best action we
have seen up to this point in the series, with
tons of kick-ass action involving hand-to-hand
combat scenes and explosions being shot well.
Since the movie’s tone is solemn for the most
part, the action feels much more personal and up
close, with very intense moments that don’t get an
off-handed joke like in other Marvel films. This
stylized feel to the action has been a trademark
for the Russo Brothers in the future.
The directing is also done well by the Russo
Brothers as they will play a significant role
in the MCU series as we go along as they change
the scope and feel of all their films.
The visual effects are also awe-inspiring,
as most if not all the MCU films have.
This is something we come to expect
nothing less from an MCU film as all the action
looks excellent with explosions, gunfire,
and being able to make it all look lifelike, being
a more grounded film than other MCU films.

The music is also decent as it has some
hard-hitting music to fuel these bombastic,
exciting action scenes. Even for the dramatic
moments, I thought it was okay as it didn’t
impress me all that much. The music as a
whole was a decent addition to the film.

Also, the end credit scene is in my top 5
favorite end credit scenes because it introduces 2
new characters that are major in the Marvel
universe, which was done so correctly.

This film does have a few negatives starting
with the writing. As much as a considerable
amount of dialogue is right, there is still a
good chunk that is very cheesy and corny and just
very bad. Most of the time, this happens when
we get a stretch of only characters talking,
which can lead to a boring melodramatic
dialogue that doesn’t work for me at times.
The humor doesn’t work for me except for a
few jokes because it feels out of place when
it doesn’t need to be there. The film handles this
exceptionally well for about 90% of the movie, so
I will take it.
As much as the action is excellent,
the editing can also be very distracting in some
parts of the film, with the story feeling clunky
and hard to see in moments. A few times when many
practical visual effects are being used in hand
to hand combat scenes, they can totally see that
those are body doubles and not the real actors.
I usually never see this in most films, but
this film looked quite noticeable.

Also, a nitpicky critique is that a
character we have met before in the MCU
is now old, but they use the same actress from
that previous movie to add the CGI old look to
it that was very distracting to look at. I’m not
sure if I saw this movie for the first time in 4k
because it added much more detail making the
CGI old age look face, but I’m not too sure.
Most of you may not have noticed it, but it
stood out like a sore thumb. It’s not a legit
critique because I appreciate what they were
trying to do with the pretty good scene.

Overall, this is one of my favorite MCU films that
I think deserves all the praise it gets because of
how exciting, solemn and grand this movie is. It
evolves the Captain America character into more
than the basic patriotic, but someone
who ultimately fights for justice,
not being strictly loyal to one side of it all.
The action is stupendous with one of the MCUs
best stories along with memorable moments.
I am giving this movie an eight out of ten.

So let me know below in the comment section what
you think of “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”
and where it ranks in your MCU rankings!
Next week we will be reviewing “Guardians of
the Galaxy,” which is one of my
favorite MCU films, so be sure to
watch the movie before next week’s review.
As Always, I will see you all in the next video!