Captain America: The Winter Solider Brings SHIELD Into Question

You know, when the first Captain America movie first came out, I had no desire to see it as I had no love for the character itself. But over time and couple Marvel movies, I finally watched it and enjoyed the first film. So when I saw the trailer for Captain America: The Winter Solider, I was just beyond excited it would add more onto the Marvel Universe and lead into the next Avengers film. Captain America: The Winter Solider is everything I hoped for and was excited about. Like all movies in the Marvel, it is another superb addition to the franchise and a real game changer. I guess all the movies after the Avengers (ie Iron Man 3, Thor The Dark World) are really gearing up for the second movie, like pieces in a puzzle. Captain America: The Dark World really posed the question is our freedom worth our safety? We would be alright with losing our choices in order to be safe in our homes? We also see Steve question SHIELD and it's methods. He is like the outsider inside SHIELD and sees things differently and the audience see the events from his perspective in a way. Overall, Captain America: The Winter Solider was more of a conspiracy thriller than the normal Marvel movie tone.

Captain America: The Winter Solider didn't waste time diving into it's storyline and the idea that there is something wrong with SHIELD. It begins with a mission to rescue a ship held hostage by pirates and Captain (Chris Evans), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and an assault team move in to free the ship of its hostages. During the mission, Cap discovers that Natasha had a different mission of recovering information from the database. Angry he wasn't told of this mission, Steve confronts Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) about this. Fury informs Steve that this is all related to a project called "Insight" that was mention to prevent attacks and stop them before they happen. Steve points out that this wasn't freedom. Later on Fury notices an error on project Insight and calls Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) in when he is attack by unknown men and the Winter Solider (Sebastian Stan). Wounded Fury makes his way to Steve's where he entrusts Steve with an flash drive containing information on project insight. However the Winter Solider strikes again and Fury is put out of the picture leaving Steve and Natasha to figure out what is going on.

I really did enjoy Captain America: The Winter Solider as it excelled as storytelling and expanding the Marvel universe. Steve was settling into living in the present, but was dealing with the inner workings of SHIELD. We have always known SHIELD as the guys who protect the world from bad things and such. Like they were the good guys back when we first heard about them in Iron Man by meeting Agent Coulson. But now, we are seeing SHIELD in a different light, and how there is corruption. We saw this in Agents of SHIELD. Heck we even tackled the idea of SHIELD investing in weapons instead of people back in the Avengers. Now SHIELD has just gotten used to this power and has grown blind in some areas. I did like all the callbacks in Captain America: The Winter Solider to past events in the universe. Like with Agent Carter, and Bucky Barnes. Not to mention the little nugget about Shield's creation. You know what I mean. There was also humor in Captain America: The Winter Solider that helped ease the tension once and a while. The two main gags were "On your left" and Natasha trying to find Steve a date. The introduction of the Falcon was cool too and interesting. Not much more to say about that.

There was nothing bad about Captain America: The Winter Solider, just a few questions more that anything. Or little things. First, at some points the movie felt a bit long and I began wondering how much longer it would be. This could be credited to the fact that Captain America: The Winter Solider focused on the story to be told rather than the action. Then this could just be credited to my short attention span. Another thing, Captain America: The Winter Solider felt like it was reusing some plot points instead of making new ones. Yes its not original, but that is the great thing about the Marvel universe, it leaves many possibilities open. Really brings the saying, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it", or something like that. Here is a thought, if you strip Captain America: The Winter Solider down to it's story and the fact that Cap is considered a super hero, it is really just another spy thriller. Also if you are watching this movie without seeing any of the other ones, you are will probably be confused more than once.

So if you are looking for a good comic book, superhero movie, Captain America: The Winter Solider is the movie for you. Marvel, do you ever make bad movies in this new age of movies? I only say that because they have tried before and have failed, but you didn't hear that from me. I am really looking forward to seeing how this affects Agents of SHIELD next week and how it shapes the series as a whole. I mean this is going to be a big change for the tv series and the next Avengers movie. Make sure that you stay behind for the credits, there is an important scene in the middle and a scene at the very end. It's like the Marvel code to do this. Our review for Captain America: The Winter Solider:

Here is the trailer if you want to check it out.
How do you think this will impact Agents of Shield? What was your favorite moment of the movie?