Just finished my second viewing of The Winter Soldier. Didn't write a review last time, so here it goes.
In my opinion, this movie is two things:
1) The best Marvel film, MCU or not. ASM2 may have had the most emotional impact on me, but this impressed me with the best story.
2) In the same ballpark as BB and TDK when it comes to social commentary. In some ways, it's a spiritual sequel to TDK. TDK showcased the world's initial gut reaction to terrorism, this shows the drastic measures the world took to prevent it.
Cap often gets a bad rep due to the name, especially pre-MCU. If you're one of "those people" who assume he's just a blind propaganda caricature, watch this movie. This whole film is essentially the Russo's saying "Look, this is what Captain America is all about." Numerous times, the film shows Cap doesn't stand for any specific government but for the people and more specifically, for freedom. "I thought you were more than just a shield." "Let's see". It makes sense literally but from a thematic level, what he's REALLY saying is "I thought you were more than just a government dog." To which Cap replies with "Let's see". It's almost as if there's a subliminal message there from the Russo's right at the beginning of the film. "Think Cap stands for blind patriotism? Nope, watch and see." An answered question with a message reinforced at the end when Widow says "and you're not a SHIELD agent."
Cap's devotion to freedom and the people isn't just exemplified relative to supervillains and HYDRA, but to his own allies. He's the one who calls the shots on SHIELD going down as a whole, which ties into his character arc. Steve is at a point in life where he's unsure who the enemy is, who and what to fight for due to how different the world's become. Everything's become extremely grey-shaded compared to WWII where you had the good guy Allies and big bad Nazis. Multiple people throughout the film tell him he has to start over and build a better world, from Fury to Pierce to Natasha and even Peggy. And by the end, he takes their advice and disassembles SHIELD. Builds a better world by tearing the old one down. Speaking of SHIELD, the organization going down is a huge payoff to the overall MCU, which has portrayed it as nothing but corrupt and authoritarian from the beginning. It's also nice to see Feige and Co. not afraid to change the status quo of their universe, something the comics often can't afford to do.
When I said this was in the same ballpark as BB/TDK, I wasn't joking. The script manages to add multiple deeper meanings to simple lines of dialogue in a way only a Chris Nolan film would, something no other Marvel script has replicated to this extent. I already listed the shield dialogue exchange earlier, so I'll bring up another one: Steve watching Peggy's history video. The obvious clear-as-day message is that the world's moved on and Steve's been left behind. Anyone can figure that out. But what really adds salt to the wound is when Peggy says "Steve saved a lot of people that night in '43...including the man who would later be my husband." Those last few words signify how much Steve has lost more than anything else in the film. And all it took was a quick note from Peggy which, in the context of the history video they're watching, was completely superfluous.
Marvel often gets crap from the way they treat their villains, Loki being considered the big exception. I do think that's true, but I'm surprised at how many people never bring up their take on Modern Day HYDRA. I thought everything done with HYDRA in present day was absolutely brilliant. They really come off as an intimidating intelligent threat. They're always 5 steps ahead of everyone, have infiltrated the system through a well thought-out patient calculated plan, and still have no worries by the end due to numerous potential backup plans. This is everything the Ten Rings SHOULD have been, which Marvel blew their chance with. Every single HYDRA member is done justice from Pierce to Winter Soldier to Zola to Crossbones to the Clairvoyant (in AoS). Pierce is up there as second best MCU villain after Loki. It excites me to see what the Russo's do with Strucker, Zemo and a revamped Red Skull.
On top of commentary on the invasion of privacy and freedom, the film also offers commentary on the very nature of superheroes. To put it simple, superheroes are anti-authority by their nature. They're the ultimate fantasy people envision to whenever society - and specifically people in power - screw up. They constantly question societal/political decisions and do their best to fight for their values, even when everyone else gives up. It's no coincidence superheroes are at peak popularity whenever the world is in some crisis. That's when people fantasize about these characters the most, and it's impressive how this film can make Cap relevant in that regard despite the misconceptions that come with the name/values. DC should take notes regarding Superman. Thomas Paine once distinguished a "summer soldier" from a "winter soldier", the former being a soldier who fights for a cause whenever it's easy to and the latter being a soldier who will fight for a cause no matter what. There's no doubt in my mind the subtitle was meant to apply to Rogers as much as to Bucky.
I think the next step to go after this is have Cap become the official leader of the Avengers, especially now that he's lost a place he thought was home in SHIELD. The Avengers have always been Cap's new home in the comics since his revival, just as much as Planet Express was Philip J. Fry's new home. That's why Cap isn't just an Avenger, but THE Avenger.
So...yeah. Good movie.
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