Capt America-The Winter Soldier
A “Marvel” Hollywood “Masala”!
Cast:- Cast:- Chris Evans- Steve Rogers/Captain America, Samuel L.
Jackson –Nick Fury, Scarlett Johansson – Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow, Robert
Redford- Alexander Pierce, Sebastian Stan – Bucky Banes/Winter Soldier, Anthony
Mackie – Sam Wilson/Falcon, Cobie Smulders-Maria Hill, Frank Grillo-Brock
Rumlow among others.
& Crew:- Directors:- Anthony Russo, Joe
Russo, Writers:-Concept & Story- Ed Brubaker, Screenplay-Christopher Markus
& Stephen Johansson , Comic book-Joe Simon & Jack Kirby, D.O.P:-Trent
Opaloch, Music:- Henry Jack man, Edit:- Jeffrey Ford, Casting:- Sarah Finn,
Art:- Steve Christensen, Beat Frutiger, Kevin Ishioka, Gary Kosko, Thomas
Valentine, Art:-Leslie A. Pope, Costume:- Judianna Makovsky among others.
Points of Interest:-1) a
$96 Million domestic opening, 2)Nick Fury to Capt America- “Looks like you’re
giving orders now” – An indication of the sequel to come?3) Capt America may
take over the Avengers when they re-assemble 4) The post credits gave us the
first look at ‘Quicksilver” (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) & the Scarlet Witch
(Elizabeth Olsen) 5) Stephen Strange is lurking in the background ( Nothing
more than a name drop 6) Anim Zola has an out- of- body experience(probably an
indication of an adversary of artificial inelegance)7) Nick Fury’s epitaph
which read “ The path of the Righteous Man”(Ezekiel 25:17)”.
Producer: - Kevin Feige, Co-Producer:- Nate Moore
Synopsis: - Steve Rogers is coming to grips with living in modern America
after being frozen in ice for 50 years. A new threat against S.H.I.E.L.D.
arises in the form of an unknown agent “The Winter Soldier". Especially
after S.H.I.E.L.D & its chief Nick Fury along with Agent Romanoff (former
KGB) are compromised, leaving them betrayed and left for dead, and their
S.H.I.E.L.D. status revoked, marking them as traitors to their own
organization. While the origins of the Winter Soldier are unknown, the threat
against S.H.I.E.L.D. from the supposedly defunct organization HYDRA becomes
real. The rest of the story is about Captain America racing against time with very
little resources at his disposal while launching an investigation into
S.H.I.E.L.D.'s origins. This forces him to return to his origins 100 years back
to the very Army base where he once underwent basic training. Ably assisted by
agent Romanoff & Falcon (ex war veteran) he follows leads that lead him to
a startling discovery about his own organization S.H.I.E.L.D. and a top secret
project called "Operation Insight", and the launch of the next
generation of Hell-Carrier which will result in the killing of 20 million
people on Earth. Can Capt America put an end to the evil designs of HYDRA before
it's too late?
Screen play & nothing more: - This film
is a typical modern day Marvel “masala” flick based on the comic book Captain
American and agents of Shield. Let’s straight away get to the screenplay of
this film. Part 1 - The forever young American super hero Capt America is
leading a rather sedentary life of an average everyday American. You know the
usual – breakfast cereal/grapefruit/orange juice diet and a daily morning run
in the park that kind of a thing trying to adjust to the modern digital era.
All of a sudden his parent organization headed by Chief Nick Fury sends him on
an assignment to rescue some people from pirates operating in the Indian Ocean.
Start of action sequence with Capt America supported by Natasha and other
agents storm the container ship and blow away the 20 odd pirates into oblivion
and rescue the captured hostages some of whom belong to shield. Part 2 is the
preachy part about Capt America and his past association with his friend Bucky
etc which you will have to necessarily sit through! Part 3 Once again an
exciting action scene with Nick Fury caught in a car and the agents of Hydra
trying to compromise Nick by blasting the car and finish him and the first look
at the Mysterious Winter soldier. From Hi tech guns to bazookas to out of the
world gadgets it’s all there. Part 4- Captain America single handedly fights
his own fully armed agents from inside a glass covered elevator as it travels
down. Boy! This is going to be replicated in a Tamil/Hindi film sooner than
later. Part 5- What follows is another action sequence on the highway as Capt
America, Natasha and Falcon fight away the Winter Soldier and his cronies.
Watch out for Capt America’s solo fight with the “winter soldier”.
& the Climax Part 6- Final action sequence forms the
climax where Capt America and his “loyal” agents battle it out on earth, space
and the heavens in an all out heroic, super human effort to bring the “Heli-Carrier”
down and save mother earth from HYDRA! It felt nice to watch Robert Redford on
the big screen after quite a while
Acting: - Chris Evans as Captain America somehow fails to impress.
He is a pale and soft version of a super hero especially for those who have
grown up reading Marvel’s super hero comics. He always sports a similar
expression and poise no matter what the situation demands. A romantic hero and
an underdog yes! Super hero material No! In fact somehow the action scenes he
features in lacks the intensity one would like to see in a super hero.
Scarlett Johansson as
Natasha has done a decent job. She has understood her part and played it well.
She is spunky and at the same time looks troubled owing to her dubious past.
She has performed well in all her action scenes.
Samuel L .Jackson as Nick
Fury has essayed this kind of a role so many times in the past that you lose
track of the number.
The Winter Soldier (name deliberately withheld), the silent
programmed villain is just adequate. Reserved for the sequel?
Robert Redford played Alexander Pierce. It was indeed a
nostalgic experience to watch the dashing actor once again on the big screen.
His casual approach to acting makes it look so easy.
Camera: - The visuals and lighting
especially during the action scenes really stood out. There was nothing out of
the ordinary worth mentioning.
Music: - The Music score worked in most
parts. In fact Tamil music director should learn to use the music of silence as
this director has done in many scenes. E.g. The scene when Capt and Natasha
come to the old site to discover the origins of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Art: - The hi-tech equipment and lab
setting both modern and period went well with the premise.
Stunts: - Nothing unusual. The usual super hero
stuff which one is used to seeing these days.
Edit: - Adequate but a 10min cut would have
helped reduce the lag in the first half.
The one’s that worked: -
1. The graphics & the animation barring a few scenes 2. The action sequence
which finds Nick Fury tries to keep off HYDRA agents while trapped in his car
3. The action sequence in the elevator where Capt America fights off his own
agents 4. Scarlett Johansson stood out both in performance and her action
sequence
The one’s that bombed: -
1. The Hell-Raiser and the futuristic ships animated in the final climax scene
somehow exposed the ‘dummy’ feel 2. The scene where Capt America, Natasha &
falcon are rescued by Maria hill jumps to another location quite abruptly. 3. Portions
of the first half were a bit of a drag & preachy 4. Chris Evans as Captain
America somehow lacks the intensity needed to be cast as a super hero. One felt
Thor (Chris Hemsworth) or Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr) would be more forceful
and charismatic to lead the Avengers in future!
Finally to sum it all
up, a quote: A spate of Hollywood super hero films are hitting the screens in
Chennai and generating huge revenues! Will our own “Kochiadayaan” meet with the
same kind of success when it hits the screens in the U.S of A.? Let’s keep our
fingers crossed!
Bottom Line: - Rating on a scale of 1 to 5:- Captain America Fans-5/5,
Marvel Comic Fan-4/5, a super hero fan-3/5
My Rating – 2.5/5
Until next time,
Director Haricharan
Chennai
08/04/2014
No comments:
Post a Comment