Nerds That Geek Movie Review – ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’

Written by Shae Rufe 

So, we start off with Steve Rogers (Captain America himself) running around D.C. and here we meet and befriend Sam Wilson. Quickly after, Steve is called into action with a team accompanied by the amazingly wonderful Black Widow, Natasha Romanoff. A S.H.I.E.L.D. vessel has supposedly been attacked by pirates and some critical information needs to be rescued before it ends up in the wrong hands. Steve isn't privy to any of this and gets a bit angry. A confrontation with Nick Fury doesn't seem to solve any problems.

However, Fury does reveal to Steve that there are three Helicarriers (As seen in The Avengers) being produced. They will, supposedly, never need to land and will be able to stop any threats from escalating (such as the Attack on New York…). This doesn't sit well with the infamous Captain America, who isn't sure if he wants to keep working for S.H.I.E.L.D. and then things jump right into action with Nick Fury being hunted down by unknown assailants, well, partially unknown. Enter, the Winter Soldier. Before he can finish Fury off, the director gets away and heads straight for Steve's apartment. He's figured out that S.H.I.E.L.D. has turned on them and tries to warn Steve, as well as pass on the jump drive with the secret information on it from the vessel. The drive is so encrypted, even Fury can't hack it. Without warning, shots are fired, and Fury's last words to Steve are ‘Trust no one’. Angered, Captain America pursues the assassin only to come face to face with the Winter Soldier. He kind of looks familiar… 

After the deadly Russian assassin kills the director, it's a mad dash to figure out what's going on. It seems S.H.I.E.L.D. has turned on Steve next. The Captain is anything but taken down easily, just ask the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents knocked out on the elevator floor! Thankfully, we can trust Natasha, as she helps Steve figure out where the encrypted drive came from. The army base where Steve trained, and later was turned into Captain America, is where a secret underground S.H.I.E.L.D. base is hiding. Within is the answers to where the encrypted information came from. 

So, in Captain America: The First Avenger, Red Skull had a little weird scientist friend, right? Yeah, well, that guy ended up being recruited by S.H.I.E.L.D., so what does that have to do with The Winter Soldier? Guess whose brain was downloaded onto a crap ton of computers…this enables him to talk to Natasha and Steve. Turns out, because of his recruitment, S.H.I.E.L.D. was able to be overrun by Hydra and the Helicarrier's are to be used to kill thousands of people in order for Hydra to gain mass control over the populous. 
 
Here is where the biggest plot reveal hits. Agent Sitwell of S.H.I.E.L.D. has appeared on the show, as well as many special shorts. He's a friend of Phil Coulson's…and apparently one of the HYDRA agents. Yeah, I was really upset about this too. In fact, I was in denial. It's alright though, because Steve, Natasha, and Sam have a little chat with him. Sitwell shares how the Helicarrier's would target people and kill them…then shortly after, he's murdered by The Winter Soldier…who also tries to kill Steve and Natasha, because Pierce (The guy who put Fury in charge of S.H.I.E.L.D. and is on the World Council) ordered it to be so…because he's the head of Hydra and Sam, who is also Falcon, ends up being awesome and helps kind of save Natasha. Steve has a showdown with the Winter Soldier, only the fight doesn't go so well. Our metal armed assassin turns out to be Bucky Barnes, Steve's best friend that supposedly died in the first Captain America movie. In shock over this, Steve lets Bucky get away and our band of heroes is captured…and then rescued by Agent Maria Hill. Who takes them to Fury…who faked his death, because sometimes you just have to be that epic and fake your own death.

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​Steve and Hill agree that Hydra and S.H.I.E.L.D. need to be taken down and destroyed, for good. Fury is reluctant but eventually yields. From here on, it is some pretty amazing fight scenes.

The Helicariers' are launched; Natasha has Pierce trapped; Hill is monitoring the computers while Steve and Sam attempt to get the three Helicarriers' linked to her computer so they can be permanently shut down. All goes fine with the first two, but the last is always the hardest. The Winter Soldier tries to kill Falcon by ripping off his mechanical wings and throwing him off a carrier, mid-flight, but Sam came prepared with a parachute. Still, he's left to fight hand to hand with a Hydra soldier, while Steve and Bucky have their final face off. Both seem evenly matched, yet Bucky has the advantage, or does he? Steve does manage to get the final piece into place, so Hill can destroy the carriers. Just when all seems like a win, Bucky and Steve have one final fight. One that lands them both in the water. Bucky saves a nearly drowning Steve and then leaves him on the bank. Steve wakes later with Sam at his bedside and no trace of Bucky to be found.

Fury has decided he has some unfinished business to attend. Hill ends up working at Stark Industries. Natasha sets' out to reinvent herself. And Steve is off to hunt for Bucky and help his lost friend regain his memories. Sam goes along for the ride because, why not!?

At the end of the movie, we're left with two cut scenes. Bucky is at the Captain America exhibit staring at a memorial of himself. The last leaves us in a strange military like base, where two men are discussing S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra while staring at Loki's staff and examining...the twins.

Both scenes served as the set up for another Captain America film and Avengers: Age of Ultron. Yet, I left the theater wondering, where was Hawkeye, Ironman, the Hulk, and/or Thor!? And, no, seriously, where was Jeremy Renner!? Come on! Not even a cameo!? The movie was utterly fantastic, and to this day, the betrayal of Sitwell still hurts my feels. But, this is one of the best Marvel Cinematic movies out there, so I guess I can forgive it for breaking my heart…maybe…

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