Captain America: The Winter Soldier

smndvdcl

Franchise fare can occasionally engage the mind as well as the eyes and ears. In a post-Snowden context, 'The Winter Soldier' explored the nature of espionage, cyber warfare and surveillance dystopias not seen since the denouement of Nolan's 'The Dark Knight'. The laborious spectacle is matched by a complex tale of institutional duplicity akin to 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'. Better than expected.

Duncan Gray

The Greatest Generation lands in an era where America might not so easily be the good guys. That's the flavor of this blockbuster, and Robert Redford gives it a fine 70s government conspiracy vibe. Granted, flavor is all it is—as the plot reaches its climactic slugfest, the politics are whatever you want them to be. But it's nice to be in the hands of filmmakers who know that ideas can spice up entertainment.

Nicholas Gregory

A sequel that lacks everything that made the first film stand out. Gone is the period setting and witty situational comedy, as well as the character drama and layers of Evan's title hero that are much weaker than the first. Instead, there's more action scenes, yet they are never particularly creative, and certainly aren't tense or surprising. Even the traditional themes of duty and service are thin this time around.

HKFanatic

If it's too much to ask for a Marvel Studios film to possess a distinct visual style, then we can at least hope their superhero output continues to be as strong as "Winter Soldier." During its best moments, the film feels like a Ed Brubaker storyarc come to life, with snappy banter and larger than life heroics lifted straight from the comics. But not quite enough goodwill is generated to overlook the tired third act.

Christopher M. Jones

Demanding respect while honking a clown horn,this movie takes its fairytale world laughably seriously and wants you to be gasping at the stakes even though none of it has any basis in human life. I'll take the laziest grindhouse tripe over movies like this any day of the week.

Jye Sherwell

Captain America steps up his game and becomes a likeable and capable superhero... in fact he's badass. Scarlett Johanson as Black Widow is as likeable as ever, and even Sam Jackson gets a memorable scene. I actually enjoyed the plot and felt it took a more original approach, and all in all this is one of my favourite Marvel films now. Saw it twice in the cinema.

Filipe F. Coutinho

If you strip down the nice, clean imagery and the undeniably well constructed action sequences, and stop to think about the plot you'll realize how ridiculous everything actually is. It's a shame that Redford decided to be a part of a project such as this.

Palmat

If you're a Marvel-fan you'll scoop up this shit grinning. If you're not you'll fare worse. Somewhere between the endless and boring action scenes there is a half decent story but who cares when everything on display is so predictable and trite. The cast is good but the material & execution is not good enough. Not even the production design offers anything new. I just wish Marvel would disassemble and call it a day.