dvd of the week
The sequel to the criminally underrated Captain America: The First Avenger is the fun and surprisingly political thrill-ride Captain America: The Winter Soldier. In the present day, the Captain (Chris Evans, a fine, if not terribly exciting, square jawed hero) is a member of the superhero team the Avengers and he works for SHIELD, the Marvel Universe’s combo of the CIA, NSA, and every New World Order black helicopter fantasy. Unlike his extremely cynical boss Nick Fury (the increasingly creaky Samuel L. Jackson), the Captain still embodies the World War II morality, in which the end justifies the means, but only if the end is “freedom.” He’s appalled that SHIELD will be creating massive flying machines to take out threats before they fulfill their nefarious goals. The Captain, of course, is both right and prescient, because Fury doesn’t realize that SHIELD has been infiltrated by the evil HYDRA. Led by the dastardly Secretary Alexander Pierce (Robert Redford, doing evil just fine), HYDRA first must get rid of Fury, the Captain, his new sidekick the Falcon (Anthony Mackie) and Black Widow, better known as Agent Romanov (Scarlett Johansson, having the time of her life). HYDRA’s greatest asset is a mysterious superhuman assassin known as the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan); he has big guns, a mechanical arm, no fear and a shocking secret identity. The requisite fight scenes are surprisingly well choreographed and thrilling, especially since the directors, Joe and Anthony Rosso, have never directed anything but sitcoms.
