Whaddya mean the record store closed? (Marvel)

The world and the nation are in danger from external forces and from inside the house in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the latest installment from the Marvel universe. The world is in the process of being saved in this continuing, multi-film story—knocked down and raised up by the efforts of super-powered mega-people—but Captain America, his friends, and his enemies are beaten and bolstered alike by something less spectacular: Humanity. Captain America: The Winter Soldier gives the blockbuster audience all the fireworks they crave, but It also gives them some of the comic book humanity that they need.

The movie opens up with our heroes on a very human scale, albeit flanked by the monuments of our nation’s capital. From a distance, we see two runners taking laps around the Mall. One runner is clearly doing better, and as we zoom in closer, if you couldn’t already figure it out (hey, I didn’t!) that guy is Steve Rogers, aka Cap’n America (Chris Evans), running rings around Gulf War vet Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), a civilian who will eventually reveal his own power: himself.

That is, himself translated through mechanical wings into the Falcon. A lot of superheroes have ties to the animal kingdom, in the form of bats, birds and spiders, but Captain America’s weapon is his strength. Of course, it’s also his earnestness and loyalty to his country, but it’s not a blind loyalty.

I haven’t seen that many Marvel films and haven’t been crazy about those I’ve seen. (You want epic action? See The Raid 2, also opening this weekend and enviably covered by Matt. Subtitles get you down? This has subtitles too, so what’s the difference? I haven’t seen Raid 2 yet, but I promise you its violent catharsis will make this look like a night at the ballet). Captain America: the Winter Soldier balances human interaction and blockbuster spectacular as well as any of these do, but I wouldn’t go so far as to say “emotion.” There is some—less rom-com than brom-com—even though Black Widow (ScarJo) keeps trying to suggest Cap’n America ask somebody out. Sorry, dear, sexuality would just get in the way of saving the world.

But money doesn’t. A not-very-sneaky shot of a technician refilling a vending machine becomes a plot point and a blunt opportunity for a convenient selection of your favorite product placement. Are screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely also satirizing the product placement tradition? Their movie is indeed product placement for tasty snacks but also for a full meal—the meal of America and American values, which includes a healthy dose of questioning authority (if not questioning the motion picture industrial complex and its attendant commercial arms).

(Marvel)

The movie’s subtitle gives you this episode’s enemy, but our foes are shiny and sneaky and multi-headed. The enemy is us. Alexander Pierce (Robert Redford) presides over S.H.I.E.L.D (Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division), whose brutalist HQ is CGI’d onto the Roosevelt bridge, flanked by the Kennedy Center. If it’s on the Virginia side then it’s mammoth glass and concrete explosion— sort of like a taller Third Church of Christ Scientist with a penthouse picture-window restaurant—does not flaunt area height restrictions, though it’s closeness to the Kennedy Center in shots out that penthouse window make me suspect it may actually be located on Roosevelt Island (which would mean that its existence flies in the face of D.C. regulations). Can we get a Taxation Without Representation subplot in the next chapter?

Flip architectural outrage aside, I enjoyed Captain America: The Winter Soldier more than I thought I would. Its human twists and character nuances would make more sense to me if I followed the Marvel universe, but even without the full background there’s enough to pass the time for a few hours and even spend a few minutes at the edge of my seat.

Hundreds if not thousands of nameless people die in this movie, which is de rigeur for a blockbuster action pic, but the good Cap’n is skeptical about his own power and its potential for misuse in the name of America. It even keeps him up at night. Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) is less starry eyed about the destructive repercussions of heroism, and he himself is the victim of — well I won’t elaborate plot twists here. There are small pleasures too, with a juicy supporting role for Toby Jones (Berberian Sound Studio star) and a typically nervous bit from Pat Healy (who’s an excellent lead in the effective Cheap Thrills). Directors Anthony and Joe Russo have made a movie about heroism and sacrifice that doesn’t sacrifice character for spectacle.

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Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Directed by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo
Written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely
With Chris Evans, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Robert Redford, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence, gunplay and action throughout
Running time 136 minutes
Opens today at theater near you