Captain America: The Winter Soldier is the darkest Marvel universe movie yet

Captain America might be the least-relatable Avenger, especially for non-American crowds. A slinky WWII-era soldier who willingly undergoes a chemical transformation to turn himself into a bulking hero for the war effort, and who is then accidentally frozen for decades, Cap is forever a man out of time, an earnest soldier trying to adjust to the modern world.

In The Avengers, this displacement was mostly played for laughs, as Cap (Chris Evans) struggled to come to terms with a futuristic and increasingly complicated world, while in Captain America: The First Avenger, the issue was moot, as the film’s producers set the action back in Cap’s WW-II heyday.

In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, there are few laughs to be had. The Marvel film universe now has its very-own Empire Strikes Back, a much-darker sequel that essentially reboots the franchise in a number of interesting ways.

As the film opens, Cap and the Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) are deployed by S.H.I.E.L.D., the massive government security agency led by Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) to rescue the crew of a hijacked liner in the Indian Ocean. However, it turns out  that Cap is actually in the dark about the true purpose of the mission, which involves the Black Widow stealing a program form the ship’s systems.

While Nick Fury tries to assuage Cap that this “compartmentalization” of a mission is simply how things are done now, Cap becomes increasingly distrustful of S.H.I.E.L.D., and begins to question his role in the organization. Things come to a head following an assassination attempt on Nick Fury, when Fury entrusts Cap with the stolen data, while warning him to “Trust no one.”

What transpires next over the film’s 145 minute running time is a thrilling mash up of 70’s conspiracy thrillers set within the Marvel universe. Cap traces the assault on Nick Fury to The Winter Soldier, an inhumanly strong Russian assassin with a metal arm, whose secret identity is no surprise to comic fans, but still elicited a few “Oh shit!” shouts from the crowd when he is eventually unmasked.

As Cap, Black Window, and new sidekick Falcon (Sam Wilson) dig deeper into the Winter Soldier and the murky ethical waters of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s security above-all mandate, the conspiracies deepen, and pit our heroes against an increasingly complex web of villains. This is a superhero film which shows American might run amok, with shadowy forces subverting the rights of its citizens in the name of “national security”, which is taken to an absurd end game in the villain’s outrageous plot here.

The film is essentially one of the first post-Edward Snowden spy thrillers, and it harkens back to the great 70’s conspiracy films like The Boys from Brazil and Three Days of the Condor (even managing to rope in Condor star Robert Redford as a S.H.I.E.L.D. higher-up). This questioning look at American policy should play particularly well overseas, where a blonde soldier emblazoned with an American flag costume is a tricky sell.

While The Winter Soldier is undoubtedly dark, there are some comedic moments peppered throughout that really work, including a great opening scene showing Cap’s “to do list”, which includes cultural milestones he’s missed out on, including “Thai Food” and “Nirvana (Band)”.

That the film works so well with what could have been such an unwieldy plot is due to directors Joe and Anthony Russo, two brothers who are mostly known for their sitcom work on shows like Community (their last feature film was You, Me and Dupree back in 2006). They manage the tightrope act of delivering a satisfying superhero blockbuster, with all the requisite action set pieces and flashy fight sequences, coupled with all the tension and paranoia of the best cold-war era thrillers.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier shows Cap struggling to come to grips with the prevailing Big Brother infrastructure we all find ourselves mired in today, and accomplishes the difficult task of actually making him a relatable character once again.