Saw the movie last night, here is my spoiler free review that I posted on my FB page today:
IMO not as good as The Avengers, but honestly I don't know if a super hero movie will ever exceed super high expectations like that one did. BUT, having said that, it's definitely one of the top 2-3 super hero movies outside of Avengers.
The thing that stood out to me the most were the fighting scenes, particularly the ones with Cap in them. Maybe it's because he's now more used to his new body, and has been honing his skills, but he is a one man ass kicking machine. It's no longer just punching, kicking, bashing with the shield. It's awesome and it was VERY fun to watch. To me, he's more like a Super Hero now than just a Big Guy with a Shield. Even Gavin commented that his fighting skills were much different, and "really awesome".
Black Widow was in this movie a LOT, darn near as much as Cap. Kudos to Marvel, hopefully this is a step towards our first female super hero movie. She is fantastic in this movie, has more swagger, attitude, and of course her fighting scenes are amazing.
I LOVE Falcon, and loved the look that they gave him. What I was worried about was that he was only going to be in the movie for a couple of minutes. Nope, he was also a major character in the movie with just the right amount of screen time. His flying / fighting scenes were also amazing.
Winter Soldier himself was perfect. I'm not that knowledgable of the comics, but IMO they used him to absolute perfection. He's a total relentless badass, almost robotic in his movements.
There are also several other, lesser known Marvel characters that you may not catch if you're not into the comics as much. SHIELD is VERY present in this movie. Can't wait to see how they tie THIS into the Agents of SHIELD tv show. There are also numerous small characters from previous movies that tie it in really well to the MCU.
A lot of humor in it, but not over the top, very well done. IMO Thor 2 was almost too funny (almost), but the tone of this movie is definitely much more serious with a lot of plot twists and very serious world threats, etc.
For kids/families:
There was surprisingly little swearing, I remember a couple of "oh ****"s, but they were the under your breath kind of "oooooh sh-" and not the boldly pronounced "OH ****". I'm sure there was a little more than that, but I really don't remember much at all.
There must have been a bazillion rounds of gunfire in this movie, LOTS of gunfights. But, the typically not-so-violent BANG, guy falls over dead....there is some blood, but not a whole lot. Probably the most bloody part was when they were operating on Nick Fury (which we've all seen part of in the previews).
There is of course a TON of hand to hand combat, punching, kicking, fighting with knives (one pronounced stabbing that I particularly remember).
The one thing that stands out that I didn't like as much were a couple of the spills that Cap takes and walks away from. I mean, the Super Soldier Serum doesn't turn him into Superman, does it?
Anyway, a very solid 9/10 for me, cannot wait to see it again. A lot of twists and turns, I'll probably have to see it two more times just to fully be able to follow everything that is going on.
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Oh and here is a photo of my Son and I last night at the advanced screening. Thanks to the RPF for the shield and jacket.
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