Winter

It’s a far cry from the way Steve Rogers has had his dreams repeatedly answered and dashed. Which is, lets face it, just what is likely to happen in Hero stories, if not to heroes. I’ll be interested to see if they continue with that theme in The Winter Soldier. 

Saw that movie tonight, and have to say....not so much.

I’ll be attempting to remain spoiler free, but there are limits to how much one can discuss a Hero movie without mentioning who is sacrificing and who (if any) is redeemed. Turn back if you don’t wish to know.

Easy part out of the way first: In this movie, the good guys beat the bad guys. The Captain succeeds through teamwork - with the strike team, with Black Widow, with Falcon, with the rank-and-file of SHIELD. The Captain has no need to be redeemed. (One could say that Nick Fury does, though.) All very Heroic, so far. (The “Greatest Generation” is name-dropped on Captain, in case you didn’t remember how old he was.) The only real counter is that there is no personal sacrifice, at least not for him. He offers to lay his life on the line, but it sounds more for inspiration’s sake than because he actually expects it to be needed. SHIELD itself is sacrificed, perhaps, but that seems more metaphorical.

Still, there isn’t quite as much beating up on the old Hero as in the first movie. He isn’t happy with the direction SHIELD is taking - and he’s exactly right about it. He gets the chance to reverse that direction, and does. He even gets a chance to meet up with his girl. The worst part, for this purpose, is when he finds out what happened to his old buddy, and has to deal with what he CAN’T do. Mostly, though, he isn’t whining and hardly needs to. For a change.