Two Jews On Captain America:The Winter Soldier

First thing I have to say is that…next to ‘The Avengers’, this is my favorite super-hero movie. I absolutely loved every second of it.

Without wanting to give away too much of the plot, here are some of the broad strokes…

The film, brilliantly directed, by brothers, Anthony and Joe Russo (Emmy-winning directors for ‘Arrested Development’) opens with Steve Rogers, aka, Captain America (Chris Evans) living in Washington D.C. two years after being defrosted.

He is still working for S.H.I.E.L.D. and is struggling to fit into the modern world. In a really funny scene, we see Rogers jogging, speeding by fellow runners, including war veteran, Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) who quickly becomes friends with our Super Hero.

Moments later, Rogers is given a mission: Several S.H.I.E.L.D. agents are being held hostage aboard a ship that Algerian pirates have taken over. After wiping out several of the bad guys, to Rogers’ surprise, he runs into fellow agent Natasha Romanoff aka The Black Widow (The wonderful Scarlett Johansson) who’s extracting data from the ship’s computers. She’s very vague about what exactly she’s doing, leading Rogers to wonder whether or not he should trust S.H.I.E.L.D.

Back at headquarters, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) tries to calm Roger’s concern, by telling him about ‘Operation: Insight’..a top secret project involving three Helicarriers linked to satellites, designed to spy on the population, in order to eliminate potential threats…Imagine that…The government spying on its citizens to keep us safe…Sound familiar?

Even Fury starts to get suspicious, especially when he’s denied access to information on ‘Operation: Insight’ and is ambushed by assailants disguised as police officers, led by a mysterious assassin called ‘The Winter Soldier’ (Sebastian Stan)

To say anymore would spoil the fun, and this film is total fun, thanks not only to the directors and writers, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely but to a great cast, including…

Robert Redford as Alexander Pierce, as a high-ranking S.H.I.E.L.D. member,

The action, car chases and fight scenes are some of the best, especially one that takes place in an elevator.

The film has great humor, twists, turns, surprises and makes us think…How far should the government go to keep us safe?

I gave ‘Captain American:The Winter Soldier’ which opens in theatres, Friday, April 4, 2014, my highest bagel score: five out of five.

Check out the Two Jews On Film video for more of my thoughts and for what I think John’s bagel score would be.

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Joan and John Schwartz

Joan and John Schwartz are ex New Yorkers, living in Los Angeles. They are married and see a lot of films. They usually disagree but always tell it like it is. John is most famous for creating the cult classic films Faces of Death. He has also written for various prime time series and has written movies for both Showtime and HBO. In the world of reality television John has produced, written and directed over 450 segments for various magazine shows He has also written and Executive Produced several Prime-Time Specials. Joan has appeared on the New York Stage on and off Broadway…and has been in several Los Angeles theater productions as well.. Joan has been in several low budget films and at present she is busy writing screenplays with her husband, John.

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