THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER 1 and 2-NEW WORLD ORDER and STAR SPANGLED MAN

 

THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER 1-2

 

NEW WORLD ORDER and STAR SPANGLED MAN

The first two episodes of this have appeared on DISNEY PLUS. Okay so I’m more a DC fan than a Marvel fan but I love the Marvel movies and as for Marvel TV…well, THE GIFTED was great and the others not so much. If there was another Marvel movie, such as another AVENGERS movie, I’d watch that, too. Though I have to admit that they needed to stop the full on crowd of heroes against monsters and armies. Or monster armies. Or army monsters. Whatever. I’d love to see Tom Holland’s SPIDERMAN in a solo movie where it’s just him against one or two villains instead of some huge gimmicky thing…love his movies though.

 

That said, I never saw the CAPTAIN AMERICA movies, though I own them somewhere. I just was never that enthralled with the entire CAPTAIN AMERICA story or stories. I did however see IRONMAN 1 to 3 and while the first one was okay, and 3 sort has good memories attached to it, I can barely remember a thing about them, and frankly 2 bored me to tears and I felt it was just not a good movie. Love Ironman and Tony in other movies, though.

 

So, for the most part, though I knew who Bucky was, I went into this pretty cold. I knew Bucky had been used as a killer for Hydra and that Hydra were bad guys. Sebastian Stan is perfect. As Bucky. In most things he does. I’ve liked him ever since he was the villain in THE COVENANT (underrated movie). He and Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson, aka the Falcon, make engaging leads. Mackie brings a good sense of delivery and comic timing as well as handling the action scenes. Stan has his steadfast “Try To Smile” face. And it works. They work, separately and together.

 

I knew less about Falcon than I did about Bucky. This quickly catches me up. I knew nothing about John Walker and while it is disconcerting to see a “new” Captain America in live action …Wyatt Russell does a great job of being just that. Guessing the makers of this want to keep us on an uneven keel as to whether or not he’s genuine…or maybe that’s just me reacting to the uneasy scenes of his announced as the new Captain America and the celebration and interview that follow. I like this guy and this hero but I keep wondering when or if he will turn bad as he’s not the leads and the leads’ feelings toward him are mostly hatred and disgust. All played well.

 

BTW I forgot who Zemo was/is.

 

Interestingly, unlike THE LEFTOVERS and even the 4400, this show does an interesting job of showing the results of a person who vanished for five years and returned, without overindulging in that emotional and financial trauma. I like that Sam wants to save his deceased parents’ ship. I like that he and his sister had struggles but they get on well and the actors have a great rapport. It all flows naturally. Nothing about these two episodes feels forced and there is action galore as Falcon is on  a mission and then finds he and Bucky face a group of super strong soldiers who want to bring about a One World Order. What I didn’t understand is who the other group were that wanted to capture or kill the super soldiers, named the Flag Smashers.

 

Not being a Marvel fan or aficionado some of the dialog and actions just after Walker and his pal Battlestar (who seem to mirror and know Bucky and Sam) stop to pick up Bucky and Sam in a jeep seems confusing. I mean Bucky hears the name Battlestar (played by the wonderful Clee Bennett) and stops the jeep and jumps out, while Sam just says, “It’s always that last line,” and leaves, too. What? Other than that, the episodes are perfect but those few moments make me think this is just for Marvel fans. A second line here or there would have helped lessen the confusion.

 

Truth is this is not just for Marvel fans. No nonsense, a sharp witted script (especially the main heroes’ couseling session with a female therapist), totally spot on casting and acting, and some truly smart twists (didn’t realize that’s why Bucky was hanging with the elderly Asian man) and laughs, this is a great series. I wish it was not just a mini series.

 

One reviewer trashed the special effects. Really? Visually this is stunning, movie quality and looks better than most movies anyway. Nothing about the effects are terrible. And it all works. My complaint about the music is the same complaint I have about ALL modern movie music: it’s just not up to par from movies and TV shows of the 60s through the 60s and possibly even the 70s (this was noted by me when Bucky chases a truck and jumps onto its back and smashes in the back doors, which in a 70 show like THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN would have had STUNNING, tuneful music accompanying that but here, nothing really memorable). But that can’t just be about these episodes, it’s about all modern movies: musically they can’t hold a candle to the movies and shows of the past …and by that I mean 50s through 70s.

 

Other things I loved Sam’s humor with his sister, Sam’s lines  to the “Black Kid” about his not being “Black Falcon”, Bucky’s attempts to smile, his first counseling session, the moment we find out why Bucky left his date and knocked on the old Asian man’s door (which in light makes sense given the opening scene where Bucky decimates a group of men and kills an unarmed man), the visit to the bank…

 

Things that maybe weren’t meant to make me feel uneasy but did: the entire intro of the New Captain America. I guess, unfairly, THE BOYS  TV series makes me feel that these scenes smack of satire or the opposite of what they are supposed to make me feel.

 

The raw commercialism of the scenes of America being celebrated and interviewed rings hallow but maybe the makers meant it to feel that way (?) but given the Boys hypocritical and nasty heroes, maybe not?

 

The other thing, not being acquainted with Falcon (and if I’m honest most Bucky appearances) in the comic books, I do not know if this is faithful. I don’t care about that to be honest…just tell me a good, intelligent, unpretentious, engaging story that doesn’t insult me (WONDER WOMAN 2017 failed at that, big time but I could go on about it faults for pages and pages). They did that and went beyond that.

 

Thing is: while I see Falcon and Bucky and the others are super heroes and their enemies as super villains, sort of, it is really just tangentially super heroes. Everyone knows Falcon and Bucky, so how are they not targets all the time. Without secret identities, why are they not attacked on the streets when seen? The whole police thing, while I recall, was annoying. Most shows are trying to present police as villains who shoot first and ask questions later, which isn’t true for the majority of the time. And if they are cautious, they have reasons, but let’s not get into that.

 

I see these two and this show more as a sort of JAMES BOND spy movie. While engaging and surprising (I thought Battlestar was a goner until Cap’n did….something), almost all the action scenes represent something I’ve seen in James Bond movies and other action movies. Not to say that the fights here are boring or derivative, they’re not but if I had to classify this show as a spy action James Bond type show or a super hero show, I would go with the earlier.

 

Still, Bond himself is something of a super hero. Not to bother doing any of that, these two episodes with looks toward the rest, are just about 100 percent perfect.