Captain America: The Winter Soldier: 10 Questions Raised
Explosions, bad-asses, bad guys and more
Who are the enemies?
"Captain, to build a better world sometimes means tearing the old one down, and that makes enemies."
Redford's Alexander Pierce there, explaining the modern socio-political reality of the world Steve Rogers has woken up in.
Things aren't as black and white in modern warfare and, to quote another comic-book movie star, you can't make an omlette without breaking some eggs.
But - just to torture the metaphor for a bit - who's the omlette and who are the eggs in this scenario?
We know The Winter Soldier is Cap's main nemesis in this (we mean, duh), but who's pulling his strings? He doesn't strike us as the make-a-plan type, more of a let's-hurry-up-with-the-smashing-cars-with-my-awesome-metal-arm sort of fellow.
Could Redford be the villain? He's alluded to it in interviews, and he is giving off a majorly sinister vibe in this.
Plus, that tense handshake above? Could he be masterminding the exit of everyone's favourite eye-patch-lovin' super-spy?
Will Cap go rogue?
Captain America started a journey in The Avengers , when he discovered that perhaps S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn't as trustworthy as an operation involving a giant floating war machine captained by a man in a pirate costume should be.
Here, he continues his questioning of the status quo. In fact, pretty much every line in this trailer that isn't a gag is dedicated to Captain's doubts.
"This isn't freedom, this is fear." Expect this to be the key theme of the movie. But how far will America go in his pursuit of the American Way?
In the Civil War series of comics, Captain turned against the government. Will he go that far here?
Will Falcon steal the show?
Falcon is criminally underappreciated amongst comic-fans (let's face it, he's no-one's favourite) but that looks all set to change following The Winter Soldier 's release.
We only get a couple of glances at Anthony Mackie's Falcon, but what glimpses - that moment when he falls backwards with two guns only to grow wings and fly into the sky; it's basically the best John Woo scene he never filmed.
We can't wait to see more.
What made the heli-carrier explode?
The Heli-Carrier managed to survive an assault from Loki's minions, and now it's being blasted out of the sky by a brainwashed bloke with a bionic arm? What did he do, wave it to death?
It's a shocking moment in the trailer - we dread to think what's caused it.
Is The Winter Soldier going to be Marvel's most bad-ass movie villain yet?
We're joking of course, The Winter Soldier - aka Steve Rogers' best mate Bucky Barnes, brainwashed and given a Terminator makeover - is one of Marvel comics coolest villains, and it looks like the movie is making the most of his potential.
From that casual side-step as an oncoming car flips over, to the quick knife flip mid Cap fist-fight, and then ending with the trailer's last second shield snatch, it's clear he's a killing machine.
He might not be as witty as Loki, but if the devastation on display in this trailer is to be believed, he could be way, way nastier.
Will Cap ever get lucky?
Poor old Cap - he missed his date in The First Avenger, couldn't pick up on a hot waitress' signals in Avengers , and now, he's too busy to go on a date in T he Winter Soldier .
That's around 50 years worth of frustration he's been building up. We're actually starting to feel sorry for the bad-guys in this.
Still, at least he's got new BFF Black Widow doing her best to get him laid.
Will Cap ever wear a parachute?
We mean, COME ON. There are only so many times you can jump out of a plane face-first before you hit a seagull or something.
He did it in Avengers , he's doing it here again.
Note: each time he's stopped to say something quippy before launching himself into the sky. Maybe that's the secret to his power. Gag him, kick him out of a 747 and watch as he plummets to his death like an owl that's just insulted the Hulk.
Who's on the operating table?
Is it us or - with a hefty amount of squinting - that looks like it could be one Nick Fury on the operating table?
Throw in the brief shot of Fury driving a car, just before The Winter Soldier lobs a sticky grenade under an oncoming vehicle - flipping it upside down in a fiery ball of vehicular destruction - and we're betting that its Bucky himself who's responsible for putting Fury at death's door.
Is this the movie that makes Cap cool?
Some of us in the office (Okay, just Sam) think Captain America is already cool enough thank-you-very-much, but even he's prepared to admit that the movie version of the character is probably more cornball than hotdog.
But here Captain busts out the sort of fighting moves comic-fans have grown to love. And coolest of all? That shield kick flip after he's taken down an elevator full of foes.
Not that it's deviating from his established character too much; we love the fact that polite bully-hater Rogers gives his victims the option to get out of the elevator before he starts kicking off.
Who's Robert Redford talking to?
"Are you ready for the world to see you as you really are? Look out the window, you know how the game works."
When we first watched this trailer, we totes assumed that Redford was talking to the Captain. But then with Mr America, what you see is what you get. And, let's be fair, with the amount of questions he's asking in this trailer, he probably doesn't even know there is a game, let alone how it works.
No, we think Samuel L. Jackon's Nick Fury is the one on the receiving end of this line - and it makes us wonder if there's an implied threat in the comment.
Is something from Fury's past about to come back to haunt him? Did he have a key role in The Winter Soldier program?
Sam Ashurst is a London-based film maker, journalist, and podcast host. He's the director of Frankenstein's Creature, A Little More Flesh + A Little More Flesh 2, and co-hosts the Arrow Podcast. His words have appeared on HuffPost, MSN, The Independent, Yahoo, Cosmopolitan, and many more, as well as of course for us here at 12DOVE.
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