Signora Volpe
2022
Search results
Rating
85% Tomatometer 338 Reviews 82% Audience Score 5,000+ Ratings Falcon and the Winter Soldier are a mismatched duo who team up for a global adventure that will test their survival skills -- as...
- (337)
- Anthony Mackie
- Kari Skogland
- March 19, 2021
- America's legacy.
- The Falcon and The Winter Soldier Cast and Characters
- The Falcon and the Winter Soldier: 10 Comics Stories You Should Read
- How would you score the full season of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier?
- Verdict
By Matt Purslow
Updated: Nov 4, 2022 12:22 am
Posted: Apr 29, 2021 2:54 pm
This is a mostly spoiler-free review of Marvel’s The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, which is now streaming in its entirety on Disney+. Some themes and characters are alluded to, but no main plot points are discussed in detail. For a deep dive into the show, you can read our spoiler-filled individual episode reviews:
•The Falcon and The Winter Soldier Season 1, Episode 1 Review
•The Falcon and The Winter Soldier Season 1, Episode 2 Review
The strength of this exploration comes from both sharp writing and a strong leading performance from Anthony Mackie. Given much more room that he’d have in a movie, Mackie has the ability to convey emotion and inner turmoil through glances and subtle movements. He’s matched perfectly by Carl Lumbly as Isaiah Bradley, a Korean War veteran who suffered at the hands of a racist system decades ago. Bradley acts as Sam’s lighthouse through a fog of pain, and their scenes together are heartbreakingly raw.
These components make the exploration of Captain America’s legacy a more poignant topic than many may have expected. And while the trajectory of Sam’s journey is obvious from the very first scenes, the handling of its weight makes for a distinctly satisfying conclusion to his arc.
While The Falcon may be the clear lead protagonist, his isn’t the only name in the show’s title. Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes is also along for the ride, but despite a fair amount of screen time the ex-Winter Soldier isn’t afforded the same storytelling luxuries as his partner. His personal antagonist is his own past, and segments of the series deal with him making amends for the damage he caused in his life as a Hydra assassin. But these moments are unfortunately few and far between; despite starting on perfect footing in the series premiere, it is not until the penultimate episode that these themes are truly revisited in any meaningful way.
The exploration of Captain America’s legacy is a more poignant topic than many may have expected.In between those chapters, Bucky’s main foe is Daniel Brühl’s fantastic Helmut Zemo, returning from his role as the instigator of Captain America: Civil War. But, similar to Bucky’s issues with his past, his relationship with Zemo promises more than it delivers. There’s a great Hannibal Lecter-like dynamic between them as the heroes must work with the villain to achieve greater things, but the opportunity for the slippery Zemo to manipulate Bucky in interesting ways is missed.
Bucky certainly gets the shorter end of the stick, then. But while he must play second fiddle to Sam, these six episodes do a substantial amount of heavy lifting to humanise a character that previously has been a plot point more than a genuine person. Without Steve Rogers around, Bucky is able to be his own man, rather than someone else’s mission. The quieter moments where Stan gets to explore the character’s inner turmoil and anxieties really prove that he was worth including in the story, even if the closure of his arc doesn’t provide quite the amount of fireworks that Sam’s does.
For all their individual successes, the show is a double act – even if it does feel like THE FALCON (and The Winter Soldier) – and Sam and Bucky’s dynamic is a contributor to both highs and lows. Early on, particularly in the second episode, the writing really struggles with the pair’s dialogue. The first half of the season positions them as a buddy comedy duo, as if this were Bad Boys or Rush Hour. While humour is an essential part of the MCU, the attempt to use this relationship template in a story exploring such heavy themes feels entirely out of place. Thankfully the crowbarred-in quips are mostly left behind in the latter half, making for a more natural back-and-forth between the two that still delivers jokes when appropriate.
Sam and Bucky’s dynamic is much stronger when they are allowed to be earnest, vulnerable characters. An extended conversation sequence in the penultimate episode allows much of the tension between them to be resolved, as well as address their personal demons. It's a scene drawn with genuine sincerity, and says as much about the value of supportive friendships as it does the other weighty topics that are dealt with at the forefront.
Complicating Sam and Bucky’s life is John Walker, a state-appointed successor to Steve Rogers. Played with smugness by Wyatt Russell, he is everything Captain America shouldn’t be; a self-righteous, aggressive loose cannon. Walker’s presence in the world is a constant source of stress, both in the way that his actions disrespect the legacy of Steve Rogers, and how he works as a constant reminder that Sam should be the one wielding the star-spangled shield.
In the broad strokes, John Walker is a great examination of the danger of governments wielding superheroes as weapons. Unfortunately, there’s very little nuance to this, which makes this Captain America rather one-note. There are moments where we see a deeper personality – occasional glimpses of the pressure Walker feels as a soldier elevated to the US military’s new poster boy – but the slim episode count and a mountain of other topics and characters means this particular thread isn’t as well-rounded as it ought to be. And while Walker is given enough material to ensure he delivers one of the season’s most shocking and valuable scenes, it unfortunately all leads to a weak, under-developed conclusion for his character.
By the final third it becomes clear that time has been misspent on the wrong elements and the pacing begins to spiral out of control.A similar treatment is given to the Flag Smashers, a group of morally grey antagonists led by the radicalised Karli Morgenthau (Erin Kellyman). There’s a huge amount of interesting ground this faction treads, touching on issues of humanitarian crisis, anti-nationalism, and the failure of government. Their plight is linked to the MCU’s Blip and how authority deals with the sudden reappearance of billions of people after five years away, but their story is clear commentary on wider societal issues in the real world, particularly the treatment of refugees and displaced communities. This makes for a group of sympathetic ‘villains’, and the opportunity for a more complex approach from our heroes.
Regrettably, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier’s writing really suffers when walking that morally grey line. Karli Morgenthau is clearly envisioned as a person with good intentions who goes too far, but a lack of granular detail in the Flag Smashers’ story means they come across too much as terrorists who are all too casual about killing innocents rather than freedom fighters. The GRC, a global taskforce that inflames tensions during the post-Blip crisis, is so underexplored, and Karli’s radicalisation so over exposed, that any attempt at nuance is largely off-balance. This occasionally, in its worst moments, comes across as The Falcon and The Winter Soldier outright condemning their argument, and so its worthy observations around radicalisation can be lost to simplification.
Where The Falcon and The Winter Soldier certainly doesn’t suffer is with its action choreography. Director Kari Skogland flawlessly replicates the grittier look of the Russo brothers’ Captain America films. This acts as a neat visual way to connect Sam and Bucky’s story to Steve Rogers’, but also makes for comparably rugged and weighty fight sequences. The premiere opens with a thrilling dogfight that allows Falcon to literally spread his wings, but the best moments are all on the ground where each punch rings loud. A late-season battle in which Sam and Bucky tag-team against a foe calls back to the Steve-Bucky-Tony three-way clash at the end of Captain America: Civil War, and is executed almost as skilfully.
The Falcon and The Winter Soldier is an earnest, thoughtful, and politically charged story that skillfully explores issues of racism, duty, and legacy in a manner perfectly attuned to the style of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Along with WandaVision, it is indicative that Disney+ is a space for Marvel’s bolder, more challenging experiments. But wh...
- Matt Purslow
Mar 18, 2021 · A review of ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,’ the new Marvel series on Disney+, in which Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan return as Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes to continue the MCU story ...
- Jen Chaney
- TV Critic
People also ask
Is Falcon and the Winter Soldier better than WandaVision?
Is the Falcon and the Winter Soldier overstuffed?
Is 'the Falcon and the Winter Soldier' a good movie?
Will 'Falcon & Winter Soldier' premiere first?
Mar 19, 2021 · The Falcon and the Winter Soldier attempts to move past the MCU's abysmal track record on women. Full Review | Original Score: B | May 13, 2021. Rotten Tomatoes, home of the Tomatometer, is...
Apr 23, 2021 · The Falcon and the Winter Soldier gets a new title with season 2 implications. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier team teases Julia Louis-Dreyfus role as 'a darker Nick Fury'. Anthony Mackie and...
- Darren Franich
- 14 min
Mar 18, 2021 · “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” is exactly what you expect. Disney and Marvel may have broken from their proven formula for the “WandaVision” one-off, but it would be foolish to think ...
Mar 18, 2021 · The Falcon and The Winter Soldier may not spark the wild fan theorizing WandaVision did, but its charismatic leads, espionage action and grounded approach suggest we're in for a fun ride over the ...
