In place of the usual commentary, few words about an older superhero movie, and an action scene that I find narratively inspirational for Empowered. (This from a recent Twitter ramble, hence the formatting.)

So, I’ll be catching Captain America: Civil War soon, not because I’m much of a MCU fan, but because I really enjoyed The Winter Soldier.

I didn’t bother catching Winter Soldier in the theater, as I’d found the first CAPTAIN AMERICA movie to be, at best, pleasantly innocuous. 

Was surprised—if not shocked—by how much I liked the Cap sequel when I caught it on video. A different league than the other Marvel flicks.

The Winter Soldier: not just the best Marvel movie—it also boasted the best action scene of any superhero flick. (Er, faint praise.) 

The highway ambush and subsequent chase/ fight scene was my favorite action sequence of 2014—a year that included The Raid 2, mind you. 

Annoyingly, can’t find a YouTube clip that shows the whole DVD chapter’s roughly 8:30 length, just shorter, unsatisfying excerpts. Sorry. 

BTW, I do mean the whole g-d scene from Stillwell’s sudden highway death onward, not just the minute or two of the closing Cap/ Bucky fight.

I’m not talking about the direction as such—the “shaky cam” and rapidfire edits cohere JUST well enough—but the thinking behind the action.

Every g-d beat of that lengthy Winter Soldier action scene is clever and well-thought-out,  full of sharp riffs and neat little touches.

The Winter Soldier’s blind shots through the car roof neatly hitting each headrest. Natasha spotting Bucky by his overpass cast shadow. 

When Bucky kneels down to roll a grenade, an “establishing shot” of his webgear denotes the specific guns and knives he’ll use vs. Cap.

No “insert generic superhero slugfest” here—the sequence riffs smartly on ideas of superhuman combat, especially involving Cap’s shield. 

Cap’s highway shield-slide and weaponizing of minigun richochets? Sharp. The shield’s limitations vs. 40mm grenades are pointed out, though.

Good riffs with Bucky’s superpowered prosthesis, too: Yanking out the steering wheel, the overhand “power slash” that Cap can’t hold back.

If you dismiss the scene as nothing but “generic shaky cam,” you have no eye for well-planned action. You’re “action-blind,” and I pity you.

The bad guys are smart. Prepared. (Maybe a little TOO prepared, given the rappelling gear they just happened to bring along. Lucky!)

Smart, tough opponents trying to outthink each other? Vastly superior to smirking “God-Mode Badass” plowing through haplessly inept hordes.

The earlier elevator fight was fun, but was told mostly through a staccato, montage-like series of somewhat disconnected moments. 

Here, the action flows more smoothly through complications & reversals. Plenty of “OH, S**T” moments, which any good action scene requires. 

Action reveals character. Bucky’s fighting style is notably coldblooded, vicious, relentless, rapid-cycling through guns, grenades, knives.

Important element of the Winter Soldier scene: Desperation. Our heroes are taking this seriously. Fighting for their g-d lives. No quips.

The Black Widow isn’t nonchalantly breaking out her +5 Smirk of Badassedness. Quite the contrary, in fact. (Good work from ScarJo.)

After a surprised Natasha gets shot, she scrambles for cover behind a car with a wild-eyed, disoriented, “WTF?” expression on her face.

More on this later, but I intensely dislike the tension-free, pandering “God-Mode Hero” action scenes that infest modern pop culture. 

It’s no secret that (print-edition) Empowered is approaching a volume-long action scene, and frantic desperation will be the watchword.

So, I found The Winter Soldier’s (DVD chapter 11) chase/fight scene inspiring for future high-stakes Empowered action. Good stuff, folks.

Any superhero battle—ANY good action scene—should feature character-specific action; tension & desperation; reversals & “OH, S**T” moments.

Most superhero-movie action scenes fall far short of that ideal, as do an even higher proportion of American superhero comics. Sad, really.

(Then again, I only care about one American superhero comic: mine. If wan, weak, inept action dominates the rest of the field, so what?)

Will Captain America: Civil War’s fight scenes feature the same quality level? Hope so; in any event, I’ll find out shortly.

-Adam Warren