Like WandaVision before that, Disney + ‘s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier it serves wonderful scenarios while having time to delve deeply into the mentality of the characters.
Only the first episode, which premiered on Friday, March 19, was shown to critics, but its 47-minute run promises movie-caliber action sequences, as well as some much-needed and belated insights into Sam Wilson , also known as the MCU’s Falcon (played by Anthony Mackie) and the hero-turned-assassin who became hero James “Bucky” Barnes, also known as Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan).
You have already seen some glimpses of the chase that starts the series, while Falcon (with the help of his Redwing drone) navigates through Tunisian airspace in search of an HVT; in its entirety, it is a breathless piece of cinema that would impress the crowd at your local, unfortunately extinct Cineplex. The physical confidence displayed by Sam in that scene, followed by the amusing jokes between him and a government manipulator, quickly consolidate Mackie’s upgrade from helper to leading hero.
Stan gets a little action hero show at the premiere, although that kind of flashback is the foundation for when we first see Bucky in the current timeline, preventing a therapist from shedding light on the “three rules” he must follow as part of your forgiveness. Being a relentless HYDRA killer clearly affects the old psyche (as well as “running from war to war for 90 years”), so Bucky in the months since Blip /Avengers: Endgame he attributed to himself a regulated penance which, when it is revealed, will surely break your heart.
Speaking of the five years of Blip and Sam’s absence during them: the repercussions threaten to turn the lives of his sister Sarah (Adepero Oguye) and their two children, at their home in Delacroix, Louisiana. The brother / sister scenes that result from this crisis are warm, small and talk about issues that are much more human than when Sam is fighting “armies and monsters”.
But Sam also has superheroic decisions to make, as Steve Rogers handed him Captain America’s powerful shield at the end of Endgame. Since Blip, “The world is broken, waiting for someone to fix it,” observes Col. “Rhodey” Rhodes (Don Cheadle) at a ceremony in DC in honor of Steve’s legacy. But Sam has to ask himself: he the best person to inherit Cap’s mantle?
Except for a few minor provocations of what is, at least, the series’ introductory threat – a rising faction known as Flag-Smashers – and a final moment that raises big questions about Sam’s heroic future, which is all about the first covers. of the episodes. But if Disney’s second Marvel + series continues on the right track, it will be as well received as WandaVision, even if it’s a more traditional Avengers branch.
THE TVLINE BACKGROUND: The Falcon and the Winter Soldierat first glance, it looks like a winning pair.