On Suspense [Review for Captain America: The Winter Soldier]

*Warning: Unmarked spoilers may follow. Viewer discretion is advised.*

Dear Alexander Pierce,

Do you know Dell Rusk? If not, you two should meet for coffee sometime. You might learn some things from each other, like how the Winter Soldier isn't actually 100% stable. If Dell Rusk doesn't exist in your universe, well, contact Kang the Conqueror (that's last name Conqueror, first name Kang). He ought to be able to take you into an alternate universe. 

Also, while you're at it, tell Mr. Jasper Sitwell that he should meet up with Hydra Propeller Guy who got shredded seventy years ago (you know the scene). I think we'll call it "The Tragic and Disturbing but Also Somehow Darkly Amusing Death Scene Club". 

Sincerely, 

A Concerned Fan

***

So, I recently got to see Captain America: The Winter Soldier again. And it was awesome. To give you an idea of how good it was, it was one of the few movies in which my "Oh my gosh" quotient went through the roof on the second viewing. Seriously, it's up there with The Avengers. 

It would be fairly hard to give a really good plot summary without giving out a bunch of spoilers, so I think I'll just jump straight into pros and cons. 

Good/Favorite Bits:

• Ah, where to start... well, first of all, characters. Steve Rogers is back (duh) and he's as morally upright and refreshingly good as ever. Alongside him is Natasha Romanoff, and the new kid on the block, Sam Wilson (a.k.a. The Falcon). Then there's the Winter Soldier, previously known as Bucky Barnes, and Nick Fury, not to mention Alexander Pierce and Maria Hill.
  The characters in this movie were great. Steve's problems with Fury's moral ambiguity were well-fleshed out, and his struggle with the Winter Soldier's identity was great. Agent Romanoff was also good. So was Alexander Pierce... really, everyone was good. 
• In relation to the above point, I'd like to give a special mention to actor Sebastion Stan, who portrayed Bucky Barnes/the Winter Soldier. His ability to portray emotion (or lack of it) through facial expression was amazing. Watch the post-credits scene and you'll know what I'm talking about. 
• The plot is quite snappy, though that means that the movie is also suspenseful and intense (see title). However, there are just enough calm, mostly-dialogue scenes to keep it from being exhaustively fast-paced. 
• The movie works well as a part of the cohesive Marvel Cinematic Universe. Agent Jasper Sitwell, who got one appearance in Thor and a few lines in The Avengers, has an extended role here. It's mentioned that after his "up-close look" at the Helicarrier's rotors, Tony Stark designed new repulsors for a second generation of Helicarriers (and those ships do feature prominently in the movie). Natasha Romanoff is here, of course, and when targets of the neo-Nazi organization H.Y.D.R.A. are listed, Bruce Banner, Tony Stark, and Dr. Steven Strange are among them. Additionally, a mid-credits scene gives us appearances from Baron Strucker, Scarlet Witch, and Quicksilver--all of whom have been confirmed to be in Avengers: Age of Ultron. 
• The visual effects were awesome in this movie. The fight scenes, in particular, were amazing to watch, and I had such a time watching the Falcon with his wingpack. Additionally, the Winter Soldier looks almost exactly the way he did in the comics, particularly in the rooftop chase scene with Captain America, and that's quite an achievement. 
• And that about covers most of the movie, wouldn't you say?

Bad/Least Favorite Bits:

• So I have to ask: Where was Hawkeye in all of this? All Hades was breaking loose in S.H.I.E.L.D., Cap and the Black Widow were on the run, and near the end of the movie all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secrets were downloaded onto the internet... so where was Hawkeye? You'd have thought he'd show up at least after everything S.H.I.E.L.D.-related went viral. 
• Um... well, there was a lot of crashing-through-glass in this movie. That always sort of vaguely annoys me, because I know that it should be majorly hurting the characters and it's not. Generally I'm okay when it's, say, Captain America doing it, but when a normal person like Sam Wilson does it and isn't hurt at all I get kind of annoyed. In the back of my head. 
• And, well... hm... um... I kind of liked Fury with his eye patch, you know... What? No! I am not grasping at straws! Whatever gave you that idea?
• Yeah, I'm done. 

Conclusion:

Captain America: The Winter Soldier was good. Very good. I'd go so far as to say it was on par with The Avengers (though it wasn't quite better). The acting and characterization was good, the dialogue was great, the plot was awesome, and the visual effects were amazing. So I guess there's not much left to say, except that I'm giving this movie four and a half stars out of five:

***

And that about wraps this blog post up! See you next time, folks!

Suspension of Disbelief is Great, But There Are Still a Few Sci-Fi Explanations That I Will Never Use

So I recently went to see Captain America: The Winter Soldier again. And it was great--awesome, in fact--but that's not what I'm here to talk about today.

Today I'm here to talk about one of the previews that accompanied the movie.

I won't go into the details, but basically it was appeared to be a dark sci-fi action type of movie. The premise was, more or less, "Humans only use 10% of their brains, so what happens when someone unlocks more of their potential?"

Which is great, and all that, except... "Humans only use 10% of their brains" is a myth.

Humans actually use 100% of their brains, though different parts are active at different times. Actually, using every part of your brain all at once is generally called a seizure.

So that brings me to my topic for today: "Top 5 Sci-Fi Explanations That I Will Never Use In a Book".

5) "Gamma radiation is capable of causing helpful mutations"

Um... no, actually, I'm pretty sure that gamma radiation in high doses just kills you. According to Wikipedia, it can also burn you, cause DNA damage, kill cells (because of said DNA damage), and cause radiation sickness.

And contrary to popular belief, damaged DNA doesn't give you superpowers either. Actually, that brings me to #4...

4) "Helpful genetic mutations exist"

No, actually, they don't. 99% of known mutations are very harmful, sometimes even lethal. And the only helpful mutations documented are those that provide heightened levels of immunity to diseases.

Sorry, X-Men.

3) "The spaceship has a lightspeed drive/can go the speed of light"

Do you have any idea just how fast light goes? In case you were wondering, it's 299,792,458 meters per second. That's 186,000 miles per second (with some rounding), or about 671 million miles per hour. Additionally, we in the early 21st century have no idea how to replicate anything close to that speed. Sorry, but I'm not buying it.

Side note: I will, however, accept the "relativistic speeds" explanation used by Orson Scott Card in Ender's Game. That's based on an actual theory, and it doesn't imply or state that humans are trying to go the speed of light.

2) "This galaxy just happens to have [insert number here] Earth-like planets"

This one sounds good initially, but wait a second. Earth is, quite literally, one-in-a-million. Earth has just the right star, just the right placement, just the right tilt, just the right rotation, just the right moon, just the right orbit speed... I could go on, but you've probably gotten the idea. I can't remember the exact chances of Earth's specific qualities randomly occurring, but they're pretty freaking low. We haven't even found water on any other planet, and most planets are downright hostile to the mere idea of "life".

I'm not saying you can't have Earth-like planets, but I'd just like to point out that the vast majority of planets aren't going to be Earth-like. At. All. And there will probably be a limit of one Earth-like planet per solar system, since there's only one specific distance that a planet can be from the sun to keep from burning up or freezing.

In short, if you have an Earth-like planet, chances are every other planet in the system will be hostile, to some degree. So can we be realistic about it, please? (Star Wars, I'm looking at you.)

1) "The characters are in trouble because the starship ran out of fuel"

So why isn't the ship still moving?

Space is a void. It has no air, no friction, and no gravity (unless you manage to hit the gravitational pull of a planet or other large body). In space, Newton's first law of motion applies quite literally: An object at rest tends to remain at rest; an object in motion tends to remain in motion, unless an outside force acts against it.

Get something moving in space and it won't stop, unless you happen to hit an asteroid or something like that. A spaceship doesn't actually need all that much fuel--it just needs enough to get it moving. The real problems are a) the amount of time it takes to get anywhere worthwhile in space, and b) the amount of food a human crew would need to get anywhere worthwhile in space (hence the "light drive" and "relativistic speeds" explanations).

On the upside, though, this does mean that there's no need for gas stations in space...

------

And there you have it. 

Please note: I'm not trying to spoil anyone's fun when it comes to science fiction/superhero stories/whatever. I'm not. Really. I do enjoy The Avengers, even though they have a gamma monster on the team. I haven't had a chance to get into the X-Men yet, but I'd like to, even though they violate Rule #4 (like, a lot). I'm even a fan of Star Wars, even though they've pretty wantonly laid waste to Rules 1-3. So I'm not trying to ruin anything for anyone. I'm just... venting, I guess. Sorry.

But I can promise you that I'm never going to use "genetic mutation" as an origin story. So there.