The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Series Review, the Marvel series created by Kari Skogland and Malcolm Spellman starring Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan available on Disney+. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is the Marvel series you don't expect.
Monopolized for weeks by WandaVision, the attention of all fans has been captured by the promise of a narrative and then editorial imagery that is completely new, different and therefore (for some strange equation) better than what the MCU had accustomed us to in the past. In the finale of the series, the two spouses have divided (for major events it is inevitable).
Then comes the series by Kari Skogland and Malcolm Spellman, the first step originally planned for Phase 4 and then due to Covid (look at you) became the second, labeled as a buddy movie style series and little else: an interesting interlude with an old-fashioned flavor that would have had the "easy" task of sorting out Cap's legacy and then leaving us with the highly anticipated Loki instead.
Well, we never thought we would witness what the series turned out to be, not so much for the logic behind its writing, but for where it decided to go, far beyond what anyone could have imagined.
The Falcon and The Winter Soldier: the chiaroscuro
The authors have taken the narrative logic, the political dynamics and the almost thriller atmosphere of Captain America: The Winter Soldier and have proposed them again taking into account that they were telling a story after the Civil War, the other reference film of the series, the film that brought complexity to the MCU and that, playing at breaking down the premises with which it was marketed, told fans that there are no more good guys or bad guys.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is set after the events of Avengers: Endgame, that is, just after the 5 years of darkness to which the universe was forced by the infamous Thanos snap, and therefore must deal with reality in complete restructuring.
A reality in which half of the disappeared population now sees their homes occupied by those who remained, governments must face new problems of integration and coordination of resources and the symbols of hope and unity, always a source of inspiration, have fallen forever.
A very delicate passage, which if not managed with the utmost concentration can lead to the chiaroscuro that Antonio Gramsci spoke of, the chiaroscuro that emerges when the new world is slow to appear. The one where monsters are born.
But who are the monsters? They are the Flag-Smashers, terrorists with the super soldier serum, but also boys who are looking for a place in the world for their people; they are the children of the new America, trained to be what they were not born to be and then thrown to their anxieties and their inadequacies and they are also, finally, those who have decided to turn their backs on everything they believed in, now betrayed, and to fight only for themselves.
In the middle are those with the most difficult task: to mend the rift between the two eras. As long as they manage to mend their personal one first, it doesn't matter if they do it sitting on the family boat, as in the case of Falcon, or in front of their neighbor's door, as in that of Bucky. Finding one's place in the world is a difficult task for everyone.
The Falcon and The Winter Soldier – The Stars and Stripes Shield
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier finds the key to its complex fresco in the Shield of Captain America, the symbol of the legacy of the pure-hearted super soldier (with all due respect to Zemo) and then goes further, delving into the story of the dark side of what this symbol represents and ending up telling us not only about the fears about what will happen in our world in the aftermath of the global crisis but about a part of its own history that America continues to deliberately ignore and that instead periodically returns to propose itself. A confirmation, in this absurd year, of the tendency of the Hollywood imagination to deal with issues related to classism and racial injustice.
In this case, the ideas are particularly happy, especially in their being provocative, such as hypothesizing that the legacy of Cap could be taken up by the head of a terrorist organization because he is seen as "a hero born of modern times and aware that he cannot afford the luxury of integrity", or functional, such as connecting the story of Isaiah Bradley's character to the parable of Falcon, whose success is also closely linked to the outcome of Bucky's psychological reintegration.
The perfect counterpoint in this context becomes the story of John Walker, Captain America with the bloody shield called a Nazi by his enemies. Tall, blond, with blue eyes and full of medals of valor, but still wrong, a victim of those who chose him, as well as of the serum (and the myth) of Superman, the path that leads to violent supremacism and a deviant, sick, wrong personal redemption.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier in the Marvel TV series available on Disney+
Skogland and Spellman lead a delicate mission, more than expected, and bring home one of those that are expected to be the foundations of the new reality of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, holding together a complex passage and giving it credibility that alone is worth a passing grade for the series, which has had its downsides.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier gives the viewer a Machiavellian plot, an unpredictable moral and a rediscovered importance of dialogue, net of some somewhat facile comparisons between those on opposite sides of the fence, and offers at least two truly engaging fights (one for each altitude).
On the other hand, some directorial solutions, especially when the sunlight is not shining, are a bit botched and less cinematic than others, which gives an important global scope to the action and makes us regret once again the good old days when certain scenes could be seen on slightly larger screens.
We were talking about the protagonists: Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan absolutely live up to expectations and their chemistry turns out to be the key to the lightness of some ideas, but also the glue that holds together all the imagery that revolves around the plot.
Two protagonists plus one, the highly appreciable Daniel Brühl, who reprises his role with ease and with perceptible amusement. Alongside them, Emily VanCamp returns and we discover Wyatt Russell, a little childish, but absolutely in the role, and Erin Kellyman, the street girl elevated to unsuspecting leader, red Malpelo innocent and ruthless and with a dream, now, impossible.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is available on Disney+.