Review: The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021) *Spoiler Free*

Review: The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021) Spoiler Free

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier One Sheet

I've seen a few reviews of Marvel Studios, Disney+ series, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, where the reviewer's have said that Anthony Mackie's Sam Wilson, A.K.A The Falcon was perfectly fine with accepting Captain America's shield at the conclusion of Avengers, Endgame, but he wasn't.

He clearly wasn't going to turn down the shield from his now very aged looking friend, Steve Rogers. He definitely accepted it with clear doubts about himself being the right choice. Hence his exchange at the time...

Old Steve Rogers : How does it feel?

Sam Wilson : Like it's someone else's.

Old Steve Rogers : It isn't.

Sam Wilson : Thank you. I'll do my best.

He wasn't dancing around, and over the moon to receive Cap's shield. He really didn't have the time, in that moment, to properly consider the implications.

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is the jumping off point for Sam to really start thinking about whether he is really the right person to step in for Steve and carry the Captain America mantle forward.

If you're a fan of the Captain America movies, (basically any of the MCU movies with Captain America in them), then this series is almost a seamless continuation of the film's story arc for the key supporting characters, Sam Wilson, Bucky Barnes, Sharon Carter, and Baron Zemo, kicking off not too long after the events of Endgame.

Key to the series is the strained relationship between Sam and Bucky, who are somewhat forced to work together when an emerging terrorist group, the Flag Smashers, appears to be led by Super Soldiers. If you liked Sam and Bucky's brief ambivalence toward each other during the films then you get plenty of that here, and it's fun to watch.

While the series is only six episodes, each ranging from 47-57 minutes long, the series packs a lot in, building up its title characters into more well rounded individuals, and expanding on supporting characters in unexpected ways.

Daniel Brühl's, Baron Zemo is a particular highlight with his philosophical outlook that challenges Sam along the way. I'd say he's better in this series than he was in Captain America Civil War.

There are some great action sequences of the same level and quality you'd find in any of the Marvel movies. It never gets old watching Falcon in a fight. Like Captain America and his Shield, Falcon and his wings are just fascinating to watch. The way he incorporates his wings in battle, beyond just flying, brings a uniqueness that no other Marvel hero can emulate.

If you're all about the action then this series can be a little slow and 'talky' in some episodes. Which does give a few pacing issues from episode to episode. Personally I like all the 'talky' stuff. There's much character development (particularly Sam's home life) and political posturing that echos what we saw in Captain America, The Winter Soldier. It's a similar vibe to that film.

Unlike WandaVision there aren't as many twist and turns to keep you guessing, and it's not too hard to know how this series ends as it unfolds. However the real enjoyment is the journey. You may see the ending a mile off but how we get there is totally engaging. Not unlike a standard Marvel movie.

The series only miss step for me was in Emily VanCamp's Sharon Carter story arc. It's not that I didn't like it, I just don't think we get nearly enough time with her to understand some of the choices she makes.

Personally I like the character and what they tried to do with her but, as I said earlier, the series is trying to pack in so much. Sharon's character arc definitely suffers as a result. She's clearly had, arguably, the most interesting journey of the four continuing characters since the events of Endgame, yet we only get glimpses of where she's at and how she got there.

Overall I enjoyed The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. While WandaVision had me guessing more from week to week, Falcon told a much more relatable story that seems very reflective of today's world. It does get political with themes around racism and government ineptitude but it also has a lot of heart, family, and community themes that keep it grounded in the real world.

It may as well be an MCU movie. Don't not watch it just because it isn't. We're really fortunate to get this deeper dive into Sam and Bucky's world that the movies just haven't been able to explore.

Comments

James Gunn's Social Media Monkeys Joke Was a Highlight of His Superman Movie For Me

B efore James Gunn's Superman Movie was released there was a whole rumor going around that the movie would feature monkeys on computers trolling Superman's social media, sparking much outrage. #supersh*t. I didn't know this was even a thing until just prior to writing this article. I did a search to see if anyone had posted a clip of the monkeys scene from the movie and got pages of discourse featuring videos and articles prior to the film. Most of it from Gunn detractors (let's say) seeing it as some kind of childish swipe at them... well not them specifically but, you know, those other people who have every right to hate on anything sight unseen. Anyway, I'm not going to give even one such example a link or air because it's kind of sad watching someone devote so much commentary to a throw away gag that is absolutely a nod to James Gunn's Superman trolls. The whole reason this post exists, is to say I loved the joke, because fourteen years ago, and I...

How to Transfer Any Line Art to Your Griptape - Easy Skateboard Griptape Art Tutorial

Dog Star Griptape Art by TET Griptape art is once again gaining popularity amongst modern skateboarders. For those of us who have tried to create our own griptape art, using paint pens, you'll know reproducing your design onto the grip, without making any mistakes is incredibly challenging. Mostly because you just have to go for it and draw the design freehand, with paint pens, directly onto the griptape. You can make the odd mistake here or there but if you get the proportions of the design completely wrong, it can be very difficult to fix. Often you just have to live with the mistake. To address the problem I've come up with an easy way anyone can transfer a line art design to their griptape, removing almost all the anxiety of getting the proportions wrong. In fact, you could do this with any line art design, even if you have no drawing skill at all. Watch the video below to see my technique in action and/or skip past the video where I highlight the basic steps to get your de...

Is AI Art 'Art'? The Say NO to AI Art Movement, and Why Human Artists Will Adapt

AI Art No T-Shirt by TET Also available on other items . Right now there is a big debate over not just whether AI art is 'art' but whether AI's are actually ripping off the work of actual human artists, without their consent, to create their images - particularly images 'in the style of' specific artists. From my own observations this debate started to get more traction when artist's signatures began appearing in the output of AI Art image generators. Is It Art? Cool Froyd the Cat Sketch by TET. My style is very much influenced by classic Disney and WB character styles. To get some clarity on how real human artists work (of which I am one)... we, that is all of us... take influences from the art that has come before. i.e. whatever artists we like, have studied, seen etc. we are influenced by. It shows up in our work, intentionally or not. If you really study my own cartoony art style you'll see I'm heavily influenced by early Disney and Warner Bros cart...

I'm Joining the Illuminati Brotherhood By Personal Invitation of Hiltom Rothschild... Wait, What?

How special am I to have finally come of age (53 years young) and am now eligible to participate in building the world alongside other members of the Illuminati Brotherhood... Yes I've received the call by way of an email, which I'm sure is real because I had to translate it from the Dutch language and it was personally written by Hiltom Rothschild, one of the non-existent members of the Rothschild family (or perhaps deep undercover because Google has never heard of them?). A Transcript of the email below: To: etourist From: Illuminati Brotherhood Subject: Illuminati Broederschap (Illuminati Brotherhood) I am Hiltom Rothschild, a member of the Rothschild family, one of the 13 families of the Illuminati brotherhood. I'm here to let you know that you've come of age and are eligible to participate in building the 🌎 world. It is a calling and a privilege to honor him with pride and gratitude as not everyone will ever be chosen by the LIGHT, many are called but few are ch...

Skateboarders Who Ever Dreamed of Dropping In on a City Building - Sandro Dias Just Lived Your Dream

Dias's drop-in from one of the lower platforms for practice. Image: © Marcelo Maragni/Red Bull I f you're a skateboarder living in a city you've probably looked at a building that has skate ramp vibes and imagined dropping in on it... well Professional Skateboarder, Sandro Dias didn't just imagine. The Perth Telstra Building as depicted in this fantasy poster print, Forbidden Skate Ramp by Harry Young. If you lived in Perth, Western Australia, any skateboarder who saw the top of the Telstra Building likely had the same thought about the ramp like quarter pipe at the top. Also, back in the day there was a classic skateboarding poster going the rounds that depicted Sydney as a literal skatepark with ramps built up, down, and over numerous buildings. Sandro Dias, who broke the record for the world's tallest drop-in on the 26th September 2025 by dropping in on a mega ramp built on the side of the curved façade of the 22-storey Centro Administrativo Fernando Ferrari (C...

Commodore Computers Are On Their Way Back With a New CEO and Many of the Original Team Founders

Commodore 64 Ultimate: Starlight Edition. An updated C64 for today. C hances are, if you grew up in the 1970s and 80's, the first computer your family owned was a Commodore 64 (or possibly the Vic-20, also by Commodore, that preceded it). I taught myself to code in BASIC on our Commodore 64 (C64), making ASCII based games (i.e. graphics made from the letters and symbols assigned to the various keyboard keys). I coded a Tic Tac Toe two player game, a simple shooting gallery game, and a flash card game to help me learn the Periodic Table, which (much to my... I want to say horror... got me bumped up to an advanced science class in high school). Later I'd go on to dabbling in true 8 bit, and 16 and 32 bit, graphical games, when we upgraded to the C128, Amiga 500, then Amiga 600, but I never actually finished anything because, by then I'd gotten into skateboarding, so I was trying to make my ultimate skateboard game - ambitious much? It was Commodore machines that showed me mak...

The Worst Book I Have Ever Read - Gulp: Travels Around the Gut by Mary Roach

TET and Mary Roach's Book, Gulp . I 'm the kind of person who only reads one physical book at a time. For context I consider a 'book' to be anything over 100 pages of mostly text. Basically your typical work of fiction novel or factual biography. It's not that I can't read more than one book at a time, I just choose not to because I don't set a lot of time aside for reading. Maybe 30 minutes a day when I'm on a good run with a really engaging text. Little did I know that Mary Roach's Gulp: Travels Around the Gut *, a book of 317 pages (minus the Acknowledgments and Bibliography) would become a bottle neck for my reading for the next three and a half years. As such, I'm calling it the worst book I have ever read. Despite how long it took me to read, it is not a bad book in the slightest, and is in fact, quite light, somewhat entertaining, reading for a book that explores the science, and the resilience of the human digestive system. I'm no st...

TET.Life (The Extraordinary Tourist Life)

Search This Blog