In the build to Falcon and the Winter Soldier, I talked a lot about the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s uncanny ability to merge influences. How – with the primary exception of Captain America: Winter Soldier – films are rarely a direct adaptation of one thing, and instead a merger of ideas, ultimately synthesizing to something new.
The end result is that I’ve rarely watched the MCU thinking too heavily about how “the comics did it better,” or falling back on the cliched evergreen truth: the book’s better than the movie. Mostly this is a testament to very strong storytelling, a remarkable blend of focus and quality control, and again, just enough remixing comic book influences to feel fresh on screen.
Falcon and The Winter Soldier is the most heavily I’ve felt the distractions of the source material. There are three distinct Marvel stories the TV series very openly pillages, and the one largely unique storyline – the post “blip” rise of the Flagsmashers – is so egregiously porous, that everything suffers. [Read more…] about Falcon and the Winter Soldier Review!