Captains, and Heroes, and Extras, Oh My!

Many of you probably know that I went up to Cleveland last fall to be an extra in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Many of you probably know that this movie was also the catalyst that pushed me to leave my day job in favor of pursuing acting full time.

Several times on the set, I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that I was in the shot. Sadly, for one scene, they chose not to use the footage I would have been in, and another scene was cut entirely (however, based on the content of the scene, I have high hopes for the deleted scenes on the DVD). Thankfully, unlike with the Avengers, I am still visible in this one! I promise that this is non-spoilery to those yet to see it - I am visible shortly after the fight in the elevator. Cap jumps from many floors up and crashes through a glass ceiling into the middle of the ground floor of S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ. When he lands on his shield, you will see glass doors behind him slide open, and the pair of feet in high heels is me! When he stands up, there are a few people in suits behinds him, and I'm one of them. I'm not in focus, but I'm definitely there! On a personal note, standing where I was standing when they shot that scene gave me a really nice view of Chris Evans. Really nice. It's OK to be a little jealous of me.

Before I get into my full review/critique of the film though, I have to take a little time to praise my fellow heroes in the Heroes Alliance and thank the Gateway Film Center for giving us the space in their lobby to take pictures with moviegoers and accept donations for the MS Society before the advanced screenings. We had a rather large turnout for this event; Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Ms. Marvel, She Hulk, Bruce Banner, Reed Richards, Nick Fury, Agent Victoria Hand, and Agent Cutri (and Peter Parker was running around with a camera).

 
I've been working with the wonderful group of costumed heroes for almost two years now, made friends I will hold on to for as long as they'll keep me around, and put smiles on the faces of more children (and parents) than I can count, and I've loved every minute of it. These people give selflessly of their time and talents, and I'm proud to work with them. Here's to many more events in the hot sun, the frigid cold, and hopefully even more in temperature controlled indoor environs!

Now, to the movie! Like I said, I have high hopes for the deleted scenes - HERE FOLLOW POSSIBLE SPOILERS - because the other scene I expected to see myself in was an Agent 13 centric scene. It was clearly trimmed out for time, as the battle for SHIELD sequence was pretty long. The scene I saw filmed was Agent 13 (after the initial fight in the command center with Rumlow), striding through HQ giving orders on a walkie-talkie. As she's giving orders, bad guys start firing and she takes off at a run. I run up a flight of stairs and fall into step beside her (actually, I nearly crashed into her because my shoes didn't even remotely fit). PS, she's not as tall as they make her look, she's just very slim. We were wearing the same size heel, and she's only got about an inch on me. Anyway, I figure that she'll have some space in the deleted scenes, which means I might too :)

So, beyond my minimal involvement in the movie, and my concern over the choice of Emily Van Camp as Sharon Carter, I was impressed overall. I enjoyed Steve's development as a character outside of his own time, the wonderful rapport he has going with Black Widow, and the new friendship and instant kinship between he and the Falcon. I really loved Sam, I thought the actor was an excellent choice and they gave him a lot to do without making him feel like a forced addition to the team. He fit in rather seamlessly, I thought.

I like Robert Redford. He's always turned in good performances. However, he's never (in my humble opinion) turned in great performances, and Cap 2 is no different. He is just alright. He never crosses the line into "intimidating" or "sinister" though, and there were points in the movie where I really wanted sinister. Still, it was not a bad performance and I will not go so far as to call it disappointing, I will just say that it was not quite all that I expected.

Jumping back a few paragraphs, I do feel that some of Agent 13's scenes could have and should have been left in and Rumlow should have been trimmed back. I felt that he was nothing more than a glorified henchman and that he got too much screen time for very little payoff. His end should have been there in the control room with Agent 13 (or shortly thereafter) and any number of other henchmen could have faced off with Falcon before the Helicarrier crash. Some of Rumlow's time could have been used to better set up Agent 13's skills and give us more reason to want her back than "Steve is going to ask her out."

I can't believe people still walk out when the credits roll. Honestly people, sit your butts back down and give it another 5 minutes, it's usually worth it. These two were definitely worth it (especially the first one).

If you pay attention, we were given some tidbits hinting at some future events in the Marvel Universe, including some more groundwork for the "Origins of SHIELD" show (whatever they are going to call it), a Hulk movie, and the introduction of Dr. Strange! Very exciting stuff happening!

Oh! And Gary Sinise narrating at the Smithsonian was a great touch!

HERE ENDETH THE POTENTIAL SPOILERS

Go see the movie, it was another excellent installment in the Marvel Universe's growing mythology, and Chris Evans and Anthony Mackie are pretty. All in all, a fun adventure!