when captain america and yellowtree collide.

Let me begin by saying that most of the superhero movies I've seen, especially the Marvel ones, haven't really done anything for me (Dark Knight trilogy not included). It's not that they're bad movies, per se. They've all been thoroughly entertaining, but have never left me with a great desire to see them again.

So, I saw Captain America: The Winter Soldier over the weekend. And my initial reaction?

Mind. Blown.

Jaw. Dropped.

Seriously. I absolutely loved it. Loved it. I could watch it again right now (I know, it's weird to hear me raving like this about a Marvel movie, too). But I can't help it. It was so freaking good.

Not only were the action sequences incredibly crafted and crazy suspenseful, but the character development was spot-on. The directors absolutely nailed it this time.

Here, Captain America isn't just a bulky super human out to save the world. He's a real person with a mind of his own and a moral compass that guides his decisions throughout the entire movie. He questions things, really questions things, and he's not afraid to stand up for what he believes is right and true and free. He has this untainted innocence about him, even when he's staring evil in the face, and I so appreciated his heart that saw people as people, as friends, rather than mere objects or roadblocks to kill.


Here, Black Widow isn't just some provocative, hardcore secret agent, but a real person with a past of her own and feelings that she's kept bottled up for most of her life. We catch a glimpse of where she came from and where she's going now, connecting the dots and tracing a picture of her rarely seen vulnerability, the deeper reasons behind her cardboard facade of lies and deception.

Most of the conversations were filmed with close-ups of the characters' faces, zooming in on their facial expressions and body language and the many things communicated with their eyes alone. Seriously, I was surprised by how entranced I became during the dialogue scenes. They pulled me in from the very first close-up and really got me to feel the characters, not just see them.

Beyond that, there's an absolutely beautiful scene toward the end (I won't give any major spoilers, but I should probably at least throw out a minor spoiler alert, just in case) where Captain American refuses to fight one of his friends, even when they're on opposing sides. He takes punch after punch after punch, to the point where it almost becomes hard to watch, before looking his friend in the eye and saying, "I'm with you til the end of the line."

Okay. Let's just say Anthony may have been a slight mess in the middle of the theater and I'm really glad it was dark. But this scene impacted me at such a deep, emotional level, as it resonated with one of the main scenes of Yellowtree, the one that sets the stage for the reconciliation that unfolds over most of the book. If you don't already know, Yellowtree revolves around Levi and Jake, two best friends that slowly grow apart in high school due to Jake giving into peer pressure and Levi distancing himself emotionally from everyone but himself. Jake eventually lashes out at Levi as an initiation into his newfound group of friends, physically injuring him while Levi refuses to fight back.

You may be starting to connect the dots already. But I saw Levi in Captain America, in the way that he refused to fight back, refused to give into violence and fear and anger, even when he was being pummeled by the one he thought would always be there for him.

I saw Levi in the way Captain America looked at his friend, barely able to see through his swollen eyes, but hanging onto hope. There was hope in his eyes and there is hope in Levi's eyes, even when he feels hopeless. He obscures the truth with all of his insecurities, doubts and fears, but deep down, he knows that the truth will set him free and he knows that he did the right thing.

I saw Levi in the way Captain America barely made out, "I'm with you til the end of the line," like he wasn't giving up and he wasn't giving in. It's funny, because this was all just one rather brief scene in the movie, but it somehow evoked the emotions of Yellowtree from the opening chapters to the very end. For even when Levi is absolutely terrified of Jake and wanting nothing to do with him, he doesn't give up and he works out his pain inch by inch and step by step until the climax of the novel, when he realizes that he needs to stick by Jake's side and he's not going anywhere. Jake doesn't go anywhere either.

I won't tell you how this whole conflict with Captain America and his friend ends (you'll just have to see it for yourself). But I wanted to share how much I appreciated the film for its emotional depth and complex maturity that was rather stunning for a superhero movie. Obviously, not everyone's going to connect with the same elements of the film as I did, but I would absolutely love to hear about anything that sticks out to you. There's so much going on in the film, I'm sure you'll find something to talk about.

And if you haven't seen it yet, I cannot recommend it enough.

Also, since my book came up in this post, I thought I'd update you and let you know that I've gone through and fixed some of the more glaring grammatical and sentence structure issues, and am now zooming out once again to focus on character and relationship development. It's so heavily focused on the characters and their dialogue, I want to make sure that the relational progression between friends, family members, etc. is believable and down to earth.

That's all I have today. Peace to you, dear friends.