The First Team Action Sequence
Captain America, Scarlet Witch, Black Widow and Falcon are in Lagos, Nigeria to thwart a terrorist attack on a secure facility used for infectious disease control. We learn that Brock Rumlow – also known as Crossbones (Frank Grillo) – is the leader of the attack, and that his goal is to steal a bio-weapon.
Our heroes are spread throughout a busy marketplace – Scarlet Witch and Black Widow seated separately outside a café, Captain America in a corner apartment, and Falcon on a nearby rooftop. Cap’s alarm bells ring on sight of a garbage truck, and Falcon gets to use his new gadgets to determine the vehicle’s true purpose. Suddenly, all hell breaks loose and the team leaps into action.
What follows is a brilliant action sequence, in which each team member gets to show off their impressive skill set equally. Cap leaps around, fighting terrorists from all directions and trying to secure the building. Scarlet Witch provides vital back-up, using her telekinetic abilities to save her friends and help them catch the bad guys. Falcon fights too, as well as providing an overview of the situation – tracking each villain as they split up and try to vanish in the crowd. Then there’s Black Widow, who charges into the situation repeatedly – taking down terrorists, securing the bio-weapon and getting into hand-to-hand combat with Crossbones himself.
The familiarity of these capable heroes draws us into the film, and makes us feel good. We are in safe hands and everything will be fine. Until, that is, Scarlet Witch throws a burning Crossbones into a busy building and kills a bunch of innocent people, in order to save Captain America.
