Captain America: The Winter Soldier Made Great By Honest Trailer Nitpicking

A few weeks ago the crew of Honest Trailers
had a bit of a conundrum on their hands
when faced with tearing apart one of the
biggest hits of the summer, Captain America:
The Winter Soldier . Basically, it's a film so
good the movie-loving comedians struggled
to make fun of it at all. It turns out, that was
by design.
Collider reports Captain America: The Winter
Soldier 's success is owed in part to the very
webseries that would gladly tear it down. It
turns out the superhero sequel's helmers,
Anthony Russo and Joe Russo, are big fans
of Honest Trailers, and set the standards for
their story's logic exceptionally high because
of it.
Collider asked the Russo brothers how they
felt about this unusual honor. Joe Russo
admitted he was "flattered and amused," but
then detailed how influential Honest Trailers
was on the film's development. He explains:
"What’s so funny is that I’m an
avid Honest Trailer watcher. I
love it. It cracks me up. So…we
used to sit in the room and go,
'this is not going to end up in an
Honest Trailer. This logic isn’t
sound enough yet.' We literally
tried to Honest Trailer-proof the
movie. Because what Honest
Trailers really is, and I’ll say
litmus test again, is 'how sound
is the logic in your film? How
ridiculous are the buys that
you’re asking the audience to
make?' So we would just comb
through the script over and over
again and go, 'How do we shore
up this logic? How do we shore
up this logic?' So it was a very
helpful exercise for us."
Honest Trailers has happily mocked
everything from Ghostbusters to Man of Steel
and Forrest Gump , and with no signs of
mercy. But when fans demanded the
webseries take their knives to the critically
adored Captain America: The Winter Soldier ,
their voiceover guy had to confess, "(it's a)
really entertaining, well-directed movie.
What? We have to be honest: it's good!"
While commenters have often decried Honest
Trailers for accused cynicism or buzz-killing,
it's clear the videos have proved a true
source of inspiration for one of the summer's
best films. And really, isn't that the point of
this kind of dedicated nitpicking? To demand
movies that allow us to suspend disbelief
and experience an incredible ride?
I used to think that at their best Honest
Trailers provide some catharsis for movie
fans who've been heartbroken over a film
that didn't dare live up to their expectations.
But it seems that at their best, Honest
Trailers can actually make for better movies.
Even Marvel movies.