This was such a powerful performance. I really like his answers when asked if it was difficult to act when you had no lines. How people usually expressed themselves with words and tend to forget that their true feelings can be written all over their face. How he didn’t recognized himself in the mirror as the Winter Soldier and how he had to learn new ways of pushing his emotions to the surface. This is not someone who wants to spend his career relying on a pretty face. This is someone who took a chance to try new things even when he was scared shitless that he might fail. A big part of him knew that this role could either make or break him because of its importance in the Marvel Universe. This was not just a character that he could take from scratch and make it work. This was not a blank canvas where he could paint an interpretation on. Bucky Barnes has been fleshed out and developed since before Sebastian was even born. People have followed his story and probably wondered when they would be able to see Bucky come alive on screen. There were expectations and a lot of pressure behind this role and Sebastian jumped in and committed 110%, hoping that he was doing a good enough job not only for the people producing the film, but for the fans. And just … thank you.
Look at that man. Look at how he moves. I will admit that the gifs aren’t the best, but until I get my hand on a bootleg copy of WS and a gif-making programme, please bear with me? I can still illustrate my point.
One of the chilling and brilliant differences between Bucky and the Winter Soldier – which is thanks to Sebastian Stan’s acting, so, thank you for that, gorgeous! – is how different their body language is. The Winter Soldier is a machine, a weapon; every movement, every gesture, is precise and for a specific purpose. He walks straight and doesn’t shift his body weight more than necessary. Another gif I considered using was this one
because it also shows that conservation of energy. There is no flailing, no hesitation, not even a moment of “oh shit, this is gonna hurt”. Just a smooth roll and down with the metal hand. This isn’t just training, we’ve seen our heroes do almost the exact same stunt. And they always have a perfect look of “oh shit, I didn’t plan this at all”. Not the Winter Soldier. He just assesses the best way to return to his original plan. Efficient, sparse, cold. A perfect weapon.
And then we have Bucky. Look at that swagger. Look at those shoulders and hips move, his straight back, his cocky everything. He’s a peacock. When Bucky sashays down the street, he wants your attention.
Now, part of this I think is entirely 100% Bucky, but I also think he played it up back home, as a protection mechanism. Because if everyone payed attention to the rakish Bucky Barnes, then no-one would bother little Steve Rogers, right? I’d say I have support in this theory, because even when Bucky is out on the front lines and snipes with the Howlers
he is still miles away from Winter Soldier. Look at that arm twist; it’s full of unnecessary force and movement. That is an expression of anger, because some HYDRA goon dared to try and attack Steve. There is nothing cold about Bucky during the war – in fact, I’d argue that he’s so hot with rage that he burns a still, blue flame.
There is a hell of a difference to feel so much that you achieve a sort of pseudo-calm, and being dead inside. Bucky is the former, the Winter Soldier the latter, and Sebastian Stan gets that across without being in-your-face about it.
Everything about the wipe is so sickening. This scene as a whole was the most horrifying thing I’ve seen in the MCU to date and yes, I remember Iron Man and Tony’s torture and no, this is still the most horrifying thing.
It’s not just the utterly sickening lack of agency, and the fact that he is half naked and injured and surrounded by men in swat gear with guns and rifles pointed at him. It’s not just the fact that you know he could take down everyone in this room without even breaking a sweat and yet he doesn’t. It’s not even just Pierce backhanding him, like he’d hit a broken toy to try and get it to start again.
It’s the fact that there’s something there. There’s something he’s hanging on to, desperately, there’s something clawing at him and it hurts because he’s remembering and he doesn’t know what it means, he doesn’t have parameters to deal with this, he’s overwhelmed and in pain and resigned that it’s going to be taken away from him but it’s too important to let it go. He speaks out of turn, “But I knew him,” he knows he’s going to hurt, now, his body remembers, he hyperventilates before the head piece is even in place, but someone gave him a name and that is too important, that he can’t let go, he can’t shove it back. And if you look here?
This isn’t resignation. This is defiance. This is emotional bleed. He knows he’s being lied to. He knows, just as he viscerally knew the man on the bridge. They’re going to try and take it away from him, and the last thing he can remember thinking as the headpiece slots in place is to hold on, just hold on, hold on to the name, hold on to that face, he can hold on, he can.
And he does. He fucking does. After Steve cracked him open, not even the wipe, not even the electroshock and the pain and the threat of what would happen to him if he failed was enough to shake off that bone-deep feeling that he knew him. The asset might’ve taken down Captain america, but Bucky Barnes would never, ever harm Steve Rogers. Hydra done and fucked up. They forgot these men’s identities, discarded them, regarded them as not relevant; but the moment Steve was able to break through and give Bucky back a doubt, a shred of sense of self, their whole programming collapsed like a fucking house of cards.
They forgot, banally, that there was still a person inside their beautifully carved weapon. And I can’t wait for the moment where James Buchanan Barnes reminds them. The time of reckoning is upon Hydra, and it’s going to be glorious.
hannahbelleeeebackup 