Delivers Great Action and Suspense

Rating: 9/10 (19 January 2015)

Evans certainly possesses the physical heft, but struggles to add emotional bulk to the Cap's latest adventure in which the freeze- dried World War II relic is labeled a traitor after discovering a nefarious attempt by S.H.I.E.L.D. to infiltrate our privacy – and worse. The homeland spying is for the good of the people, agency head Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) assures Cap, who isn't so sure about that or his boss's new fleet of drone-like killing machines. He thinks it's an attempt to rule by fear, not laws.
Pausing for effect The Winter Soldier is not just a fantastic sequel to Captain America: The First Avenger and The Avengers, it should also be recognized as one of the best sequels ever made. In fact, writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, the duo behind Thor: The Dark World, the Narnia Trilogy, and The First Avenger, have done such a great job shaping Captain America's story that this movie could almost stand on its own. There are many exciting twists and turns in this well- constructed, political action-thriller, but nothing comes as more of a shock than how important the story is at defining the direction of the MCU. What takes place in The Winter Soldier, along with an awesome mid- credits sequence tie-in, will inherently influence Avengers: Age of Ultron as well as Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – which should make the TV series a lot more interesting and reward fans who have stuck by its side. The direction will come into place for its third Captain America film. ==================================================================== ======= After a solid retwatch of this film (02/14/17'), I was able to see more things and more appreciate more of this film. As a sequel it definitely delivers upon the original and where it is a better film easily compared to Captain American: The First Avenger. What was more noticeable was the acting and overall film action scenes. This film delivers and has a certain charm where it doesn't feel stale or tend to drag on like its predecessor. Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow steals the film, as she is great and makes people wonder why they have not made a solo Black Widow film for her as of yet.
The romance isn't forced with Cap and Black Widow and it plays great in many scenes. Samuel L. Jackson's scenes are much better and delivered with proper accuracy as one can tell is a great fit for Nick Fury. The villain of Bucky (The Winter Solider) is a solid and interesting character and makes the others around him feeling intimidating. Originally had this film rated an 8/10, now will consed to change it to a 9/10. It has lived up to the test of time.