One of the Best Marvel Movies to Date, Making Captain America Seem Awesome

Rating: 9/10 (24 February 2016)

Captain America: The Winter Soldier is directed by Anthony and Joe Russo and stars Chris Evans reprising the role of Captain America, along with Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, and introducing Anthony Mackie as the Falcon. This film follows Captain America and Black Widow as they are forced to run and hide from S.H.I.E.LD., once the agency spontaneously turns on them. Now, there's more than a few spoilers in this film that I won't give away, but I still want to review it.
Now, in my opinion, this is one of the best Marvel movies to date. It's at least on par with Spiderman 2, Guardians of the Galaxy, and possibly even The Avengers. The whole movie's tone is not the same, fun tone that Marvel took with The Avengers, or the first Captain America movie. This whole film feels like a 70's spy, espionage movie. The film is also very dark, almost like Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy. It's a complete new take on Captain America and on S.H.I.E.L.D. in general.
The greatest thing about the film is how bad Steve gets the life beat out of him. He has about three allies in the world, and everybody else is convinced he's a criminal. Other great superhero movies have done the exact same; beat down the hero. This was present in Spiderman 1 and 2, Iron Man, and The Dark Knight Rises. This element makes us feel for our hero, and ultimately love it even more when they come out on top.
The directing and cinematography was amazing, as well. All the wide shots of the S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, or the Triskelion, look great. The action is near perfectly directed, especially in hand to hand combat scenes. My favorite scene in this film is the fight scene on the highway between Cap and the Winter Soldier, mostly due to the action. The directing, along with the slowly rising score, make this scene as close to perfect as it gets.
Now, there is an issue with this movie. And it's going to be hard to explain, because it involves a plot twist. And, not just a plot twist for this film, this twist links all the way back to the first Iron Man. So, I really don't want to spoil it for anybody that hasn't seen this movie yet. However, the twist was somewhat rushed. Yes, it was surprising, but it was thrown at the audience like a baseball. It was very rushed, and presented no evidence from the previous films in the Cinematic Universe. However, this is my only problem with the film.
Overall, Captain America: The Winter Soldier is one of the best Marvel movies to date. I would give it an A, or a 9 out of 10.