Captain America: The Winter Soldier runs past previous Marvel movies.

Rating: Null/10 (13 April 2014)

Captain America: The Winter Soldier was not just a great comic book movie, but a great movie that can stand on it's own. The movie begins with Steve Rodgers (Captain America) running through Washington DC and constantly passing and at the same time annoying, soon to be friend Sam Wilson. Rodgers and Natasha Romanoff (Black Widow) are sent on a mission to rescue a boat full of hostages. Discovering that Natasha was given a separate mission, Rodgers confronts Nick Fury (head of S.H.I.E.L.D) regarding the lack of communication and trust between the two men. Fury discovers a security breach with S.H.I.E.L.D.s special helicarrier defense system, which allows them to eliminate targets at any time anywhere in the world. He approaches longtime friend and senior S.H.I.E.L.D. official Alexander Pierce and requests the project be put on hold.
Fury is hunted and eventually shot by the mysterious assassin known as the Winter Soldier. Before he dies, Fury hands Captain America a secret flash drive and tells him to trust no one in S.H.I.E.L.D. Captain America is summoned by Pierce and after refusing to divulge information that he received from Fury he is declared a fugitive and is now being hunted by S.H.I.E.L.D.
Together with the Natasha and Sam Wilson (the Falcon), they discover that Fury's assassination and the security breach within S.H.I.E.L.D. come from HYDRA, an organization that opposes S.H.I.E.L.D. and whose goal is world domination.
After being rescued by S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Maria Hill Rodgers, Romanoff, and Wilson discover that Fury faked his own death and he now has a plan to disable the helicarriers and defeat HYDRA. Natasha and Fury kill Alexander Pierce and with releases all information about S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYDRA to the public At the same time The Falcon and Captain America neutralize two of the helicarriers. On the last helicarrier, a battle between the Winter Soldier and Captain America ensues. Captain America eventually triumphs and disables the last helicarrier while at the same time helping the Winter Soldier remember who he once was (Steve Rodgers' best friend Bucky Barnes). With HYDRA thwarted and S.H.I.E.L.D. in disarray, Fury heads to Europe to search for additional HYDRA cells. Natasha goes underground as all her covers were blown. Captain America and the Falcon go searching for the Winter Soldier.
What I feel separated this movie from other Marvel movies was the storyline, interactions between the characters and the cinematography. The storyline progressed and nuances were explained so that anybody walking into the theater could watch the movie and understand everything even if they have never read a comic. At the same time, it stayed true enough to the comics that those nuanced with the character and history were not upset. One of the main conflicts within the story was how Fury and Rodgers, while working for the same side and wanting largely the same thing, have very different ideas and approaches on how to achieve their goals. This issue was apparent throughout the movie and was never resolved, but I do not feel that it was meant to be resolved. You can see the characters slightly change throughout the movie. Fury reevaluates how far is too far when the safety of the world concerned. Rodgers begins to accept that there are shades of gray and he needs to adjust how he sees the world.
The actors assembled for the movie were first class and gave excellent performances. Samuel Jackson was superb as Nick Fury and came across with the seriousness that one would expect of a grizzled spy tasked with protecting the world. Robert Redford's performance as Alexander Pierce was compelling and he came across as sinister, but at the same time honestly believed in what he was doing. The interaction between the characters and the acting was superb. The dialogue was interesting and presented well. Humor was injected into the film at the appropriate times as to not take anything away from the characters and events. From the moment Rodgers and Wilson meet, you can instantly see the chemistry that they have with each other. They get along in a way that leads you to believe that they will work together and become life long friends. Scarlet Johansson was excellent as Natasha Romanoff. At times she was sexy and serious without putting forth too much effort, but at the same time she was able to come across as fun and vulnerable when the situation called for it. She did a great job of engaging Rodgers and getting him to open up. I appreciated the fact that they chose to have her come across as the concerned friend/little sister instead of attempting a forced romance between the two characters. Fury's interactions with Rodgers were great and it definitely showed the differences between the characters. One grew up in the 1930s and 1940s where good and evil were clearly defined and the enemy was always known. The other is the modern day soldier where the world exists with shades of gray and your allies and enemies are not always known. The interaction between characters shows the human side of these super heroes and keeps you interested and invested in the characters.
The cinematic aspects of the film were done very well. It was chock full of explosions, up tempo music, gunfights, and combat. But what I feel sets this film apart from the other Marvel movies was the fact that they chose to stay with as much live action as possible. They avoided CGI as much as they could. While I understand that CGI is important, when it is used too much, it makes the movie look fake and definitely takes away the movie and action itself.