Thrilling, action packed, and smart

Rating: 9/10 (10 June 2015)

*WARNING MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS* Captain America: The Winter Soldier is the sequel to Captain America: The First Avenger, and complements it nicely. Most sequels just go for the overused formula of bigger equals better, which rarely works out well. This time, the second movie is the continuation of the first, contrasting the differences between modern day and the time Captain America lived in. Things aren't so black and white in this movie, for awhile Cap doesn't know who to trust, and is just going off his guy instinct about what to do. This movie is about everything Captain America believes in being torn down, with SHIELD and with the Winter Soldier. Spoiler: The Winter Soldier is Bucky Barnes, Steve's best friend, so watching Steve have to fight him, is very emotional. Not only that, but the Winter Soldier is a very menacing villain. So, yes, I really liked the way they played off of the first one with this movie, and I thought that was a very good dynamic. The cast is great this time, even better than in the first movie. Chris Evans is better than ever in the titular role, and Scarlet Johansen delivers once again as the Black Widow, though her role isn't as well written this time around. Samuel L. Jackson also reprises his role as Nick Fury, and he and Cap play off of each other really well, because they each have their own contrasting ways of doing things, and as you can imagine there's a lot of friction from that. Anthony Mackie's The Falcon is a good addition, as he brings some extra charm to the movie. And, to go back to what I said earlier, I think The Winter Soldier is the perfect villain for this movie, and I much prefer him to the Red Skull, as he provides some actual menace to Captain America, as well as his numerous allies. And for the hard-core comic book fans, there's even a minor role of Crossbones. I also think this movie boasts some better action scenes, with car chases, shootouts, and three different super-heroes all running around and using their own gimmicks. The most noteworthy are (though it is very brief) the elevator scene where Cap dispatches at least a dozen Hydra cronies in an elevator, after giving them all the chance to back out. So cool! The final battle between Cap and Winter Soldier also delivers on some really hard-hitting emotion as well as a very tense duel, as they are standing on a cat-walk, really high in the air. This is the quintessential Captain America movie here, but then again so is the first one, it's just that they each tell a different type of Captain America story, each one equally iconic. Most superhero movies in a series tell a very similar story, so it was very refreshing to see something so different. I just hope that the Civil War will live up to the first two, giving us something original, instead of just two and a half hours filled with poorly timed jokes and so many characters you need an index to keep up with them. Which brings me to another point: the tone. There are jokes in this movie, but they are timed well, and they feel more intelligent. These feel like things real people would say, not jokes bordering on fourth-wall breaking. I also like the way they handled such a large cast, in that each character was well developed, but we had a clearly defined main cast. In the end Captain America the Winter Soldier is a great movie, with a stellar cast, great action, a great story, a good tone, and makes for a great follow up to the first one.