"I'm 95. I'm not dead."

Rating: 8/10 (25 April 2014)

Very good sequel that seems to be slightly overrated. That's kind of the norm with comic book movies these days, for a variety of reasons. It's not a big deal, really. Time is the true test of a movie's rating. The observation about the movie that it is less a superhero movie than a spy action/thriller is accurate, I think. Of all of the Marvel movies so far, this certainly seems to be the one least concerned with superheroics. A primary reason for this is probably due to the movie being inspired by the Cap comics of the last decade, which are much darker than they used to be and more spy stories than superhero ones. I'm not a fan but there's no point in getting into that here. For the purposes of this film, it works well and towards the end when Evans finally dons the proper Cap superhero costume (or at least the closest we'll get to it in these movies), it's a powerful moment.
Chris Evans, not surprisingly, is terrific. If he hadn't before, he has certainly proved himself as an actor in the role of Captain America. He's brought more to the part than I think anyone ever expected from him. I was a little concerned about the large cast going into this. I was afraid there were so many characters, all with significant roles, that Cap would wind up being sidelined in large parts of his own movie. Thankfully, that is not the case. The other characters add to his story instead of taking away from it. Scarlett Johansson gives her best performance from any of the films Black Widow has appeared in so far. She and Evans have a great chemistry together, which is good since they are paired up for most of the film. Anthony Mackie is lots of fun as Sam Wilson/The Falcon. Hopefully in future movies he will get a more colorful costume. Samuel L. Jackson and Robert Redford are both good. I doubt that shocks anyone. Sebastian Stan spends a lot of the movie with his face covered and simply there to be a villain who can fulfill the movie's action quota. But as the movie progresses and the audience learns more about his character, he gets to act more and does an admirable job. It is kind of funny Winter Soldier is the B plot in this considering the movie's title.
The script is much tighter than the first Cap film. The special effects and action are very good but, as in the first film, there are no scenes that stay with you. If there is a singular "flaw" with the Marvel movies, it's that most of them simply try to be an entertaining movie with no aspirations to be anything more artistically. To use a baseball analogy, they seem to be content to get singles and doubles. They aren't trying to swing for the fences. I'm all for great popcorn movies, of course. I just think you can be that and also have memorable moments and scenes that stick with people for years. Thinking back on this movie that I just watched a week ago, there are no iconic moments that come to mind. Still, it's a very good movie that I would recommend everyone check out. I would caution you not to make this your first stop in the Marvel cinematic universe though or you're likely to be lost about a lot of the characters and plot.