Col Hans Landa and Anton Chigur take a bow, Winter Soldier is here

Rating: 8/10 (10 April 2014)

Don't remember when I last saw two shows of the same movie in a span of 24 hours. Had once ridiculed one of my colleagues for queuing up to watch the same film a second time without break. For once, Marvel has made a film where it's not the superhero who steals the show, but the film's story. And, it has one hell of a villain, menacing as he comes and spawning raw terror with his presence. Together, they make for a intriguing backdrop for Captain America to shine through.
It's a dark and brooding script, much like the ones churned out from the Christopher Nolan and Zack Snyder stables. It consumes you from the very beginning where Captain Rogers is drawn into a game of deceit by the very people he has come to trust and maintains the adrenalin-pumping momentum till the final act where Rogers as Captain America confronts the devil from his past.
That brings me to the villain. Ah! After a long time I could actually see the terrified audience gasping in collective sigh every time the Winter Soldier would walk onto the screen. Thank God, Marvel didn't overplay him. He comes across as absolutely believable in an age of overrated CGI villains that pass off as easy distractions than vehicles of terror.
Perhaps,that makes the Winter Soldier frighteningly close to reality. He can happen to anybody. Just like Christoph Waltz's smooth-talking, 'eagle' hunting down Jew 'rats' Col Hans Landa in the Inglorious Basterds and Javier Bardem's portrayal of the unstoppable evil Anton Chigur in No country for old men. This is not comparison, just plain reference where our villain is going to take us.
Other takeaways include, the chirpy and unruffled black widow (Scarlet Johannson), the falcon (yes Marvel have introduced falcon in this installment), the senator (Robert Redford) and of course Nick Fury, the wily and unforgiving head of SHIELD (Samuel J Fox) Then there's the bonus: Captain Rogers aka Captain America who's once again on a mission to save the world. Since the story remains unfinished, I Am already salivating for the third installment of the franchise. Can't wait till 2016.