The movie shifts from the gritty forties WWII era to present day Washington. As such, The Winter Soldier feels more like a sequel to 2012's mega hit The Avengers, rather than a sequel to the titular hero's first outing in The First Avenger. After getting defrosted stopping aliens in The Avengers, Steve Rogers now resides in Washington in order to readjust his life, while at the same time working under Nick Fury's SHIELD agency. As time goes by, Rogers starts to feel at odds with his boss Nick Fury and Black Widow, as SHIELD's motives seem to be clashing with his patriotic values. At the same time, SHIELD is having problems of their own, with the emergence of The Winter Soldier, a mysterious Soviet agent/soldier with connections to our titular hero. The storyline and the shift in timeline makes the sequel feel fresh, much like a brand new movie. 

Returning to the fore is Chris Evans, playing Captain America for the third time, and the former Human Torch has definitely made the role his own (it'll be sad to see him not donning the shield anymore once his contract ends), while his rapport chemistry with most of the characters are for all to see.

Also, the Russo Brothers did a splendid job in bringing back Samuel L Jackson and Scarlett Johansson back as Nick Fury and Black Widow respectively, as it helps to further develop both characters after their roles in Iron Man 2 and The Avengers, without negating the need for their own standalone films (which have been mooted for a while now).

Newcomers such as Anthony Mackie (you might have seen him in Pain & Gain or Runner Runner) plays the Captain's comic book sidekick Sam Wilson a.k.a. Falcon, and is a nice addition to the team. Robert Redford is charming as the Director of SHIELD, who is pretty much shrouded in mystery. Without giving away too much of the plot, a few characters from the The First Avenger also return.With so many old and new characters in the movie, you might think that it'll become an overcrowded mess like Spider-Man 3. However, each character have had their own moments to shine (even down to Cobie Smulders as Agent Maria Hill), and with this movie part of a very big connecting franchise, we may still have a chance to see them on screen in a later installment.


As with many of the recent MCU installments, the action scenes are one of the best of its kind. From the initial attack on the boat in the opening scenes to the Helicarrier battle in the penultimate scenes, the movie's sure to keep you glued to the screen all the way. Other than the Helicarrier scenes, there is a lesser reliance of CGI as compared with Iron Man 3 and Thor 2, and much praise has to be credited to the Russo duo for keeping the look of the film look more realistic.

All in all, Captain America: The Winter Soldier is up there as one of the best movie that Marvel Studios has offered so far. The movie is miles ahead of last year's increasingly disappointing Thor: The Dark World, and makes the Captain America series one of the better ones in the franchise (yes, even better then Iron Man). With the all-important teasers in the mid-credit scenes (there's also an end-credit scene, to the people that left early), things are looking very rosy for the next Avengers installment and the Marvel universe as a whole.