Best Marvel film since the Avengers, with fantastic action and the added bonus of having
some resonant, if rather blunt, social subtext.
Steve Rogers is an antiquated archetype, a bygone from an earlier age where in the public
mind, nationalism went hand in hand with moral integrity.
While his first film let this concept flourish by being set in World War II, in our modern
society, where the Cap is deposited post-Avengers, this mentality would have been out of place.
So instead of trying to mesh these cultures together, the movie lets them clash and focuses
its story around it.
Steve Rogers is a man guided by his moral compass who is realizing his nation's interests
no longer align with that, and the film talks about how nations don't have moral integrity,
only people do.
It does a great job of framing Steve as a sympathetic character, while not hamming it
up or taking too long to show the fallout of his new life in modernity.
Chris Evans and Scarlett Johanssen deliver stellar performances as this films leads,
and of course, Samuel L. Jackson is predictably badass.
The weakest part of the film might be the backstory to the Winter Soldier himself, its
a bit cliche and loosely framed, but it sets up Cap's next film amicably enough.
The First Avenger surprised me with how much I enjoyed it, and the Winter Soldier takes
it up to the next level as a visceral action film with a bit more heart and brains than
you might expect.