Short Review - Captain America: The Winter Soldier

As this film is still in theaters I've decided to do a shorter-then-usual, spoiler free review.

  The biggest problem with this second Captain America film is its title. While it's comic-book counterpart uses the background of a complicated plot by the Red Skull and a Russian business man to focus on the relationship between Cap and the Winter Soldier, this film makes their relationship a smaller piece of a much larger narrative involving nefarious forces inside of Shield. In other words the movie isn't really about the Winter Soldier, it's about Cap finding his place in the modern world without betraying with his old world values, something that the Winter soldier is only a small part of. I don't think this makes the film bad but it does affect the audience's expectations.
  The movies exploration of Cap's journey is really well fleshed out and this film's story is definitely an improvement over the last one, which was set up well but lost its focus after the first act. Throughout the film Cap's idealism is challenged by what he sees around him and he has to decide how to apply his values in this new, far more complex society and, unlike in last year's Man of Steel, the American icon of this film maintains his integrity in a world where moral compromises are becoming more and more acceptable.
  The action scenes, in the last film reduced mostly to one 2-minute montage, are also an improvement, though they occasionally stray into incoherent, quick-cut territory. I especially liked the long tracking shot of Cap taking on guards on the Lemurian Star, which reminded me of a similar scene from the Bond film You Only live Twice.
  There have been alot of complaints about the score, but I thought it was effective for the most part though not up to par with Alan Silvestri's score for First Avenger. I also appreciated that they used Silvestri's theme again here (albeit briefly) as this theme has been the only thing to link the scores of the MCU film's together, appearing in Captain America: The First Avenger, The Avengers, Thor: The Dark World, and now in this film.
  The film's title may be misleading and there are a few silly moments, like Black Widow's Mission Impossible-esque disguise and a scene where a villain reveals the bad guys plan to her and Cap, but overall Captain America: The Winter Soldier is one of the best MCU films to date.

Score: 9/10