Captain America: The Winter Soldier has as much brain as it has brawn

Captain America: The Winter Soldier has action-packed entertainment, raves Paloma Sharma.

The world doesn't seem to have changed much since Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) was last put on ice, post-World War II.

Conflict is still abundant and freedom, a rare commodity.

Rogers can't understand what makes S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick J Fury think that Project Insight is a security measure and not an infringement on civil liberties.

Project Insight involves three helicarriers and about a million guns, all aimed at people with the highest possibilities of committing crime.

While Fury prides himself at his method of prevention instead of cure, Rogers doesn't approve of Fury's 'guilty until proven innocent' thesis.

Despite their differences, both men know Project Insight is not yet ready to be launched. When Nick Fury tries to access its files, he finds himself unable to get to them.

S.H.I.E.L.D has been compromised!

Captain America: The Winter Soldier has as much brain as it has brawn.

Taking a cue from classic political thrillers, the movie aspires to be more than your usual summer superhero flick. Whether co-directors Joe and Anthony Russo consciously kept it close to films like The Parallax View and All the President's Men can't be said for sure, but I suspect the similarities were deliberate.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier has a few cards up its sleeve as it attempts to remain relevant to an audience who missed out on the paranoia of Vietnam or the Cold War era, by using Steve Rogers as a reflection of the suffocation of 24-hour surveillance felt by several of us.

Writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely keep the movie relevant to a generation haunted by their own technological footprint by almost ripping plot devices out of headlines and scandalous international political news.

Plot twists almost always surprise you and the comparatively minimal use of CGI is a welcome change from the usual special effects-laden products that this particular franchise churns out.

A wider use of handheld cameras, especially during the action sequences, adds a sense of intimacy to the film, but eliminates the finesse factor that is oh, so important for 3D.

Chris Evans is perfectly cast as the old fashioned, slightly shy, superhero and thankfully, the jingoism is kept to a minimum in this one.

Samuel L Jackson stands out in his limited screen time, with long time fans (such as yours truly) patiently waiting for him to mouth someone off using his favourite cuss word.

Anthony Mackie makes a welcome addition as Sam Wilson, an unlikely superhero with one of the most innovative costumes I've seen.

The Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) gets her own story line and a slightly more developed character in this avatar, but, given how Romanoff is clearly complex it fails to explain several aspects of her personality. But someone Scatlett a better wig, please!

Captain America: The Winter Soldier does its best to be an out-of-the-box thriller, but eventually ends up feeling a bit factory manufactured and slightly lacking in that creative edge (which Chris Nolan's Dark Knight series had the perfect dose of).

A must-watch for Marvel fans, Captain America has action-packed entertainment that may leave you thinking about the direction the world is heading in.

Anonymous would approve.

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