by Roy Runnels

I never thought that out of all of the Marvel movies, Captain America: The Winter Soldier would be the one to change everything. I walked into the theater expecting an average experience, and walked out being blown away at how good it actually was. Not to mention the huge ramifications that it will have on the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Even without the huge twist, the movie still would have been extremely enjoyable, thanks to directors Anthony and Joe Russo. Who would have thought directors of the show Community could make one of the best Marvel movies?

Captain America/Steve Rogers is once again played by Chris Evans, and as usual, he nails the role. He somehow manages to play a super soldier without once coming across as arrogant. The movie also does a really good job of catching you up on what happened in the first movie. After all, it did come out several years ago. The most welcome change in the sequel is that Steve is no longer new to everything. He knows what the internet is, and is relatively current on modern day life. As fun as the jokes were in the previous movies, it was nice to see that he’s finally adjusted.

The supporting cast is great as well. Scarlett Johansson returns as Black Widow, and gives Cap someone to play off of. Anthony Mackie now joins the Marvel Universe as Falcon, a new hero that I hope we see more of in the future. And then we have Sebastian Stan as The Winter Soldier. I won’t say anything about the character, seeing as there are plot spoilers surrounding him, but he is easily one of the most terrifying villains of the Marvel movies. Which brings me to my next point, the action in this movie is spectacular.

The movie is choreographed extremely well. As much as I like Captain America, I could never really see him being useful as an Avenger. Well after seeing this, I’m going to eat my words, because seeing him fight in this movie was just fun to watch. I’m glad to see him using his shield more as a weapon than in previous outings. This was the first movie that I really got the sense of how strong and quick he really is.

The twist in the movie is something that everyone really needs to see, as it will shake up every Marvel movie from this point on. Even The Avengers: Age of Ultron is going to be a different movie. It’s something that I look forward to, and am extremely excited to see how it all plays out. Marvel really has done wonders with carefully constructing this universe, so it’s always exciting to watch when they knock down their own house of cards.

You can check out several trailers on the movie website.

Roy Runnels is a 22 year old aspiring writer currently working on becoming an English teacher. He has a great deal of interest in television as well as video games, when he is not busy writing. Roy was born in Lake Jackson, Texas and moved to Reedley, California in late 2012.