In the present, Steve and Natasha and some special SHIELD unit are sent to rescue a ship and hostages. Lots of violent fights ensue. Natasha disobeys Steve's orders and instead downloads some information. Fury can't access the drive's data which makes him suspicious. He introduces Steve to a secret SHIELD project called Insight. It includes overly armed hellicarriers that can will orbit earth 24/7 and eliminate future threats before they happen thanks to having all data on everyone. Fury meets with some SHIELD higher up and gets him to delay the launch of the project.

As he leaves the meeting, Fury is attacked by police and some mean guy with a bionic arm--the Winter Soldier. He makes it to Steve's apartment but is again shot and dies. He warns Steve in time that SHIELD is compromised and to trust no one. When Steve refuses to tell the higherup what Fury revealed to him he becomes enemy #1. Now all of SHIELD is after Steve, Natasha, and an army guy Steve has befriended. Natasha and Steve discover where the information on the drive was created. They travel to a bunker and find some very old technology there and discover project Hydra which is basically a rogue division of SHIELD which brought about Insight and aims to restore world order by sacrificing liberty. They now have to stop project Insight from launching by replacing 3 PC boards on the carriers. Of course they'll have to face the Winter Soldier. And the higherup too is revealed to be up to no good. In the end we get a couple of surprises among lots of fighting and carnage. And as always some connection with the other Marvel stories and an ending that sets up things for yet another movie.

After the poor Captain America I and the disappointing Thor II, I wasn't very optimistic about this one, considering that like Thor II it's directed by people with no movie experience. But this one is better than both of those movies. The action is excellent, the effects impressive. Acting isn't all that great, especially Johannson doesn't give it her best. The movie is a bit too long. But best of all is the story and how relevant it's for today's situation. I'm glad Hollywood is finally addressing the issues and not ignoring them for political ideology. Does keeping tabs on all citizens, storing all their personal information, monitoring their communications, using fear to limit liberties, and going after people for crimes they allegedly may commit sound familiar? It should. That's what is also at stake in this movie. Redford character's gives a grotesque calculus- he thinks he can keep 7 billion people "safe" by killing 20 million. I'm glad this Captain America is a defender of liberty first and foremost.