Steve Rogers works with S.H.I.E.L.D. in the sufficiently successful second installment.

Rogers is the dutiful soldier following orders under the direction of Nick Fury and guidance of Natasha Romanoff while working for the espionage agency S.H.I.E.L.D. When it becomes apparent the agency is compromised, Captain America must contest authority to discover the rogue agents and combat the Winter Soldier.

Though Captain America: The First Avenger did not insinuate a clear plot for a sequel, Captain America: The Winter Soldier follows the Marvel movie method of success with excellent action scenes, cheeky dialogue and satisfactory story lines. To compensate for a mildly contrived and formulaic plot, Marvel Studios ups the action ante with seriously well choreographed action, fight and stunt scenes.

The first impressive scene occurs right at the cusp of disappointment, thankfully for the screenwriters. Not groundbreaking but saliently well orchestrated, figurative hats-off to the Stunts department and fight choreographer James Young and stunt coordinator Thomas Robinson Harper. The Winter Soldier action scenes have the unique ability to be easy to follow while being energetically charged and fast paced. A substantial downgrade regarding the overall impression of the film would have taken place were it not for the steady onslaught of remarkable but integrated imagery.

While still coming to terms and not quite okay with the casting of Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, The Winter Soldier features her prevalently to make up for the lack of her own film and story arc. In doing so, the whole first thirty minutes of the second film is a bit sluggish, forced, and complicated, in order to integrate her properly into the Captain America milieu. Once the film finally gains speed, the audience is relegated to inferior and basic textbook 'bad guy' behavior that cheapens the Marvel brand.

Though dubious at first, in the end the relationship dynamic between Fury, Romanoff and Rogers is reasonable enough to make way for the final Captain America installment of the franchise.

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