As a comic book writer myself, I was impressed by what, scrpt-wise, Joss Whedon and Zack Penn were able to do for "The Avengers". That movie both introduced and gave story-arcs for a whole score of superheroes (and supervillains) - while keeping the action propelling forward and developing the plot in a logical way.

Then "The Winter Soldier" arrived, and the Marvel Universe raised the bar. In "The Avengers" the good guys were good guys, and the evil guys were either evil or misguided (and evil). "The Winter Soldier", instead, puts, front and center, a key question of our times: how much of your freedom you agree to sacrifice in change of "protection"? And what happens if your "protection" falls in the wrong hands?

The movie, by presenting both sides of the coin, also underlines a key conflict that "The Avengers" never recognised: the "heroes" are, of course, for freedom... but how many civilians were killed in the New York battle in name of a "greater safety"? (Netflix's "Daredevil" partially deals with exactly this kind of fallout, and what is shown is not uplifting). So, discerning minds will notice both this kind of hypocrisy and the ironic fact that the same happens here too. This is the kind of movie where the bad guys may have a point...

"The Winter Soldier" is a grounded throwback to the '70s "paranoia thrillers" like "The Three Days of the Condor" or "All the President Man". Robert Redford is not only a welcome presence, but the right actor with the right role in the right movie. A high point of the script is how it keeps the paranoia level high. You know that Nick Fury, Cap and Black Widow are the good boys - but there are enough other characters that are or maybe aren't on their side. That how the "lines" are really drawn is revealed through plot-twists is among the strongest parts of the movie.

And then there is the "Winter Soldier" himself, a mysterious warrior who does seem to be as strong as Cap and similarly trained... One of the best (and most unconventional) villains in the whole MCU.

The action is incredibly well-choreographed, with wide shots in clear daylight. Also, the general tension and unpredictability of the movie is present in the battles too: it is refreshing, for once to see a well choreographed superhero action without literally knowing how it will end.

(This movie, BTW, does seem to have a fetish with cars, car chases and assorted exploding vehicles... maybe it is a throwback to the "Bourne" movies too...)

I cut one point from my final judgement due to a single reason: this is and remains a MCU movie. You just know how it will end, and, in a plot full of twists, some of them remain very predictable. Also, why mention the problems of veteran soldiers returning from war zones only to totally drop the matter? (again, Netflix's "The Punisher" tackled the matter in a surprising mature way). One could point out that this is not that kind of story, but why bring up the matter in the first place, too, if not for only saying "See? We are aware of it!"

"The Winter Soldier" still is, IMHO, the best written, directed and acted among the MCU movies (yes, I consider it superior to "Guardians of the Galaxy I & II too). It stretched what you could do within the MCU to the limit. I'm not surprised that it was this movie, and not "The Avengers", the one that raised the bar for the following ones. It is also a nice self-contained story. If you want to watch a single MCU movie because you are curious about what all the fuss is, watch this one.