Captain America: The Winter Soldier

As the dead season for films is starting to wane, we see "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" already when movies like these usually are released no earlier than May. Hollywood must be rushing to capture the maximum number of box office receipts way early on. This installation basically picks up where the last one left off, so as to continue the saga.

After the cataclysmic events in New York with his fellow Avengers, Steve Rogers, aka Captain America (Chris Evans), resides in the nation's capital as he attempts to adjust to modern times. An attack on a S.H.I.E.L.D. colleague, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) throws Rogers into a web of intrigue that places the whole world at risk. Joining forces with the Black Widow/ Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) and a new ally, The Falcon/Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), Rogers struggles to expose an ever-widening conspiracy, but he and his team soon come up against an unexpected enemy.

Others to round out the cast are Robert Redford as Alexander Pierce, Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier, Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill, Frank Grillo as Brock Rumlow, Maximilliano Hernandez as Jasper Sitwell, Emily VanCamp as Kate/Agent 13, Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter, Toby Jones as Dr. Arnim Zola, Callan Mulvey as Jack Rollins and Jenny Agutter as Councilwoman Hawley.

This was feverishly and intensely directed by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo ("Pieces" '97, "Welcome to Collinwood" '02, "You, Me and Dupree" '06, "Courtroom K" (TV movie) '08, "Untitled Family Pilot" (TV movie) '09, "The Council of Dads" (TV movie) '11). They were true to the character development of existing characters, and gave it that shot in the arm enough with the new characters so as to not feel as though this was the first installment simply rehashed. It was written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, and if these names sound familiar, they should considering they also wrote the first installment as well. It was based on a concept and story by Ed Brubaker which is based on the Marvel comic book by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. Same writers equals same feel, but this is good because they were able to hand us some great new characters to add to the fray. Now this wasn't without choppy, slightly inconsistent areas--there was a lot going on here, but it certainly was able to capture one's attention enough to make that 135 minute running time go by in rapid succession. The visual effects were predominantly created by the granddaddy of visual effects companies, ILM (Industrial, Light & Magic) and by Scanline VFX, and they were, as one would expect, seamless. Hey, I looked for errors.

If you're going to see this one, you've got to see it on the big screen, lest it will lose everything on a DVD. And with the magnitude of this project along with an IMAX and 3D process going on, this roller coaster ride will have you begging for another go-around which will happen in 2016 with the third installment of this franchise. Break out the popcorn!

Out of 4 Stars: 3.5                            Rated: PG-13                              135mins.