Release Date: April 4, 2014

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Director: Anthony Russo and Joe Russo

Stars: Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Samuel L. Jackson, Anthony Mackie

Our Rating: A

In the wee small hours of the morning on April 4, 2014, in movie theaters all over the country, sparks flew as Sebastian Stan’s mechanical fist collided violently with Chris Evans’s round shield. Crowds everywhere gazed in wide wonder as Anthony and Joe Russo wove a tangled tale of action, deception, and faces lost in time.

The movie is set two years after the events portrayed in The Avengers (2012). Steve Rogers, AKA Captain America, (Chris Evans),  is still growing accustomed to living life in the 21st century. Putting his abilities to good use, he decides to work for S.H.I.E.L.D. (Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division) alongside Director Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), Natasha Romanoff, AKA Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), and S.H.I.E.L.D.’s S.T.R.I.K.E. team (Special Tactical Reserve for International Key Emergencies). However, there are secrets being kept within S.H.I.E.L.D.: dark secrets which are deeply rooted far beyond the final days of World War 2. Falsely incriminated for the death of Director Nick Fury, time is running out for Captain America to prove his innocence. A hidden enemy creeps ever closer, as the deadly Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) with dark secrets of his own,  is sent to take him down.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier brings into the comic book cinematic universe the first portrayal of a character’s resurrection. Ever since the resurrection of Jason Todd in the DC universe, resurrection stories have been one of the most talked about subjects among comic book fans everywhere. This film, however, is able to accurately portray one of the two most interesting and controversial resurrections ever done in comics: the resurrection of Captain America’s childhood friend and comrade James “Bucky” Barnes. Upon his resurrection, Bucky serves as an antihero known as the Winter Soldier. According to the comics, after failing to diffuse a bomb on a plane, Bucky is killed in action. However, his frozen body (lacking an arm) is found by a russian submarine. After being revived, he suffered from brain damage and amnesia. After his resurrection, the Soviet KGB’s Department X gives Bucky a bionic arm, extensive training, and then reprograms him to be the perfect assassin.

While the film does not completely, yet accurately portray the events leading up to Bucky’s resurfacing as the Winter soldier, it does put a massive dent in the foundation of the Marvel cinematic universe, and the story of Captain America. By the end of the movie, I was still reeling in my seat, and I am sure it will have you doing the same.