Alright, let us continue The Papi Chulo RADIO Road to Infinity War (RTIW for short) review event with the ninth movie in the lineup, Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

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After another bland entry to Phase 2 with Thor: The Dark World, will Captain America: The Winter Soldier be able to steer the ship in the right direction or will the MCU finally sink?

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Before we get into it, it should be said that there will be spoilers if you haven’t seen it yet (Although since it’s 4 years old, you should have seen it already).

The story beings with Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), and his new friend Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) going for a jog in the morning. Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), arrives to take Steve in order to lead a strike team against a stolen SHIELD ship taken over by a private military op. The action goes on and while Steves mission is to save the hostages, Widow has a different mission of downloading SHIELD intel onto a hard drive for Director Fury (Samuel L Jackson). The mission is a success and everything seems to be going to plan when Fury shows Steve what he is hiding from Cap. Underneath the SHIELD Base, they are constructing Helicarriers so they can be used to protect the people. Shortly after, Director Fury is attacked by a new villain called The Winter Soldier and his squad. While Fury is half dead, he breaks into Steves apartment and after Steve finds him, he takes him to a hospital where Fury is presumed dead. With everyone mourning the loss of Fury Alexander Pierce (Robert Redford), takes over operation on SHIELD and turns everyone against Captain America and Black Widow. When they both go on the run, they find themselves being hunted down by SHIELD and come across an old SHIELD lab where they find out that after the WW2, SHIELD and HYDRA both joined forces and HYDRA has slowly been taking over SHIELD from the inside. Once they discover this, they bring Sam into their group and when they try and to escape. They are ambushed by the Winter Soldier and are locked into battle with this new foe. After their battle, Steve finds out that the Winter Soldier is actually Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), who now has a metal arm. After Steve and friends are captured by SHIELD, they escape with the help of Maria Hill (Coble Smulders), who takes them to see that Fury is actually alive. Once everyone regroups, they go back to the SHIELD Base in Washington for one last assault again the SHIELD/HYDRA Operations. While they are fighting, HYDRA tries to launch the Helicarriers into the air and target about 1 million civilians who are deemed a threat. Once they are brought offline, all of SHIELD/HYRDA files get leaked online and this causes SHIELD to disband with Fury (Dead Man Walking), goes his own way while Steve and Sam try and go after Bucky.

The story seems like there is a lot going on but that’s ok because it is all told in such a fun, interesting and very James Bond way. It’s a mystery that unfolds right before your eyes and it’s a great non-stop thrill ride from start to finish.

The acting is amazing in this movie. Everyone brings their A game with the Winter Soldier and Alexander Pierce being the best and most likeable villains in an MCU movie so far (Aside from Loki of course). Chris Evans is always amazing as Captain America and Evans is starting to embody Cap much like RDI embodies Iron Man. Scarlett Johansson is also badass as Black Widow and continues to show off her #GirlPower.

The CGI is also a huge step up from the last two movies. Everything looks more clean and crisp then what we got more previous MCU movies and the Winter Soldier’s metal arm looks dope as well. Even the fancy tech they use at the SHIELD Bases looks really awesome and makes me wish we had that type of tech that we could use.

Trust me when I say that this movie really changed the MCU as a whole. Not only did it disband SHIELD, it also changed what is possible in the MCU. The fact that HYDRA was able to get into SHIELD without anyone noticing really begs the question, can our heroes trust anyone anymore? These types of ramifications really set this film apart from the others. Captain America: The Winter Soldier dared to change everything and it had the balls to pull it off. All the while doing it in such a great style that it comes out swinging while also asking, “Who’s next?”.

The Verdict:

Captain America: The Winter Soldier is an excellent movie. Not only is it a great sequel to the first movie, but it is also a fantastic MCU movie in general. What is it about Captain America that Marvel always seems to give him the best movies in each MCU Phase? Whatever Marvel is doing, they need to stick to it because Captain America: The Winter Soldier steers the MCU back in the right direction and also changes it forever as well. If you haven’t seen this yet, change that because it’s on Netflix still (At the time of writing this anyway), and it serves as a great popcorn flick that everyone can enjoy.

9.5/10

Next up, Ground control to Major Tom. Take your protein pills and put your helmets on because the MCU is going to space! With the next massive hit, Guardians of the Galaxy.