Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Marvel Comics produces mindless PG-13 fun: Captain America is my favorite anachronism. Because of a military experiment in the 40s, he is mistakenly placed in a future time where he does not belong, so his earnest view of that world is engaging and fun. Bottom line, he's just an all-around good guy, part of "The Greatest Generation!"

This time out, we enjoyed Large, Medium and Small visions of that world. For Large, we had humongous aircraft poised to start World War III; Medium offered truly astonishing vehicular mayhem and blowie uppie stuff; while Small brought endless fisticuffs and gun battles.

The parts I really liked were even smaller: the personal exchanges between our hero and his cohorts...AND his rousing, patriotic speech to the folks at S.H.I.E.L.D. Their new threat comes from old history, an awesome Soviet agent known as "Winter Soldier."

We watch:

• Chris Evans ("The Nanny Diaries") This is Evans' fifth time out as Steve Rogers/Captain America. This guy is earnest, sincere, patriotic, a born leader, and alone: the woman he loved is in her 90s, you do the math. Okay, okay, I'll do it for you: he's 95.
• Scarlett Johansson ("Don Jon") Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow seems to be the only person left that our hero can trust...and she's a little iffy. (I first saw Evans as The Harvard Hottie in "The Nanny Diaries"; Johansson was the Nanny.)
• Anthony Mackie ("The Fifth Estate") Sam Wilson/Falcon seems to be a likely addition to The Avengers. He meets our hero during his morning run around the Tidal Basin.
• Samuel L. Jackson ("RoboCop") is our perennial Nick Fury, the force behind S.H.I.E.L.D. It was hard for me to watch when his vehicle was targeted by the villainous Hydra forces.
• Sebastian Stan (Lots of TV) is Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier, a fierce fellow with a bionic left arm; our hero thinks he knows him....
• Robert Redford ("All is Lost") Elder statesman Alexander Pierce is determined to win peace at any price.
• Stan Lee is a guard at the Smithsonian. He has the funniest line in the entire movie!

Screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeeley ("Pain and Gain") bring us many intimate moments leavened with humor (while I wished for closed captions); there is only a hinted flirtation, and mild profanity. The loss of trust between our hero and Nick Fury is a problem. He says,"It's trust that turns men with guns into an army."

Two things: Expect a LOT of Computer Generated Imaging and be sure to suspend disbelief! Our savvy screening audience stayed put for both of the teasers we have come to expect from Marvel during and after the final credits.

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Take a peek:
http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2263001113/
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