Captain America: The Winter Soldier set a box-office record in its opening weekend, and rightfully so. This latest installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a pure hit sure to please new and old fans alike. 

The film adds much-needed depth and emotion to the iconic hero by effectively capturing Captain America’s struggle to find his place in a world that has moved on without him. 

In addition to the super-hero side of Cap, the film also highlights the struggles Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) faces as a soldier. One of the stronger points of the film is the introduction of Cap’s sidekick Sam Wilson/Falcon (Anthony Mackie). Wilson is a soldier who specializes in advanced aerial combat and connects with Rogers as both struggle to adapt to everyday life away from combat.

Each choreographed action sequence is well executed and does a fantastic job of employing practical effects to give these scenes a natural feel. This works extremely well considering the film emphasizes on Marvel’s down-to-earth characters. The stunts are no doubt impressive, but they aren’t over the top. Making the characters believable and less powerful allows directors Anthony and Joe Russo to effectively highlight real-world issues.

One of the only drawbacks to the movie is the longer fight scenes seem pointless and, at times, are a tad boring.

The fight scenes also clearly establish Rogers as a force to be reckoned with. Captain America: The Winter Soldier highlights Rogers is not only a super soldier, but he is also extremely skilled in hand-to-hand combat. Watching Rogers trade blows with various enemies without solely relying on super strength makes the fight scenes much more enjoyable, as they emphasize why he deserves to lead the Avengers.

The film features two versions of Captain America’s uniform: the original and a new design that is slightly less campy. The new design removed the abdominal stars and stripes and is primarily blue with red on the sides. The new costume makes Rogers seem more like a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent than a freshly thawed WWII superhero.

There are three characters from Captain America: The First Avenger who make surprise appearances. One is the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), who is revealed to be a close friend of Rogers. Fans of the series or the comics are likely to guess the identity of the Winter Soldier, but, speaking as a comic book fan, knowing his identity doesn’t take away from the experience; it actually adds to it.

Overall this film is a well-executed espionage movie. The directors avoided an all-too-common mistake in spy-type films: adding unnecessary convoluted twists and turns just for the sake of being difficult. The film does feature a few surprises, but each one adds to the story instead of distracting fans.

Fans of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. have been receiving a few hints about the nature of this film, and, guessing from the events that take place in the movie, the show is about to be drastically altered.

This film adds much-needed character work for Captain America, Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and even Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson). Each character’s actions and his or her interactions show a little bit more of his or her personality than any of the previous films.

Considering that Captain America: The Winter Soldier is the ninth installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, moviegoers should strongly consider watching the other films beforehand. While the audience does not need an extensive knowledge of the shared universe or the original comics, the other films provide the context. Watch this film as the directors intended: after watching all the others. Those not too interested in Marvel should at least watch the first Captain America film and The Avengers before watching this film.

Every aspect of the movie is wonderfully executed. The cinematography is spot on, and the movement and motion of each scene flows flawlessly. The script is a well-written adaptation of the source material that makes the character interactions seem fresh and realistic. Though this is a comic-book movie, the story remains grounded and relatively simple. All of these elements make Captain America: The Winter Soldier the best installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.