The past two Marvel movies, “Iron Man 3” and “Thor: The Dark World,” were OK, but they left diehard fans and mainstream audiences alike disappointed in where the company’s movies were going.

As trailers and posters of “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” started coming, superhero fans like myself felt Marvel was going to get back into its rhythm that had everyone clamoring for the next film.

Fortunately, these hopes were realized.

The movie hit the mark almost every time with strong a cast—heroes and villains alike—and a complex yet understandable plot, which could have easily been convoluted.

In this sequel, Steve Rogers (Captain America) played by Chris Evans, has to deal with being in the modern world, which includes dealing with modern military tactics and morals.

S.H.I.E.L.D. is doing some unsavory things in Captain America’s eyes.

Lies and deceit in order to get the job done are ideals that the Captain does not swallow easily, ultimately leading to some backlash from both sides.

Evans perfectly portrays Captain America in the second iteration.

The audience sees the internal fight on his face as he tries to hold on to his old-school morals.

Audiences finally get to see how being awoken from a slumber in ice decades later has affected the Captain.

While “The Avengers” touched on these themes, “The Winter Soldier” delved into the difficulties of being a man out of his own time, with a couple of appearances from his past.

The Black Widow, played by Scarlett Johansson, and the Falcon, played by Anthony Mackie, help the Captain fight against the their enemies abroad and corruption within their own ranks.

Johansson provides an entertaining light side to the spy world.

Throughout missions in the movie, she cracks jokes and intently tries to get the Captain a date.

And at some points in the action, she steals the show taking out bad guy after bad guy like it is no big deal.

Mackie on occasion does the same, proving in many cases that you do not need super powers to kick butt.

His relationship with the Evans in the movie makes the viewer feel like they had been brothers.

Robert Redford as Alexander Price, a slimly politician, and Sebastian Stan as the Winter Soldier proved to be truly terrifying antagonists.

While Stan did not say much in the film, when he was on screen he was terrifying, tearing through men like a tornado with no remorse for his actions.

He was akin to all of the famous slasher movies serial killers like Freddy Krueger or Jason Voorhees.

Redford commanded attention when on screen.

He justified his actions with logic, making viewers like myself agree with him at points when I know I should not be.

The real stars of the show, though, were the choreography and fight scenes.

The fights between the Winter Soldier and the Captain are fast but fluid and left me on the edge of my seat on more than one occasion.

This movie also proved how versatile a shield can really be.

Captain America makes the shield look more useful then a gun or a bomb.

However, this movie had problems with scenes that felt out of place and dialogue that fell flat.

These scenes took me briefly out of the movie.

Some of the many villains in the movie are cheesy to the point of being an old Bond villain with no clear motive other than to destroy the world and be evil.

Other than these minor annoyances, this film will assuredly be recognized as one of the greatest Marvel movies in existence.

The cast meshed together perfectly and the plot had many twists and turns leading to an ending that completely changes the Marvel movie universe, making me as well as many others curious to what will happen in later films.

Jarad Jarmon can be reached at 581-2812 or jsjarmon@eiu.edu.