Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) * * * 1/2

Directed by:  Anthony Russo and Joe Russo

Starring:  Chris Evans, Scarlet Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Redford, Sebastian Stan, Colbie Smulders, Anthony Mackie

Captain America:  The Winter Soldier made me care.    It isn't just mind-numbing, CGI-inflated action sequences held together by flat characters and dialogue.     Thanks to numerous plot twists that I will try my best not to reveal, the film raises the human stakes which makes it all the more engrossing.    

Just to refresh, the original Captain America took place during World War II with puny, but determined Steve Rogers (Evans) injected with an experimental steroid that turns him into a muscular, fast, strong superhero that wields an indestructible shield.    After Captain America thwarts the plans of a rogue Nazi group called Hydra, his ship goes down in the Arctic and he is presumed dead.     Years later, his body is thawed out and he is recruited by SHIELD (led by Samuel L. Jackson's eye-patch wearing Nick Fury).    He may be in his nineties technically, but thanks partly to the drug (I think), Steve hasn't aged a day.   

SHIELD is compromised by its own inner rogue element, led by Secretary of Defense Alexander Pierce (Redford).    Redford is superb here, showing everyone that one doesn't have to be a cackling, screaming, scenery-chewing, one-liner spewing maniac to be an effective villain.     Also in the mix is The Winter Soldier, an assassin whose existence is considered a ghost story, since he isn't well known for leaving his targets alive.     Black Widow (Johansson) is one such person who can verify that he is indeed very real.     The backstory on The Winter Soldier is that he has committed various assassinations for "over 50 years" for the Soviets, including killing JFK.    Oliver Stone can finally rest now knowing this.   

But, strangely, The Winter Soldier (who wears a mask which covers all but his eyes and long-flowing black hair) seems awfully young to be around killing people for 50 years, unless....   Don't worry, I won't divulge any spoilers, but things get very interesting between Captain America and The Winter Soldier in some crucial scenes.     Because of the dynamic that exists, their fight scenes aren't mindless action sequences, but a fight for each other's soul.      It reminded me greatly of Luke Skywalker battling Darth Vader in Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi.   

There is also the introduction of Sam Wilson (Mackie), who dons a prototype mechanical wing set to fly and help Captain America in his time of need.    Mackie has become a reliable character actor over the last couple of years.     Captain America, as played by Evans, is a man who lives in the present, but he has to reconcile that he missed seventy years of his life and is trying to adapt.    Most of his loved ones are gone or very, very old.    He still holds on to old American values, even though America's values have changed plenty in the last seventy years.     But, thankfully he is not an uber-patriotic speechmaker extolling the virtues of "The Greatest Generation".    Captain America has plenty of room to grow in this new world.

I expected this Captain America to be like the first one, a fun ride with lots of CGI and action sequences.     But what I didn't expect, and greatly appreciate, was the depth that we see here.     Action movies tend to be much more interesting when its characters are allowed to be human and not everything is black and white.