Synopsis by Julio MM
Washington D.C., present day.
Steve Rogers/Captain America works as an agent of SHIELD. Along with Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow, and SHIELD agents supervised by agent Brock Rumlow, Cap and his team rescue a SHIELD vessel (one hostage is SHIELD agent Jasper Sitwell) from Batroc the Leaper and his men. During the mission, the Black Widow secretly uploads encrypted SHIELD data from the vessel computers to a pen drive, as per Nick Fury's commands. Cap was unaware of her secret agenda and takes the matter to Fury. He apologizes for not being transparent with Cap, and to ease him, Fury takes Cap to a secret underground bunker where three new super helicarriers with an amazing fire power were constructed. SHIELD intends to use these flying super weapons against criminals. But Cap believes SHIELD is crossing the line in its fight for freedom.
On a personal level, Steve Rogers feels lost. The values he treasures now seem awkward or out of fashion, so he finds some comfort in reliving his past. He visits the section about himself in the National Aerospace Museum. Or he speaks with Peggy Carter, his love interest from the first movie (the agent he missed his dance date with) but she is an ancient lady now. Adding to his sorrow, Cap still mourns the death of his life-time friend, James "Bucky" Barnes, who perished in the first movie during a mission against HYDRA.
Happiness is a riddle too tough for Cap to decipher.
Fortunately, he befriends Sam Wilson, a veteran and a nice guy who helps other soldiers with their traumas from wars. Wilson has a very high esteem and respect for Cap.
When Fury cannot decipher the data in the pen drive, he realizes something very wrong is going on, and calls Maria Hill for a secret meeting. But while driving downtown D.C., a SWAT squad and police officers furiously attacked Fury. His computer-guided fortified SUV, allows him to escape. Yet he is intercepted by the Winter Soldier, a masked super soldier with a mechanical arm, who stops the vehicle with a hand bomb. Fury escapes through a sewer hole.
Returning to his home, Steve has a brief conversation with a cute lady neighbor, and then finds Fury in his apartment. Fury tells Steve SHIELD has been compromised and gives him the pen drive. At that moment, Fury gets shot several times in the back through the window, and falls mortally wounded. The cute neighbor enters gun in hand, telling Rogers she is a SHIELD agent, Agent 13. Cap follows the attacker, and reaches him onto the terrace. It is the Winter Soldier. Cap throws his shield at him, but the villain catches it effortlessly, and throws it back to Cap with enormous power. The villain merges into the night.
Doctors try reviving Fury to no avail, and he is pronounced dead. Cap meets Alexander Pierce, a senior SHIELD officer, and friend of Fury. Pierce asks Cap why Fury was at his apartment. But remembering Fury's advice about not trusting anyone, Cap does not tell Pierce about the pen drive, and takes off. Pierce considers Cap a fugitive and orders SHIELD agents to capture him. Cap makes that impossible and escapes.
Natasha helps Cap read the pen drive, revealing the location of a secret, old military headquarter with vintage computer systems. When they reach it, Arnim Zola, the Red Skull scientist captured by the Americans in the 40s, greets them...
But Zola speaks to them from a computer monitor. Zola explains that when he was diagnosed with a fatal illness in the 70s, he devised a way to transfer his mind into computer systems. He also reveals that HYDRA has been secretly infiltrating SHIELD for decades. During that time, they helped cause many violent incidents throughout the world to convince the general population that a controlling government is their best bet to be safe. People willing to give away their freedom for safety.
SHIELD discovers Cap and the Black Widow’s whereabouts and destroys the headquarters with a missile. But the duo entered a hole in time to save their lives. Escaping from SHIELD, they go to Wilson's house, who helps them to use the Falcon, a winged metal harness that allows him to fly.
The Winter Soldier pays Pierce a visit at his house. When the maid sees the villain by accident, Pierce shoots her dead.
Cap, the Black Widow, and Falcon discover that SHIELD's agent Jasper Sitwell, and Senator Stern, are both HYDRA agents. Sitwell reveals HYDRA plans to use the helicarriers to kill millions of Americans based on an algorithm devised by Zola.
This formula can locate people who may prove a threat to HYDRA's plans, based on information found in their digital records (medical records, social site profiles, etc.)
The helicarriers are to be launched by Pierce in a few days. The heroes bring Sitwell along for a ride when they are attacked by the Winter Soldier, and several SHIELD agents, including Brock Rumlow. Cap fights the Winter Soldier and when his mask drops, the villain is none other than Bucky Barnes, his best friend from the 40s! Barnes does not recognize Rogers (brainwashed by HYDRA), but he finds Rogers' face somewhat familiar. SHIELD captures Cap, Natasha, and Wilson. They take them in a secure van to SHIELD headquarters. But Maria Hill, disguised as one captor inside the van, rescues them and the group stealthily escapes.
At a secret lab, the Winter Soldier has some memories of Rogers and how he became a metal arm super soldier. But Pierce gives orders to brainwash him again.
The heroes go to an obscure lair near a dam where they find Nick Fury, alive yet severely wounded from the attack. Fury used a drug devised by Dr. Bruce Banner to lower his heartbeat to fake his death. He gives the team a set of computer cards that can neutralize the helicarriers. Cap and Natasha decide that if they are to defeat HYDRA, SHIELD must disappear as well, since all levels are compromised. Fury painfully agrees.
Pierce invites members of the World Security Council to witness the launching of the helicarriers, a significant event in the supposed name of peace. On board, SHIELD/HYDRA agents run the computers to locate nearly a million individuals in the D.C. area, all potential enemies of HYDRA, according to Zola's algorithm. The helicarrier guns aim at their targets.
In the meantime, Captain America and the Falcon connect Nick Fury's cards in two of the helicarriers. But when the third helicarrier approaches, the Winter Soldier defeats the Falcon by destroying his wings, and then fights Captain America to a standstill. Though mightier, the Winter Soldier succumbs to Cap's attack, who, wounded by shots and all, can connect the third card. At that moment, Maria Hill can reconfigure the helicarriers to replace the citizen targets (about a million) with three new targets: the helicarriers themselves. The flying powerhouses shoot at each other.
In Pierce's office, the Black Widow, disguised as a member of the World Security Council, neutralizes all SHIELD/HYDRA agents. Nick Fury enters, obligating Pierce to open a channel that will allow Natasha to disclose SHIELD's helicarrier plan to the public on the web. Fury later shoots Pierce dead.
The destroyed helicarriers start falling to the ground. One hits the SHIELD building, where Wilson and Rumlow were fighting. Wilson makes it out of the crumbling building in the nick of time, but Rumlow doesn't, and gets severely wounded and burned.
Cap and the Winter Soldier are on board of a helicarrier that's still in the air. A heavy metal beam traps his foe, and Cap helps him out of it. The Winter Soldier attacks Cap, who takes off his mask, lets go of his shield, and tries to make Barnes remember they were best friends. The Winter Soldier refuses to listen, and hits Cap hard, and Cap decides not to fight back. Cap finally falls unconscious to the water from up high, and it is the Winter Soldier who rescues him, leaving him in a safe spot on the shore.
Cap later wakes up in a hospital room, and Wilson, his newly found friend and teammate, is right next to him. A few days after HYDRA's defeat, Cap, Wilson, Natasha, and Nick Fury meet at the Fury’s grave. Natasha gives Cap a folder containing information about the Winter Soldier project. Nick Fury will travel to Europe to locate HYDRA bases. Natasha takes off on her own to find fresh adventures. And Captain America and the Falcon decide to look for the Winter Soldier.
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Review by Peter S:
Oh man! Man oh man! This movie is exactly what I wanted: It showcases the heroics of Captain America while echoing the tone of the Ed Brubaker years on the comics, with its gritty take on SHIELD and Steve’s growing disenchantment with morally questionable service to his country. Chris Evans is absolutely perfect as Steve and the film shows him off to great effect; Scarlett Johanssen is ideal as Black Widow (and there are a couple of comically romantic moments between the two); newcomer Anthony Mackie is great as the Falcon, a partner but not a sidekick. And the scenes of the Winter Soldier himself are terrific, Steve Epting’s illustration steps right off the page into the movie. The action scenes are outstanding (if a little overlong and chaotic) and the theme of "trust no one" is brought out admirably. Sorry I’m gushing too much—so there is one thing I was disappointed in: despite having his name in the film’s title, the story really doesn’t focus on Winter Soldier; instead, he plays the role of "Villain’s Top Henchman," they need another film to address all of his issues. Anyway, there is much to enjoy (Brock Rumlow? Will he be Crossbones in Cap 3? Was Agent 13 supposed to be Sharon Carter? Did anyone expect them to bring back Gary Shandling as the obnoxious senator from IRON MAN 2?) and I can’t wait to see where the story goes in AVENGERS 2!