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Lyin' in "Winter"

Of all the solo "Avengers" movies, "Captain America: The First Avenger" was the most pleasant surprise. The film was impressive enough for avoiding the schmaltz that comes with bringing the titular, beefy, goody two-shoes to the screen. But to make a movie that's not only interesting but also a welcome throwback to the more thoughtful, character-driven action movies of a bygone era is a true feat - one that raised the bar for the hero's inevitable return to the screen.

In Cap's second (non-Avengers) outing, "Captain America: The Winter Soldier", the bar is not exactly met as much as it's shot, beaten and blown to smithereens. This second entry, uneasily helmed by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo ("Community", "Arrested Development"), loses some of the freshness of the original, opting instead for periodic explosions and frenetically-filmed fight sequences. Thankfully, the roots of the original are still there in a cleverly ripped-from-the-headlines conspiracy plot about the creation of what is essentially the Patriot Act on three heli-carriers, along with a trust-no-one mole hunt that threatens to destroy S.H.I.E.L.D. from the inside.

Like the first "Captain America", "Winter Soldier" wants to be more than an action movie. Cap spends time investigating and infiltrating when he's not throwing his shield around and taking out bad guys. The one drawback to his detective work: if your plot revolves around Captain America not knowing who to trust...wouldn't he just call the Avengers? As usual in the Marvel canon, there are several knowing winks to the other characters, but, as in "Thor: The Dark World" and "Iron Man 3", it's getting harder and harder to believe that these folks don't have each other on speed-dial, particularly when they keep having to face villains bent on world domination.

Speaking of villains, the Winter Soldier isn't much of one. Sure, he's got an indestructible left arm and can go toe-to-toe with our red, white and blue hero, but he barely has a line of dialogue, and his backstory is so simply drawn that it doesn't remotely have the depth that the writers - Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely - think it does. That leaves us with the underlying conspiracy, which is so predictable that you can probably name the bad guy by reading the IMDB page.

Still, Chris Evans makes a solid, square-jawed Cap, and Scarlett Johansson, for once, is given something to do (though her banter with Mr. Evans is reduced to dating advice). Anthony Mackie is a very welcome addition as Sam Wilson (aka Falcon). He's little more than a sidekick, but he can nail a one-liner. It also helps that Robert Redford is on hand to give the movie some gravitas, and he seems to be having a blast (after "All is Lost" he might just be happy to be dry). And of course, Samuel L. Jackson does his thing as Nick Fury, a character that really, really needs another dimension. Instead, he's given a preposterous chase scene that hinges on the fact that he drives himself around DC like any other commuter. Consider the bar lowered for the next installment.