daibhidc | Captain America - The Winter Soldier

That was pretty good - basically one part the Winter Soldier storyline from the comics, combined with a fair chunk of Nick Fury vs S.H.I.E.L.D. and Secret Warriors (with Cap taking most of Nick's role) and maybe a dash of Captain America: Man Without a Country.

It had a nice superhero-movie-meets-political-thriller vibe to it. And since I know some people have been complaining that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is basically glorifying a thinly disguised N.S.A., I'm sure they'll be delighted that this movie makes Black Widow into Edward Snowden, only she actually succeeds in getting the whole organisation shut down. I can't imagine what's going to happen to Coulson's gang following that, but I'm looking forward to finding out.

Interesting choice to make Pierce and Sitwell the baddies - in Nick Fury vs S.H.I.E.L.D., Pierce was the one guy Nick could trust, and comic-book Sitwell was a jerk, but was a loyal S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who died protecting Fury. I'm not complaining about this; the fact I thought I knew who these guys were increased the sense of "you can't trust anyone". No suprise that Brock Rumlow was a HYDRA agent, though; his comicbook counterpart is the Red Skull's right-hand man.

The "realistic" 1970s version of Zola's android body - a room full of whirring computer banks, with the "computer screen with a face and camera" as an immobile central console was nicely realised. Although I bet he's downloaded himself to something more compact before blowing up the base.

Throwaway reference to Stephen Strange! Is this a hint to an upcoming movie?

The "epilogue" scene with Baron Strucker was intriguing. I was amused that Pietro and Wanda were created by HYDRA, because Fox have the rights to the very concept of mutants.

Things I didn't like? Not enough Agent 13 - after her initial appearance, she spends most of the film hanging around the Triskelion waiting to see what happens next. We don't even get her surname (it's Carter, if anyone doesn't know; she's related to Peggy). The Bucky/Winter Soldier subplot, given it was what the film was named after, seemed to be just barely fleshed out enough to be convincing. And I agree with Anthony Mackie that it's a shame the Falcon didn't have a proper superhero costume. Maybe next time?