Disclaimer: What follows are specific plot details of “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.” The review contains spoilers regarding the movie. Do not read this review if you have not watched the movie yet, and wish to in the future.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe triumphantly continues with “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” which, like “Thor: The Dark World,” is a glorious sequel-of-sorts to the critically acclaimed “The Avengers.” Chris Evans reprises his role as Captain America, while many familiar – and some new – faces fill out the supporting cast in what may be the darkest, but most thrilling Avengers film to date.

Anthony and Joe Russo directed the film, which stars the recognizable Scarlett Johansson (Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow), Cobie Smulders (Maria Hill) and Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury) alongside the titled Captain; these four characters undergo significant amounts of development in their quest to save a modern world from old enemies. One such antagonist, named the “Winter Soldier,” is played by Sebastian Stan, who demonstrates his role in a wonderfully hammy fashion despite having very few lines of dialogue.

The plot follows the latest ambitions of S.H.I.E.L.D., an espionage and counterterrorism organization responsible for recruiting the Avengers, but also unveiling a scheme, entitled Project Insight, to preemptively eliminate threats throughout the world by use of flying superweapons. Robert Redford plays Alexander Pierce, an antagonist who initially appears concerned about the growing number of security threats within S.H.I.E.L.D. – one of which leads to Nick Fury being shot – but is revealed to be the mastermind behind each one. To accomplish these evil goals, he has awakened the Winter Soldier, a brainwashed assassin, from cryosleep on behalf of HYDRA, an order thought to have been destroyed in the first Captain America film. It’s up to Captain America and new superhero “The Falcon” (played by Anthony Mackie) to save the world from a targeted killing threat designed to make the people trade their freedom for security.

Ridiculous as many of the film’s elements seem (Toby Jones playing the digitally-preserved consciousness of a previous supporting antagonist, Arnim Zola, was the most surprising of these), the film, taken by itself, is an incredible political thriller with elements of 70’s-style conspiracy and, of course, breathtaking action sequences that go above and beyond that of the superhero genre. Even better, Stan’s performance as the Winter Soldier resulted in powerful delivery through action choreography alone; in addition to the other aspects of the film deserving of praise, “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” is proof that the action movie genre is far from dead.

Parkway West Pathfinder gives “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” a 9.5/10