I thought the first Captain America film was pretty dreadful so I was surprised to see how well reviewed the follow up was.
The addition of Black Widow (Scarlet Johanssen) to the cast brings some quippy dialog between the leads that creates a spark that was lacking in the first film.
It is an interesting film in that it is stylistically very indebted to the language of comics and the plot is so formulaic I couldn't imagine anyone being surprised as it unwinds.
What does make it interesting is the layer of contemporary comment that runs through it. Captain America (Chris Evans) feels out of sync with the modern world but the film has sympathy for his old-fashioned values of liberty and freedom in the face of the technocratic plan for world order advanced by SHIELD and (ho hum) the UN.
Banding (and bonding) together with Iraq veteran Falcon (Anthony Mackie), an excellent take on a not very interesting member of the Marvel Universe, strikes a blow for individual liberty against the state and gets his groove back under the Stars and Stripes and via massive property destruction.
By interrogating the spy state, the imperatives of national security, the nature of a soldier's service and the limits of their loyalty the film engages in a way that only the best pop culture can.