Kicking and punching its way to glory, “Captain America Winter Soldier” rips the big screen canvas on a mission of physicality and brainpower. Heroes and bad dudes duke it out at close quarters. Although artists have imagined the seamless expanse, muscles, adrenalin and watching each others back resound amidst action and intrigue.

Marvel resisted bells and powers, developing Captain America (Chris Evans), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson ), Nick Fury ( Samuel L. Jackson) and Falcon (Anthony Mackie) on their human hero traits, which allows the team of good dudes (and lady) to become immersed in a modern rubric: Freedom versus security.

Since Captain America survived (via ice cube hibernation), he missed the impact of 9/11 in exposing the country to warfare on American soil. He also did not struggle with a rubric that greater freedom (a.k.a. privacy) in theory opens doors to home grown and international terrorist groups. The “new” war is not “declared” and the “enemy” is an ideology lacking borders.

Lurking underneath the surface, the austere S.H.I.E.L.D. agency has been infiltrated by those who champion the 21st Century dilemma of how much advance knowledge of people’s affairs should be available to government agencies.

The privacy and security battle itself threatens to stomp harshly on the roots of self expression, due process, and association that left unchecked theoretically leads to an autocratic society similar to the one’s that Captain America trounced in World War II.

Hand to hand combat and martial arts amps the action level into stratospheric levels, avoiding heavy reliance on C.G.I.

“Winter Soldier” scores blending action, character development and intrigue. See it.