This is a great movie but isn't Winter Soldier still the best sequel?

Politics is about arguments. When you start with each side having an argument, that's political. When you reveal that one side simply must be physically destroyed, that's not political any longer because that side's arguments are now irrelevant.

A good example is the movie "The 6th Day." Before the action scenes start, the villain, who is really into cloning, makes some arguments about how anti-cloning laws should be loosened. In the world of the movie, it's a hot political issue.

Then we find out that he's cloned Arnold Schwarzenegger without permission; he maintains a death squad that's trying to kill one of the Arnolds; he uses illegal cloning to bring back his death-squad guys when they die; and the solution to these problems is for the Arnolds to attack his HQ and kill him.

At that point, the political arguments from the first act are a dead letter. The villain could have spent that time talking about his favorite restaurant for all the difference it would make in the big action finale. It's no longer about whether cloning is right or wrong; it's about the clear need to kill this guy.

Likewise, the instant we find out Robert Redford wants to send out Helicarriers to crisscross the world murdering everyone on Hydra's kill list, and the solution is to go blow up those carriers, any political aspect of the movie just ceases to exist.