The pacing is deliberately brutal. The majority of the film takes place over the course of hours. But Steve's scenes weren't in a place that would have helped with the brutality of the pacing. They're placed at the beginning where the pacing is slower to start with. It would have been long scene, long scene, long scene, shortscene, short, short, shortshortshort rather than an ebb and flow that would have made it feel more settled. It would have dragged and the rest of the movie would have been just as fast.
I don't think Steve really flounders in the 21st century. He's hurt, lonely, and feels like he has no place or point here, but he's not lost. He handles the tech in The Avengers just fine* and is delighted at the idea that the aircraft carrier he's standing on could become a submarine. That is flies instead is what surprises him. He's an incredibly intelligent and adaptable man, with a clear sense of self and purpose; he feels like he's no longer needed or wanted at the start of Avengers and that's where his internal conflict comes from. By the end he's more settled, with a new sense of purpose because he's realized he does have a place. I suspect that his internal conflict in CA2 is going to be trying to come to terms with the evil perpetrated by groups/people he had previously trusted. Steve loves America, but he's rarely in agreeance with its government. Unless that's what you mean by "flounder"?
*Really, where are people getting the idea that he doesn't/wouldn't? The man went to the Stark Expo to see flying cars, got zapped by science to become a foot taller and a hundred plus pounds heavier in seconds, and fought against a madman who had rocket ships, single-man submarines, giant tanks, and weapons that vaporized people. In real history, he lived during a time that was EXPLODING with new developments and ideas at a pace and number unparalleled by any other era except maybe the Renaissance. Having grown up in the 1920s and 30s, he probably has a closer mindset to us now than to the post-WWII/1950s conservatism that was a backlash against the social progression of the previous decades.
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I don't think Steve really flounders in the 21st century. He's hurt, lonely, and feels like he has no place or point here, but he's not lost. He handles the tech in The Avengers just fine* and is delighted at the idea that the aircraft carrier he's standing on could become a submarine. That is flies instead is what surprises him. He's an incredibly intelligent and adaptable man, with a clear sense of self and purpose; he feels like he's no longer needed or wanted at the start of Avengers and that's where his internal conflict comes from. By the end he's more settled, with a new sense of purpose because he's realized he does have a place. I suspect that his internal conflict in CA2 is going to be trying to come to terms with the evil perpetrated by groups/people he had previously trusted. Steve loves America, but he's rarely in agreeance with its government. Unless that's what you mean by "flounder"?
*Really, where are people getting the idea that he doesn't/wouldn't? The man went to the Stark Expo to see flying cars, got zapped by science to become a foot taller and a hundred plus pounds heavier in seconds, and fought against a madman who had rocket ships, single-man submarines, giant tanks, and weapons that vaporized people. In real history, he lived during a time that was EXPLODING with new developments and ideas at a pace and number unparalleled by any other era except maybe the Renaissance. Having grown up in the 1920s and 30s, he probably has a closer mindset to us now than to the post-WWII/1950s conservatism that was a backlash against the social progression of the previous decades.
Tl;dr: I have feels about this sort of stuff.