Steve Rogers struggles to embrace his role in the modern world and battles a new threat from old history: the Soviet agent known as the Winter Soldier.

I really wasn’t a huge fan of the first Captain America film, but this is a huge step up in every way, and is one of the better efforts in the Marvel canon. Clearly using 70’s conspiracy thrillers as a blueprint, this is a far more engaging effort and it had me gripped throughout. It picks up shortly after the Avengers in the timeline, and centers on the attempts to introduce a worldwide weaponised surveillance system, by S.H.I.E.L.D. to an extent. This informs most of the film, and after a big event towards the beginning, CA is forced to go underground with the help of Black Widow (the always welcome in a catsuit Scarlett Johansson) to get to the bottom of the conspiracy. These are the highlights of the film as they try to stay one step ahead of the villians, seemingly led by the mysterious Winter Soldier. I was disappointed the film descended into the typical superhero ending, with as many explosions and fight scenes as possible, but that seems to be the way of things with this genre of film. The smaller scale in the earlier parts was excellent and a lower key conclusion would have been more satisfying in my opinion.

Chris Evans continues to make an excellent Captain America, and regular players Johansson, Samuel L Jackson and Cobie Smulders are joined by newcomers such as Anthony Mackie and Robert Redford, who are both very good. Overall, it’s a really good film, with some exciting set pieces and a thrilling, if slightly predictable conspiracy plot. If you liked the first film, you’ll definitely like this one.

Rating: 4/5

Directed By: Anthony and Joe Russo

Starring: Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L Jackson, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Cobie Smulders, Frank Grillo, Emily VanCamp and Robert Redford

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1843866/