Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Captain America: The Winter Soldier is another triumph for Marvel's Stage 2 films.

Building from the first film rather than the Avengers the movie takes on the tone of a thriller rather than a traditional superhero flick.

Cap' is only a (super strong) man after all and doesn't have the rather more super abilities of his Avenger's cohorts.

As such, hand to hand combat is the film's forte, bolstered by Scarlett Johansson's irresistible Black Widow.

Unfortunately, Steve Rogers is no Tony Stark (who, by the way, would surely have something to say about the film's events!) but Chris Evans puts in another great performance and the numerous twists and turns are genuinely surprising.

Sure the ending is rather deja vu, it makes the Agents of Shield series rather redundant and confusing and of course it sets things up nicely for the second Avengers but this is as good as Marvel have ever been.

Big kudos for the Pulp Fiction reference too.

4 stars ****