So arrives yet another much anticipated Marvel movie, the surprising thing is that most of these movies actually manage to live up to the hype. Captain America: The Winter Soldier is no exception.

To give away anything is to risk spoiling the experience for you, so I must tread carefully.

Winter Soldier is more a sequel to the original rather than to the Avengers but if you haven't seen the original there is still plenty to enjoy here.

Set in the modern day, Cap is now part of a SHIELD covert ops team which includes Black Widow, all under the helm of Nick Fury. A nice intro sets the scene as a reminder that Cap is pretty badass. However, things turn very sour soon after returning to base leaving Cap seemingly alone to save the day and not knowing who he can trust.

Action set pieces are tight and well choreographed and although it never approaches the spectacle of Avengers, Iron Man or Thor, the stakes are seemingly much higher and it is made clear from the outset that no one is safe, these are characters that can bleed and die!

The bad guys have their own super soldier dubbed the Winter Soldier who is seemingly stronger, faster and more badass than Cap. Can Cap win this one? Watch to find out!

This is a solid action thriller. The 2 hour plus run time goes past fast and the action scenes are nicely interspersed with interesting espionage twists and turns that stop you from disconnecting from the movie or feeling bored. There is a satisfying finale which leaves the future for Cap and his team surprisingly open ended. It will be interesting to see where things go from here for Cap 3.

Seeing Cap in action is really cool, regardless of whether he's taking down people stealth style in near silence or whether he's taking down huge fighter jets single handedly. For once it's actually believable that someone can be a one man army!

Black Widow is even more impressive this time round and there is an undeniable chemistry between the two which helps to really engage the audience. She has quite a few action scenes of her own and Johansson is now clearly far more comfortable in the role than she ever was before. Black Widow was a mediocre side character in Iron Man 2, pretty damn cool in Avengers and now an essential character frequently stealing the lime light from our protagonist.

I know I have kept this review pretty vague but rest assured this is a pretty awesome movie and a worthy addition to Marvel's movie catalogue.

Check it out and don't forget to stay behind for TWO, yes like Thor: The Dark World there are TWO post-credit scenes!!!

Enjoy!

Rating 9 out of 10

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