With the exception of Iron Man 2, Captain America: The First Avenger is arguably the weakest movie in the entire MCU canon. And given Steve Rogers' reputation for being super patriotic and po-faced to the point of irritation, you can understand the difficult task faced by the writers of The Winter Soldier, whose mission was to craft a standalone Captain America movie off the back of The Avengers that did the character justice. Thankfully, this sci-fi sequel is absolutely fantastic from start to finish: poised as something akin to a 1970s political thriller with superhero movie elements, The Winter Soldier triumphs due to its willingness to turn the Captain's inherent seriousness into comedy; he's a man out of time, but he gets how that might be funny. Throw in bold action scenes and a great Scarlett Johansson performance, and you're onto a winner.
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.
