Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Directors: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo

Writers: Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely, Ed Brubaker

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

Runtime: 136 minutes

Certification: 12A

Rating: 5⁄5

Phase 2 continues apace. The third Iron Man started things off in a typically Shane Black fashion of quips and action, the second Thor trod a darker path while beginning to introduce the elements that will come together in an inevitably glorious fashion for Guardians of the Galaxy and Age of Ultron, and now it’s the turn of the second Captain America film to grace the screen. The first outing for everyone’s favourite star-spangled superhero was an exercise in making an adequate action film elevated by incredible performances and pitch-perfect characterisation, all of which made the appointment of the Russo brothers as directors an interesting choice. Famous for their TV work on comedies such as Arrested Development (which, if you haven’t already, you should definitely binge-watch on Netflix), but new to the field of action does not instantly scream ‘classic film in the making’ for a superhero flick.

But, as with almost everything in the realm of superhero films (with a few notable cough _Green Lantern _cough exceptions), any naysayers have been silenced in spectacular fashion. Because the Russo brothers – for want of a neater, more polite term – absolutely nailed it. All of it. Although having said that, the title could perhaps be considered somewhat of a misnomer – the original storyline of the Winter Soldier (part of Ed Brubaker’s fantastic run in the comics) is mostly passed over here for the sake of convenience, and the eponymous soldier of a seasonal variety barely makes an appearance (although when he does, it’s fantastic).

It’s not really a criticism as such, more a vague sense that Marvel really, really wanted to use that title despite the film being so much more. It’s equal parts 70s-style conspiracy thriller (helped greatly by a neat turn from Robert Redford as S.H.I.E.L.D. Secretary Alexander Pierce), buddy comedy starring Chris Evans’ Captain America and Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow (the call for a solo film for Black Widow, strong as it was, just got completely impossible to ignore), and a balls-to-the-wall action film. Genre-hopping as it pleases, Markus and McFeely’s screenplay combined with the Russo’s fantastic direction (and wonderfully snappy editing that keeps up the pace) creates what might be the best single-character (in the loosest sense) Marvel film to date.

It’s certainly the most important – events here have major impacts in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for a whole host of reasons I won’t spoil here, with the TV show Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. already pulling off a dramatic turn of events in response to what happens here. Age of Ultron just got even more exciting.

But stepping aside from the superb plot and the brilliant, vast-improvement-over-the-original action, once again it’s the characters that make this Captain America film brilliant. Cap’s status as a man-out-of-time is brought to the fore again, as he attempts to make sense of all the years he’s lost since crashing that plane (although his experience with Stark et al on the Helicarrier seems to have imbued him with a new capacity for quips), all while juggling the fact that the modern world isn’t quite as black-and-white morally as the one he left, embodied to differing degrees by Nick Fury and Black Widow. Throw in fellow vet Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) and his eventual appearance as the Falcon and Sebastian Stan’s Winter Soldier (plus a few cameos from the MCU/the previous film in particular), and it’s a bundle of well-written, well-handled characters that feel fantastically real. They are the ones that make this the best solo film in the MCU so far. And they might be the ones who make it the best solo film in the MCU ever.