The greatest superhero movie ever. (Contains spoilers)

Rating: 10/10 (27 March 2014)

I had heard before I saw this film that critics were calling it 'the greatest superhero movie ever', which I assumed to be bluster and exaggeration. However I now stand corrected - I can safely say this film is my personal favourite of any superhero film and stands among the greatest; The Dark Knight, Spiderman 2 and most importantly perhaps above Avengers itself.
The story was, for the first time in a while, actually gripping, clever and devious. The twist of Hydra being integrated into SHIELD, controlling it and turning the concept of the the world's good spy network on its head. Brilliantly played and I never would have seen it coming. The inclusion of Dr Zola was also brilliant in his brief yet cool appearance which was a fantastic allusion to the comic books.
The plot twists were many and every one made me gasp and get excited like I was a 5 year old boy. The 'death' of Nick Fury, the twist of Hydra, the reappearance of Nick Fury... All brilliant. Even though this is a spoilers filled review I won't actually write any more about the story twists as I don't want to sap any of them. Probably already did actually... Oh well just work with me.
The characters are all played to perfection. Chris Evans again is fantastic as Cap, showing the right balance of justice, bravery, humour, devotion, charisma and the sense of being lost in the modern world which makes him brilliant. Scarlett Johansson is again great as Black Widow and in her 3rd outing of the character still had plenty of tricks and great dialogue and scenes that kept the character alive. Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury is as stern and cool as ever, yet also we see a more sensitive side to him and a more damaged side which I felt was very well played allowing us to feel more attached to a character I believe in the Avengers was not particularly likable. (But still cool) Robert Redford as Pierce is charming, calculating and devious, making him the perfect antagonist who seems likable and genuine yet turns out to be much more cruel than we thought. This comes onto the Winter Soldier where my only issue lies - I think Sebastian Stan played him superbly as the character came across as a cold assassin yet when he starts to remember we instantly feel attached to poor ol' Bucky, who seems so vulnerable and confused. Where my issue lies is not in the acting but in that the character did not get enough screen time - more focus was on SHIELD/Hydra and Fury/Hill/Widow/Cap than the dynamic between Cap and his old friend, which whilst still there could have been delved into a bit more. However what was there was superb. Additionally Toby Jones as Zola was maniacal and great; Cobie Smulders as Hill was again the kick- ass female commander who was cool, calm and clever; and finally Frank Grillo was great at playing Brock Rumlow aka Crossbones, you're typical soldier-bad guy who seemed good but turned out to be evil.
Finally I want to review the mid-credit and post-credit scenes, if you don't want to read these stop reading now (although you've already come this far, might as well carry on): The mid-credits scene added yet another twist to the story which made me squeal in delight and ties into Avengers: Age of Ultron; we saw Baron Strucker for the first time who sounded very calculating and evil, as the new head of Hydra should; what was more interesting was that he now had in his possession Loki's sceptre from Avengers which I for one had completely forgotten about but can only mean trouble. Furthermore we saw in twin cells two prisoners (and potential experiments of Hydra's?) who were twins - Quicksilver dashing madly around his cell looking confused and Scarlet Witch who in her cell was levitating blocks and then crushed them at the end looking, quite frankly, deranged, which to me screams a potentially brilliant portrayal of the character. I look forward to Avengers 2 even more now. The post-credit scene showed Bucky/Winter Soldier going to the Smithsonian to see a Captain America exhibit Steve had visited earlier in the film, looking on at a board detailing the life of Bucky and the sacrifices he made, which showed the Winter Soldier was attempting to find himself; this did fill a little of the lack of Winter Soldier-ness I mentioned earlier, it was very touching and also hints to his appearance later on in the franchise.
Overall a cracking film that had everything a good comic book/superhero movie should have and more. Truly fantastic work from the Russo brothers. Also I should mention here the music by Henry Jackman was also fantastic and had me elated, on the edge of my seat and in tears, sometimes all at once. Thanks for reading!