Captain America XXX (3¾ Stars)

Axel Braun has now left Vivid Entertainment, where he was in charge of the superhero parody division. This was a big loss for Vivid, since he was responsible for their biggest earning films, but the split was on good terms. Axel says that he wants more creative control, even though he seems to have been able to do whatever he wanted at Vivid. My guess is that he wanted to escape from the pressure of having to make superhero films. I'm sure he enjoys making them, but he wants the freedom to make other films, such as the fairy tale epics that he has recently begun. Don't worry, I'll review some of them over the next few weeks.

"Captain America XXX" was filmed before he left Vivid, but he promised to be available for any work in post-production before the release.

Baron Zemo has hired Batroc to acquire the Cosmic Cube. In the official Marvel films it's called the Tesseract, but Axel has got the name right. Captain America is helping SHIELD agents Sharon Carter, the Falcon and Quicksilver to steal the cube before Zemo gets his hands on it.

Quicksilver working for SHIELD? That's a strange idea. I don't think he ever did that in the comics. Usually Axel remains close to the source material. It was also surprising to see Hellcat working for Zemo. I always thought she was a hero, not a villain. In the opening scene the female soldier with Captain America was wearing an old-fashioned uniform, which made me think the film was set in the 1940's, but I soon realised that it's a present day film.

All the characters are dressed in accurate costumes. Just look at Batroc. Absolutely perfect. In "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" he wasn't wearing a costume at all. The Falcon also looks better than ever.

I almost gave this film four stars, but I knocked it down slightly because Quicksilver was such an unsavoury character. There was no need for him to be so nasty to Diamondback after he captured her. But then again, comic book heroes and villains are all about fighting. I would never be a successful super-hero, whatever powers I had. If a super-villainess confronted me I wouldn't be able to fight her, I'd just stand there and let her beat me up.