Right off the assembly line

Rating: 5/10 (7 August 2014)

Straight off the Marvel assembly line, Captain America: Winter Soldier has a convoluted plot about S.H.I.E.L.D being compromised and a mysterious villainous soldier who has a link to Rogers' past. A half assed attempt at subversive material about surveillance, is a couple of throwaway lines of dialogue. A sequence showing a Captain America exhibit at a museum, is a poor expository recap of parts of the first film and why Rogers would show up to an exhibit of himself so he can be reminded of his own past is forced and silly. Who needs memories when you have a narrator and museum artifacts to remind yourself what your purpose is. The new addition to this material is Anthony Mackie who is forced into this story like a jagged puzzle piece. In typical Marvel fashion, the third act is generic action that takes over the narrative. Very little of it is exciting or practically staged - it's mostly animation and feels pre-visualized by committee filmmaking and has no real vision. A soul deadening scene at an Apple store add to the assembly line feel. This is featherweight stuff that's easy enough to sit through, but it feels more like a product than a film and takes absolutely no chances.