Good, but flawed

Rating: 6/10 (27 March 2014)

I really wanted to like this movie, and in many ways I did. It is quite a taut thriller with action scenes done very well. Chris Evans makes Captain America into a likable hero that I could consider supporting if he actually existed. Most of the villains are such that I *really* wanted them to hurt - badly. However, one thing that annoyed me is that the character the movie is co-named for - The Winter Soldier - was nothing but just another cybernetic baddie with a bad haircut. There was nothing special about him to warrant a place in the title.
So, why am I so ambivalent about the whole thing? Well, viewed as "James Bond with a shield" (or "with SHIELD"), this is a great movie. As a standalone movie within a franchise that does not have to relate back to any others, it would be 8 out of 10 with no difficulties. However, it isn't - this is set in a world where other SHIELD operatives exist. One of the constraints placed upon the writers by this is that you cannot just forget about them in order to develop the story of one in particular,and introduce another. Therefore, to ask the audience to believe that Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, Thor, Hawkeye, Coulson etc *would not know* that Fury has been attacked, or that Washington is having strange things happen, is insulting. Not one of these characters is mentioned (oh, tell a lie - Tony Stark is mentioned in passing as having developed new engines for the heli-carriers). It is laziness in the extreme for the writers not to give some reason for the absence of characters we *know* would be there in minutes if they were able to. Such disrespect for the audience, many of whom are extremely knowledgeable about he world that has been created is completely unacceptable.
On a different note, I wonder if this film is going to become regarded as prescient for being essentially a modern Cold War movie?