The beginning of the end of Phase 5 of the MCU arrives not with a bang but a shrug.

A spiritual sequel to The Incredible Hulk and an aesthetic successor to The Falcon & The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Brave New World calls back to the former by matching its low wattage impact while honouring the latter by feeling like the lost episodes 7 and 8 of the Disney+ series.

With Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) still wrestling with the weight of legacy and expectation of being Captain America, a mission to recover stolen adamantium brings Sam and the new Falcon Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez) to the White House of newly elected president Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford). But in the shadows a conspiracy is unfolding that sees the so-called leader of the free world portrayed as an elderly, cinnabar-hued, incoherent monster with impulse control and anger issues who is ultimately merely a puppet for the sinister forces secretly seeking to destroy the  American government and bring the world to the brink of war.

Directed by Julius Onah, Captain America: Brave New World is clearly aiming for the same blend of political intrigue and superhero spectacle that made Captain America: The Winter Soldier such an MCU benchmark but finds itself caught between its thematic ambitions and a deeply formulaic, cheap-looking execution. Then again, how high were your expectations of the director who brought us The Cloverfield Paradox?

There’s a decidedly televisual feel to the whole thing and I’m no fan of the low-key Marvel Studios intro which opens the film and cements the feel that it’s two Disney+ episodes stitched together to form a feature-length “Cap”stone to The Falcon & The Winter Soldier rather than something that drives the MCU forward.

Sam’s ongoing struggle to define his role as Captain America is the strongest thread running through the film and Mackie brings a layered performance, balancing the burden of the shield with a personal sense of duty, but the script often undercuts his arc with unnecessary detours. His partnership with Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez) has moments of charm but lacks the time and development depth needed to make it resonate, especially for a general audience who may not even know who the character is.

Harrison Ford’s step into the role of Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, now the President of the United States, lends the film some gravitas but he’s almost too big a star to slip into William Hurt’s more understated character’s shoes. Ross’ eventual transformation into the Red Hulk delivers what’s expected, but its narrative weight is less certain, feeling more like mandated sizzle reel spectacle than an earned story beat. It also overshadows Tim Blake Nelson’s much more meaningful return as The Leader, especially as his role is frustratingly underutilised and thinly articulated, leaving his schemes more of a vague threat than the most tangible danger.

Burying The Leader’s lede is part of the biggest problem plaguing Captain America: Brave New World – there’s always just slightly too much going on, but most of it doesn’t seem to immediately matter. The Serpent Society finally arrives in the MCU, led by the ever-imposing Giancarlo Esposito. But they, like much of the film, are reduced to a footnote. The film tries to pick up plot threads from Eternals, lay groundwork for the X-Men, revive The Avengers, and still deliver a gripping action thriller.

Into this crowded and clumsily coordinated cavalcade, Shira Haas debuts as Ruth Bat-Seraph, a former Black Widow with a complicated past, but she too is given little room to make a lasting impact. Worse still, Haas’ performance lacks the presence and conviction needed to convince as a contemporary of Natasha Romanoff or Yelena Belova, leaving the character feeling both miscast and underdeveloped.

It’s not just the characters, either. The film is packed with ideas – political tension, power struggles, legacy – but rarely stops to explore them in depth, instead pushing toward its next set piece. The action sequences are polished but often lack weight, suffering from overuse of digital backdrops that diminish their impact and it’s hard not to compare them to the gripping, grounded fights of The Winter Soldier, inevitably unfavourably. There are glimpses of a sharper, more politically charged thriller beneath the surface, but the film never fully commits to them, instead suffocating the intrigue under a blanket of banal, cliche-ridden dialogue.

The MCU has been in a self-inflicted identity crisis for some time, and this film does nothing to resolve it. It’s functional, occasionally engaging, but there’s very little that feels brave or new in the movie. Mackie’s Captain America emerges strengthened from Brave New World, but the film itself feels like another bridge to things yet to come, rather than a fully realised chapter of its own.