There has been a lot of doubt on whether Captain America: Brave New World would live up to the likes of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. With it going after the same espionage thriller genre, there was a lot riding on it. On top of that, a Black man was taking up the mantle of Captain America. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was created to prepare people for this moment, but it seems you can’t change people’s minds once it’s set. With their being reshoots, the inclusion of Sabra and the right wing trying to tear this film apart, the real question is, does Captain America: Brave New World stand on its own as a great MCU film, or will it exist only to fuel people who only know hate?
Captain America: Brave New World is the 35th movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It takes place after The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and follows Sam (Anthony Mackie) as he finds himself in the middle of an international incident after meeting with President Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford). He must soon discover the reason behind a nefarious global plot before the true mastermind has the entire world seeing red.
This film went through four reshoots, which isn’t abnormal for a Marvel film to go through. A lot of these added the addition of Giancarlo Esposito to the film, who plays the villain Sidewinder. As engaging as this movie tries to be as we try to find out who the puppet master is that is controlling all of the variables, it evidently fails at doing so when we cut to scenes with Sidewinder and Sam, which feel empty and underdeveloped. Sidewinder doesn’t interact with any other characters in the film except for Sam and some hostages, which makes you wonder why it was so important for the inclusion of this character within this movie.
He’s not the only character who felt like their inclusion was not worthy of their screentime and involvement. Ruth Bat-Seraph (Shira Haas), an Israeli character who’s an ex-widow and Ross’ head of security who tries to take the lead and fails every time she appears on screen. Fans called for the character to be removed from the film, and there’s a current boycott on the movie due to her appearance, and we all would’ve been better off without her. Ruth Bat-Seraph is a character that’s easily replaceable, not only because of the role she plays but also because Shira Haas does not bring anything to this role. Her performance feels hollow, and her line delivery is worse than Gal Gadot’s infamous “Kal-El, no.”
Xosha Roquemore plays a character called Leila Taylor who works closely with President Ross and also seems to have a great rapport with Sam, which seems to have been built off-screen with how good Xosha and Anthony’s chemistry was. It was odd to have the inclusion of Ruth Bat-Seraph when there was already a character that could’ve easily taken that spot and made for a more compelling relationship and story.
This is a movie that tries to continue on with the same message as The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Why would a Black man take on the mantle of Captain America, but it also adds the question of why he’d work for the President of the United States of America? In a film that feels grounded in its story and Winter Soldier-esque, it doesn’t ever reach the heights that the marketing hinted at. We get a glimpse into the political state of the MCU, and it’s clear that they’re trying to relate it to the America of today, but it all ends up feeling like a half-arsed attempt at trying to send the correct message.
Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly), who was introduced in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, has a tragic backstory which involved him being wrongly imprisoned and experimented on. This all floods back to him as he’s once again thrown into prison for a crime that he did not commit. Carl Lumbly gives some of his best acting during the scene where they make his arrest.
This was one of the more intriguing scenes in the film, but just like with the rest of the film’s attempt to talk about the political state of the world, they fail to talk about a falsely accused Black man on death row, and even when President Ross is aware that he’s innocent, there’s still nothing done about this situation. It’s disappointing to see a Marvel film finally have the chance to say something worthwhile in their films and completely miss the mark in a movie with a Black director that easily allows the opportunity.
Anthony Mackie has always done a great job at playing Sam Wilson but he does an even better job playing Captain America. He completely owns that role and through his strong performance, you can understand that he knows what it means to Captain America, not only for Black kids or Americans but for everyone. His duo, Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez) has a greater inclusion in Captain America: Brave New World, compared to The Falcon and the Winter Soldier where he was first introduced.
He takes over the mantle of Falcon from Sam but he still has a lot more to learn before he reaches Sam’s level. His character brings humour into the film at all the right moments and it never feels out of place with Joaquin. Anthony and Danny both have an energetic chemistry that helps make the two feel like family as we find them getting into dire, life-threatening ordeals.
It may seem like Captain America: Brave New World is a follow-up to The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and there are some shocking surprises that connect the two. This never felt like a Captain America movie first and instead felt like a sequel to The Incredible Hulk that we’ve all been waiting years for, but instead, there’s no Hulk. Harrison Ford takes over the role of Thaddeus Ross after the passing of William Hurt, and the movie tries to dive into his characteristics and if he’s a man that’s capable of change.
They begin to tell us about his estranged relationship with his daughter, Betty (Liv Tyler), but without the involvement of this character and any moments between the two, it begins to get hard to care about the relationship of two characters who have only appeared in one film out of thirty-five. Ford does an outstanding job playing Thaddeus Ross and feels right in place, but unfortunately, the marketing takes away the spotlight with the reveal of Red Hulk.
If you’ve managed to watch all the trailers, TV spots and clips that Marvel has offered for Captain America: Brave New World, then you’ve witnessed everything Red Hulk has to offer. The action sequences throughout this film are honestly some of the best we’ve gotten in a grounded MCU film. At the start, the editing can feel sporadic, but as the movie moves along, the fights tend to be edited better in comparison with the flight action sequence being the best that this film has to offer in terms of the visuals not distracting you from the scene.
The fight between Red Hulk and Sam is explosive and a lot of fun to watch, but it showcases that Marvel Studios have yet to learn how to use the volume technology and how to work with green screen. With Marvel, it always feels like they go one step forward and three steps back.
Captain America: Brave New World also lacks a villain that feels in place of the overall structure of this film. After waiting over 10 years to see the return of Tim Blake Nelson as Samuel Stern/The Leader (who doesn’t get name-dropped as The Leader once in the whole film), we finally get it within a Captain America film where he pulls the strings on all the characters involved. At times, I feel compelled by his motives, but the movie doesn’t give us enough time with this character to solidify him as a worthy villain after how long the fans have been waiting to see his return. There’s potential with The Leader, and hopefully he can return in the future in a project that allows him to feel as threatening as he should’ve been.
We finally get small connections to Eternals with the return of the Celestial coming out of the Indian Ocean, which is now known as Celestial Island. This brings the only true development from this film, which will affect the future of the MCU, and that’s the introduction of Adamantium, the metal that’s well known for covering Wolverine’s skeleton. It felt great to finally get a continuation of how the world reacted to Eternal’s ending and how it’s affecting the political state of the world, but with many other storylines taking place, it gets rushed and side-lined rather quickly.
The movie has the inclusion of one post-credit scene, and it makes the audience realise that if there’s nothing to say, you shouldn’t say it. That’s a lesson that needs to be learnt by the producers and filmmakers who work on these MCU films. It’s not only an extra minute of forced dialogue but once again, the reshoots come to haunt the cinematography of this scene which makes it look like a Toyota ad in collaboration with the movie.
Captain America: Brave New World tries to do too many things in this grounded political thriller and unfortunately ends up having underdeveloped plotlines, VFX that’s noticeably poor and political messages that feel half-arsed. Although it suffers from all of this, it still delivers with strong performances from Anthony Mackie, who soars high, and Harrison Ford, who leads the charge anytime he’s on screen. This is by no means the worst MCU film we’ve received in Phase 5; it’s still watchable and overall an enjoyable experience, but for Marvel Studios to have their fans and audience on board for Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, they really need to stick the landing with each project, and sadly, that wasn’t the case with this one.
Captain America: Brave New World releases in theaters on February 14.
