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It feels like years since Marvel has been on track, and sometimes fans need a comfort meal like Captain America: Brave New World.
Is it good? Not exactly. Brave New World takes Marvel back to The Winter Soldier days, which feel like an eternity ago. For better or worse, the latest Captain America adventure is a “political thriller” in that it involves a president (Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, played by Harrison Ford) and international affairs. But is it thrilling?
That is a whole other issue. Brave New World gets by for the first hour or so trying to build tension. Sam Wilson's (Anthony Mackie) rocky relationship with Ross makes for some tense moments, even if Brave New World insists on reminding you Ford is replacing the late William Hurt.
Where it falls apart is in its convoluted plot. Marvel seemingly had bigger plans for Seth Voelker/Sidewinder (Giancarlo Esposito) and the Serpent Society. And while I don't doubt they will come back in a future Captain America project, Marvel fumbled them hard in Brave New World. (How do you cut WWE star Seth Rollins?)
For a title that suggests something new and fresh, Captain America: Brave New World is hardly that. Instead, it feels like a lazy retread of what we've already seen.
Captain America: Brave New World review
Some time has passed since we last saw Wilson and Ross. The former is officially Captain America, and the latter is the president of the United States.
Ross now preaches unity after tearing the Avengers apart. To push his agenda, he recruits Wilson to rebuild the team. Like Steve Rogers, Wilson faces conflict over his allegiance to the president. The last thing that he wants is for his wings to get clipped again.
Wilson and Ross have been intertwined for years, dating back to Civil War. The unfortunate passing of Hurt resulted in Ford taking his role.
Ford gives a committed performance if nothing else. Is this the best franchise movie he has done recently? I still think Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is a better use of his talents. He is at his best when the script — penned by Rob Edwards, Malcolm Spellman, Dalan Musson, Peter Glanz, and director Julius Onah — allows him to be over the top (his performance, sadly, doesn't reach Air Force One heights, though).
Behind the scenes, Ross has been undergoing treatment for an undisclosed reason, hence why he carries around a box of what appears to be Altoids. This causes occasional outbursts, which call for Ford's signature flare.
Anthony Mackie's first adventure as Captain America
Mackie has been playing the role of Sam Wilson for years, so his first turn as Captain America isn't much different from his past work. He still struggles with defining himself as his own iteration of the character in the movie, pondering if he should have taken the super serum that helped Rogers and Bucky Barnes.
To be honest, having Wilson take the serum would clarify a lot of things. He survives a lot for someone without superpowers. Wilson gets his butt kicked throughout, and the only logical explanation for his quick recovery would be superpowers (he gets powerbombed through a table, stabbed in the stomach, and his ribs broken). But alas, he is like Tony Stark with half of the amount of cool suits (though Mackie does show off an impressive wardrobe in Brave New World).
His signature snark is retained, even when he represents a country. Mackie may not be as charismatic as Tom Holland or Chris Hemsworth, but he does prove himself worthy of leading the Avengers in Doomsday and Secret Wars.
The action goes a long way in helping Mackie out, too. Brave New World features some close-quarters hand-to-hand combat early on. Marvel movies always shine when they let the brutality of a fight take center stage.
Even the gunfights with Sidewinder feature tension Marvel movies rarely achieve these days. Give credit to Onah, who directs the heck out of these sequences for a Marvel movie. There are restrictions when taking on an MCU project, but Onah does his best to break through the glass ceiling.
[Red] Hulking out
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the third act. I don't think it's a spoiler to say there is a Red Hulk in the movie — he's shown in the trailer, so if you weren't aware, that is your fault — which was certainly a choice to include.
Brave New World always feels like it is building to the moment Ford turns red. It supersedes any other subplot, and the result is underwhelming.
Ford looks fine as the Red Hulk, but the final fight was clearly shot on a soundstage. It is almost like the post-production team didn't even try to hide this fact. The lighting is so bright that it looks like an SNL sketch of an MCU movie.
The Washington D.C. cherry blossoms looked horrendous in the trailer, but I'd hoped they would have touched it up before the movie's release. Once again, it raises the question of why Marvel doesn't do more nighttime fights for predominantly CGI characters.
They understandably could not film at the White House, but even White House Down did a more convincing job depicting action sequences set there. It doesn't feel tactile in Brave New World — it feels like a set.
There have been exceptions, but rewatch Marvel's earliest movies. Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk both had third-act fights during the night. Both look so much better than the Brave New World third act.
Marvel should look into returning to that going forward. They have lighting issues at night, too, with nighttime scenes oftentimes being too dark these days in the MCU, but Brave New World forces their hand to fix this problem.
Should you watch Captain America: Brave New World?
It should be a sin to waste Giancarlo Esposito as Captain America: Brave New World did. The Serpent Society will probably play a more prominent role in Anthony Mackie's next Captain America solo adventure.
However, in turn, they are shoehorned into Brave New World. It would have been better to leave them for Captain America 5 rather than inserting Esposito into Brave New World.
Somehow, the Serpent Society story is somewhat connected to the overall plot. But it is not enough to justify them being there. It is a miracle that the story is even somewhat coherent, all things considered.
Captain America: Brave New World is an effort to restore the faith of warped Marvel fans. It will appease fans who miss the MCU's glory days in that it feels like a Marvel movie from a decade ago. But it fails to push the envelope beyond something that has already been done (and better).
Grade: C+
Captain America: Brave New World will be released on February 14.
