Captain America: Brave New World Review

Anthony Mackie has big shoes to fill. After his character Sam Wilson was handed the shield at the end of Avengers: Endgame and a Disney+ series explored his mixed feelings about what that represents, Brave New World is his first real test as Captain America, and as the lead of a Marvel movie. He comes into this role with the charm and enthusiasm of a leading man, so whether the wings of his tenure are clipped short after this film certainly won’t be down to him.

Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford, taking over from the late William Hurt) won the Presidency of the United States on a campaign built around togetherness - the promise of a treaty between countries to share the newly discovered “adamantium”, found within the husk of the aborted celestial that has been floating in the ocean since Eternals (a film that did not deserve the critical reception it did). However, when mercenaries led by Sidewinder (Giancarlo Esposito) and other sinister figures threaten to plunge the world into war and compromise the formerly imprisoned super soldier Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly), the new Captain America will stand against anyone who gets his way - even the President.

Those yearning for Marvel Studios to return to the spy thriller tone of Captain America: The Winter Soldier will be happy to find a return to the paranoid slow build here that is propelled largely by Harrison Ford as he captures a Thaddeus Ross who is gradually growing frustrated and losing control. This intensity is also matched by grounded action choreography driving home that Sam Wilson may be a hero, but he isn’t super.

Where the film falters, however, is when it reminds itself that it has to be “super”. After all the down-to-Earth action, it feels jarring when the film decides it needs a bombastic final act, to the point where it pulled me out of the story when I thought about how over-the-top it was. Sometimes less is more, but I guess sometimes you can’t settle for less when you have a giant red rage monster…

The Marvel Cinematic Universe now celebrates a lengthy canon, but the over reliance on callbacks may be starting to hold it back. As well as the main conflict of the film revolving around a plot-thread left by Eternals, and you also don’t know who Isaiah Bradley is, then that’s clearly your fault for not watching Falcon and the Winter Soldier on Disney+. More notably, however is that this film is essentially a sequel to 2008’s The Incredible Hulk - the second film in the MCU (for reference, Brave New World is the 35th). To Brave New World’s credit, the film does recap the necessary information in a mostly seamless way, but the original decision still feels weird.

Shira Haas joining the cast as Ruth Bat-Seraph has proved controversial due to the character’s origins as an openly prejudiced Mossad agent, and the recent escalation of the Israel-Hamas conflict over the past couple of years. Fortunately, this troublesome origin has been defanged, with Ruth re-imagined as a former Black Widow-turned-President’s right hand, and no mention of the “Sabra” alias. Haas brings a sardonic snark that balances well against Anthony Mackie’s optimism and the boyish enthusiasm of Danny Ramirez (who plays Wilson’s sidekick Joaquin Torres). However, with the character adding little to the overall narrative, one does wonder why Marvel Studios couldn’t have just made her any other character.

Giancarlo Esposito clearly had fun bringing a menacing charisma to Sidewinder, a mercenary hired by shadowy forces. Even though he had little to do in the film, and so obviously cast in reshoots that there are few scenes where he’s with actors other then Anthony Mackie, he still ends up being far more memorable than a number of Marvel villains of late.

There have been discussion about how much the film’s marketing should have revealed, especially with regard to the Red Hulk, and whether that spoiled the film. This isn’t exclusive to Brave New World or even Marvel, but I think the argument is more nuanced here. As a comics reader, I knew where Thaddeus Ross was headed, but I found the slow build exciting all the same. However, the average cinema goer won’t know, and what draw would the film have had if trailers had simply pitched it as Cap vs an angry old man?

I think back to the trailer for Captain America: The Winter Soldier, a film that similarly revolved a character well-known to comic readers but not the mainstream. The Winter Soldier is present throughout the trailer, yet no mention is made of Bucky. Perhaps a similar approach could have been an effective compromise.

On the subject of marketing, I do wish that the film had done more to chart a path for the MCU as we head into the upcoming Avengers movies, as was hinted at in trailers and pre-release clips, but little more than a murmur in the actual film. If Marvel Studios needs anything right now, it’s a firm sense of direction.

Recent reports of Rotten Tomatoes aggregates and audience Cinemascores have drawn comparisons to the likes of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Thor: Love and Thunder, but these feel hyperbolic. Those films were just downright bad, but while Captain America: Brave New World may be conceptually flawed, it is still an engaging political thriller and a fun time.

★★★