Directed By Julius Onah

Starring – Anthony Mackie, Harrison Ford, Giancarlo Esposito

The Plot – Sam Wilson (Mackie), the new Captain America, finds himself in the middle of an international incident and must discover the motive behind a nefarious global plan.

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, and some strong adult language.

Captain America: Brave New World | Official Trailer

POSITIVES

In many of the same ways that Sam Wilson tries to step out from underneath the immense shadow of Steve Rogers, so too does “Brave New World” from its Captain America predecessors, with some refreshingly unexpected directions that keeps this from feeling like another superfluous installment to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The best of those deviations comes from the unforeseen closure that it establishes to arcs introduced in some of the earliest installments of this universe, with cameos and resolutions to comic characters that feel great to finally be addressed, even if the prolonged wait creates a plot hole of its own that should’ve been felt in other films. As a fan of the one particular movie that this feels like a sequel to, it was nice to see Marvel attempt some semblance of seamless transition from the inconsistencies that would otherwise make it stand out like a sore thumb, zeroing in on the long-term storytelling formula for Marvel that made the original eight years of movies such a decorated celebration for consistency. On top of this, I greatly appreciated Onah’s directional impulses, primarily those in tonal capacity, which made this feel like the first Marvel movie in a long time to not be a dominant comedy. Similar to how “The Winter Soldier” felt like a political thriller, so too does “Brave New World”, with a foreboding and ominous investigation driving a majority of the storytelling, and only leaving temporarily pocketed moments of relieving levity to once again build up the tension. This made the movie feel like it had legitimate stakes to characters involved in the conflicts, but beyond that proved that superhero films don’t always have to be the light and airy consistencies that family audiences expect from them, and with the visual cue of a black and white Marvel Productions banner, during the movie’s introduction, it serves as a fitting reminder to the chances that it takes that deserves to be applauded. Likewise on deserving applause, Anthony Mackie’s first full delve into the suit appraises irreplaceable value and presence to his portrayal, with so much more than just the expected Mackie charming charisma that this installment is already full of. While the script kind of abandons meeting his characterization halfway, I found an evidential element of vulnerability to his portrayal to give inconsistent action sequences a palpably airborne tension that otherwise goes missing from supernatural characters with no shortage of healing capabilities, making him not only all the more relatable to human audiences seeking motivational similarities in their characters, but also never struggling on the ultimate X-factor of earned empathy that comes so natural to an actor with such sincere conviction in his various deliveries. Mackie is great, but I honestly think this is Harrison Ford’s movie for the taking, as a dominance over the script’s direction affords the iconic actor his best work of the past decade, while juggling the duality of this president with more responsibility on his shoulders than any other character initially interprets. I say that because a spoiler-heavy trailer once again reveals that Ford does in fact transition into Red Hulk, and while the comic fan service is aplenty for the film’s climactic finale, it’s honestly those down time moments of character building that were the most valuable to Ford’s work, balancing the tender embodiment of regret with the fiery tenacity in ways that boldly convey the internal struggle brewing from deep beneath. Lastly, because we received so little opportunity during “The Falcon and Winter Soldier” to bask in Wilson’s new digs for costume, the script takes ample time conveying why it might be the single greatest achievement for costumed superheroes thus far, both in the seamless slicing of wings that decimate any object they come into contact with, and the Wakanda based technology that allows them to stand up against the ruthless devastation of an inevitable force like a Hulk. If you told me that a majority of the production spent time on just the luster of the suit, then I would believe you, as it comes across as the single most eye-fetching detail of the entire presentation, with designs that are altered and expanded upon Rogers’ version of it, all with humbling tribute to the original design that doesn’t feel disrespectful.

NEGATIVES

My single biggest gripe with “Brave New World” is that it never truly feels like Sam Wilson’s movie, as not only so little time and effort with the script spent on him overcoming the hurdles and responsibilities of his newfound disposition, but also the one dominant character arc lends itself to President Ross, with Wilson essentially just being the muscle that clears house when the story needs him to. This is especially troubling for a black superhero who is working for a white president, as the movie’s inability to even address this struggle makes it feel like it’s pulling the wool over its audience, but beyond that proves the standstill position that these MCU superheroes currently feel in, with regards to further development. It’s a shame that “The Falcon and Winter Soldier” spent more time on Wilson than his own titularly-titled movie did, as the nearly two hour run time makes it feel like a wasted excavation alongside the character, where we not only we don’t expand upon some of those interior notions where the character mentions overwhelming circumstances that are far above his defining humanity, but also the cultural significance of certain political hypocrisies that feel evidentially glanced over to not offend audiences who are not interested diving into deeper meaning. On top of this, the script is a bit of a disjointed mess between various B-grade antagonists and exposition-dump scenes that keep it from ever finding a consistency of momentum to carry throughout two hours that definitely felt every square inch. While I wasn’t ever bored or wandering with the movie, certain moments during the first two acts did drag quite noticeably with the consistency of the development of the aforementioned investigation, particularly during moments pertaining to Esposito’s Sidewinder, who is done completely wrong by the contrast of his own third billing to this project. Sidewinder could certainly be the primary antagonist in any movie that Marvel chooses to use him as, but he’s used and abused so abruptly here that Esposito never gets time to make the character his own, and even against a purely human protagonist like Sam Wilson, feels overwhelmed to the point that we never truly believe he ever gets one up on him, especially once the movie moves on from him to another unforeseen antagonist that you wish was the entire focus from the starting point. Because the trailer did another massacre job with what’s kept secret, the best moments of this film fall flat because we the audience already know they’re coming, and though there are still one or two that found their way to my surprise factor, I can only imagine how impactful that this movie could’ve been to comic fandom if they only didn’t know something meaningful as Red Hulk was appearing, another aspect that this movie abuses by only using during the film’s final fifteen minutes, then resolving it as abruptly and unsatisfyingly as any disappointing comic character that I’ve ever seen. As for new additions to the ensemble, I found Danny Ramirez’s depiction of Joaquin Torres, A.K.A the new Falcon, to be feel annoyingly forced in the comic relief department. As I previously mentioned, a lot of my appreciation for the movie belongs to its consistency of straight and dramatic tonal consistency, but during those moments when it deviated away from that objective, it involved Ramirez saying something either mean-spirited to characters, or distractingly influential in ways that made him feel like a charisma vacuum, and while I do think the movie definitely requires Torres’ character, as he’s a significant part of the Sam Wilson arc from the comics, I think Ramirez’s casting here totally falls flat in capturing anything other than the immaturity of the character, to the point that I wish the movie just omitted him all together from the finished product. Finally, there’s good and bad to be found from the film’s many action sequences, but it’s an example of quantity over quality, especially when C.G heavy effects and greenscreen backdrops take away the tangibility of their cause. When Wilson utilizes his Captain shield, the movements look too lagging and clunky to come across as smoothly seamless, and when the third act climax between Captain and Red Hulk takes flight, everything from the lighting of characters to their surrounding properties, to even framing choices felt strange, where the production apparently couldn’t replicate a real life location of surrounding Cherry Blossom trees, and instead just decided artificiality was the way to do it, making the sequence stand out in the worst ways that feels plucked directly from a Marvel film ten years previously, but this time with advanced technology that should strive for better.

OVERALL
“Captain America: Brave New World” has far more interesting aspects about it than some of the more recent MCU properties, but it meanders in mediocrity with horrendous special effects, a lack of politics to its political thriller captivity, and an imbalanced character study that had me questioning just whose movie this is in the first place. As it turns out, Anthony Mackie’s donning of the shield was the last thing that anyone should’ve been worried about, as Mackie charms with earnest bravado and endless charisma, but the movie’s clipped wings of ambition never allow it to fly alongside of him, leaving another forgettably bland post-Endgame Marvel effort representing its brave new world.

My Grade: 5.9 or C-