In recent years, Marvel has gathered a poor reputation for churning out rushed, uninspired movies. They encountered a few brief hiatuses including the films Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), Spider-Man: No Way Home(2021), and most recently Deadpool and Wolverine (2024). The latest MCU entry is Captain America: Brave New World. On the scale of movies in the MCU, his film sits right between mediocrity and greatness.
Anthony Mackie, who plays the new Captain America has been sharing his excitement to take on the role on social media. Many who are not up to date with Marvel are confused with Anthony Mackie’s character Sam Wilson gaining the mantle of Captain America. This change led to a lot of skepticism leading up to the movie, as the former supporting character is shifting to the role of the protagonist.
Like all Marvel Movies, there is a lot of MCU knowledge needed to fully understand the new Captain America. This film directly follows the Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021) and the 2008 film, The Incredible Hulk. In the latter of the two Marvel projects lies my first issue with this film: almost all of the plot points revolve around events in the highly disregarded Hulk film. Because Marvel barely acknowledges The Incredible Hulk, many events in the film feel random, as they come directly from things in that movie that are never alluded to again throughout the whole MCU.
Captain America: Brave New World, while not amazing, manages to differentiate itself from most of the MCU. Instead of playing out exactly like every other action packed Marvel movie, this film plays out more like a political thriller.
The film follows the new Captain America and his partner Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez) unraveling a political conspiracy surrounding an international treaty and an assassination attempt on the U.S. President (Harrison Ford).
The film opens with the reveal that Thaddeus Ross (again, from The Incredible Hulk), has been elected president of the United States.
Soon after, the movie shifts to the MCU’s former falcon Sam Wilson, who is now acting as Captain America in place of the retired Steve Rogers (Chris Evans). Wilson then engages with terrorists led by the villain Sidewinder (Giancarlo Esposito). Later in the scene, Captain America calls on Joaquin Torres, who acts as the new Falcon for backup. They quickly stop the terrorists and complete their mission.
After this whole scene, the viewers first see the character Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly), the original super soldier who was introduced in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Bradley, Wilson, and Torres train together before they are all invited to the White House to watch President Ross’s presentation.
Here, Ross explains his primary motivations throughout the whole film. The events of the movie Eternals (2021) caused a large island to be formed in the Indian Ocean. This emergence began a whole range of geopolitical issues, as all countries wanted to get their hands on a new metal discovered there–adamantium. Ross goes on to say that there is a treaty that is soon to be signed that entitles each country in the dispute to an equal portion of the resource. Suddenly, Bradley and many armed members of the presentation open fire on Ross.
Wilson does not believe that Bradley could have done this without some sort of mind control, causing him to start an investigation, which is what the whole film follows.
The plot of this movie is certainly interesting. I enjoyed watching the protagonists unravel the conspiracy concerning the terrorist attack. It felt like a breath of fresh air from the usual, formulaic Marvel movie.
What I thought was the strongest part of this movie was the action. The fight scenes were very well choreographed. I was shocked at how well the directors were able to manage aerial combat. They were very smooth and different from other Marvel fight scenes. This movie brought a focus on a new form of combat, which made it feel new and appealing. Additionally, the fight scenes did not have too many cuts, making them less nauseating and easier to follow. Even the normal, grounded fight scenes were very good. They followed the same trend of non-choppy action while putting a focus on Captain America’s unique fighting style, which is a blend of martial arts and technical wing combat.
Another thing that Captain America: Brave New World did well was its use of the character Joaquin Torres. While this character debuted in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, he certainly shined here. A common critique of recent Marvel films is how every character tries desperately to be funny, but Joaquin Torres is able to be comedic without distracting from the rest of the plot. Torres makes many jokes throughout the film, but he never does this when the movie is getting serious. Danny Ramirez also portrayed this character perfectly. His lines flowed so naturally and his movements and timing only added to this. I felt like I was watching a real guy, even when he put on his physics-defying wingsuit.
While this movie does some things great, there is a reason I say it is kind of mediocre. For instance, the dialogue is terrible. Towards the beginning of the film, there are some conversations that feel so horribly fake. Everyone just bleeds exposition and the characters interact with each other strangely. There is a conversation between Torres and Bradley that contains one of the worst jokes I have ever seen in a Marvel movie. Torres makes a remark about Airdropping a photo, to which Bradley says he understands. Bradley then turns to Wilson and asks, “What’s Airdrop?”. This was terrible. The bad dialogue rounds out towards the end of the film, but it still left a sour taste in my mouth.
Another critique I have is just about Isaiah Bradley himself. I did not care about this character in the slightest. He was consistently making unfunny jokes and acting strangely. His actor, Carl Lumbly, also portrayed the character poorly. Bradley was constantly in a state of limbo between being dead serious and being emotional. This was supposed to show him as a hardened man who still contains some expression, but it just felt weird. The way Lumbly said his lines felt fake and uninspired.
Anthony Mackie and Danny Ramirez are slated to reprise their roles in later Marvel projects. Captain America: Brave New World, while not being a perfect movie, set itself apart from most recent Marvel content. Some performances and action scenes are great, but other aspects of the movie drag it down so much. I would say this movie is worth watching, but it is definitely skippable.