Time: 118 Minutes
Age Rating: M – Violence & offensive language
Cast:
Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson / Captain America
Danny Ramirez as Joaquin Torres / Falcon
Shira Haas as Ruth Bat-Seraph
Carl Lumbly as Isaiah Bradley
Xosha Roquemore as Leila Taylor
Giancarlo Esposito as Seth Voelker / Sidewinder
Liv Tyler as Betty Ross
Tim Blake Nelson as Samuel Sterns
Harrison Ford as Thaddeus Ross
Director: Julius Onah

Captain America: Brave New World was the first MCU movie in a while that I didn’t watch in the cinemas. There were a number of reasons why, but hearing the incredibly mixed to negative reactions put me off. Later on in the year I finally got around to watching it, and I don’t think I missed out much by missing it in cinemas.

Brave New World attempts to throw back to Captain America: The Winter Soldier by being something closer to a political thriller, but the end result felt more like a reheat of better MCU movies. The story feels flat, thin and undercooked, while also being overstuffed and sloppy with very poor exposition. The reported extensive reshoots were certainly felt throughout, however, based on what I saw, I’m not sure there was ever a stage in which this movie was on the path to approaching being relatively okay. In his last appearance in Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Sam Wilson’s central arc was of him accepting himself as the new Captain America, yet it feels like his arc in Brave New World is about proving himself as Captain America once again. That’s really all there is to him in this movie, he actually felt shafted in his own film, not helped by the fact that the story surrounds Thaddeus Ross more than him. Brave New World is actually a follow up to The Incredible Hulk (and Eternals to a lesser degree), and one wonders why they chose to convey it in a Captain America instead of a new Hulk movie. With The Incredible Hulk being one of the MCU’s most forgotten movies, BNW needed to quickly remind the audience of what happened in that movie, with rushed exposition right at the beginning and immediately giving a very ‘off’ feeling to the movie. It brings in so many aspects into the film that don’t really land. For instance, Thaddeus Ross’s daughter Betty being estranged from him is brought up a lot and is meant to mean something, but the eventual payoff just isn’t felt. Even the villain setup had potential, but it’s not used to its full potential, probably because of everything else going on.

Much has been said about The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’s attempts at political commentary which bungled everything by the end, and I was definitely critical about it. But at the very least, that show had something to actually say. Brave New World somehow says even less, it doesn’t have any political points or stances to make, instead just vaguely gesturing to ideas and hopes that those are enough for the audience. It really is a generic MCU movie with a story that isn’t gripping at all, and not even the action could liven things up. That being said, it does get a little bit enjoyable towards the end. In the third act, it goes all out with silly and over the top action, with a climax that is predictable if you’ve seen any trailer (or poster) for the movie. At the same time, it was by far the most enjoyable part of the movie, so I’m not inclined to complain about it too much. I’ve stopped commenting on the credits scenes of MCU movies in reviews, because at this point it’s some inevitable thing that they keep doing. However, I will say that Brave New World is a strong contender for having the worst post credits scene in the MCU. The scene basically boils down to “some more stuff is coming in the MCU” with a shrug. 

Anthony Mackie reprises his role as Sam Wilson/Captain America. Mackie was decent here and is a capable actor, but he was rather underserved, having to play second fiddle to so many other things in the movie.  Harrison Ford plays Thaddeus Ross, taking over William Hurt, and whose character has gone from being General to being President. To his credit, Ford isn’t phoning his performance in, he was great. He puts a lot into his scenes and the dialogue scenes between him and Mackie were among the highlights of the movie. Danny Ramirez reprises his role from Falcon and the Winter Soldier and essentially plays Wilson’s Falcon, he’s pretty good and they have a nice dynamic. Carl Lumbly also reprises his role as Isiah Bradley from the show and gives one of the better performances in the movie despite not a lot of screentime. Giancarlo Esposito was one of the additions to the movie through the reshoots, he feels out of place, but he’s at least having a lot of fun on his part. Most of the cast are at least fine in their parts, with one glaring exception. One of the controversial elements of the movie even before its release was of Shira Haas as Ruth Bat-Seraph, aka Sabra, who’s pretty much Captain Israel in the comics. Whether it was for the controversy or for any other reason, much of her scenes were cut down and now she feels pointless and her character doesn’t add much. Though I highly doubt more scenes with her would’ve helped, the character was never compelling or intriguing once, Haas’s performance is distractingly bad and just void of charisma.

Julius Onah is a solid director. He was caught up with BTS issues with The Cloverfield Paradox but I thought his work on Luce was really good. But you can tell that once again he was saddled with reshoots and other problems with Brave New World. One thing I will say about watching this on the smaller screen on Disney+ is that it enhanced the experience, and I do mean this as a bad thing. Brave New World looks like a lower tier MCU show and it’s insane that this was made and shown on the big screen. It really looks straight to streaming, mostly bland, visually dull and unappealing. Many of the locations look really fake, the CGI is bad and distracting, even Falcon and the Winter Soldier looked more like a big screen MCU movie. The action scenes feel weightless, uninspired and sloppy, vague action stuff just sort of happens on screen. Even the camerawork and editing can be poor at times. That said, the third act goes large and is entertaining for what it is.

Despite some enjoyable moments and the performances of Mackie and Ford, Captain America: Brave New World is one of the worst MCU installments, very mediocre, sloppy, visually unappealing and dull.