Captain America: Brave New World

 

“I was a wartime general, now I’m a wartime president.”

Swift, snippy but stale, Captain America: Brave New World rests shakily on the capable shoulders of a charismatic Anthony Mackie with some solid action and doses of decent intrigue but that can’t help feel overshadowed by other stories delivering a film that doesn’t feel brave, nor new, nor world changing.

Discussion Points:

On the whole, Captain America: Brave New World definitely suffers from obvious reshoots, unsubtle political parallels, generic expositional dialogue and stale storytelling but I can’t say I didn’t have a solid time. Despite obviously living in the shadow of far better political thrillers, Brave New World is still a decent time. Anthony Mackie is great as Sam Wilson and he more than capably carries a blockbuster film. It’s so refreshing to see Harrison Ford dialled-in and giving a really sturdy performance. Whilst I do wonder how William Hurt would’ve done in the role, I’m glad we get Ford’s version which mostly works. Because Sam Wilson’s Cap is in the shadow of that which came before, it can’t help but feel like a stale sequel a lot of the time. Especially when he’s often not dealing with his own fresh antagonists, but rather leftover Hulk characters who’ve been waiting for closure since 2008 (and Samuel Sterns still feels unresolved)! However, Giancarlo Esposito’s Sidewinder is an intimidating foe, under-utilised here, but hopefully set up to be a continuing FalconCap foe going forward, and Joaquin Torres is a great sidekick who I look forward to seeing more of. Carl Lumbly’s Isaiah Bradley is also a standout but I could take or leave Shira Haas’ Ruth (who’s just not interesting or engaging). I did appreciate the political intrigue, and was glad not everything felt as on-the-nose as one might expect. However, it’s clear as day that much of the film has been rewritten, re-edited and/or re-shot. Obvious ADR, egregiously bad green screen, and cheap CGI populate much of the third act. Which is a shame considering how much of the effects work in the first half is really good. Overall, Brave New World is nowhere near as bad as I feared it may be, but it does pale in comparison to what’s come before and feels like a rinse and repeat. But Mackie has shown he’s got good blockbuster chops and should be a worthy leader for the Avengers.