The internet being the internet, Captain America: Brave New World has already divided people into those rabidly decrying it, and those daring to enjoy it, albeit with occasional caveats. 

Annoyingly enough, they both have at least some points in their favour. 

Yes, there’s a lot to recommend it beyond simply fannish Marvel brand loyalty. But also, yes, there are long periods of sighing in between the good moments. 

Energy Crisis

Above all, there’s an odd dichotomy of energy at play in Captain America: Brave New World.

On the one hand, it’s a movie that sets up a brand-new Captain America in terms of who’s doing the job and how they’re doing it (Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson having graduated from Falcon to Cap at the end of Avengers: Endgame in 2019). 

That brings a new or semi-new cast of pals and partners to the fore, in this new, more intellect-driven version of America’s supersoldier (who, in this case of course, isn’t – the fact that Wilson has never had the supersoldier serum that turned Steve Rogers from zero to hero in a handful of heartbeats is a theme that’s riffed on throughout the movie).

That being so, you go in expecting a forward-looking plot, because the opportunity to charge the film with positivity is just there waiting for you. New challenges, new dramas, new resolutions – all the yes.

But what you actually get is a storyline that is very backward-looking and retrogressive. 

The Ross Arc

Here’s why: it brings back General (and now President) Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, originally from 2008’s The Incredible Hulk, when the Hulk was Edward Norton, rather than Mark Ruffalo, and Ross was William Hurt, rather than, as here, Harrison Ford. And it makes him President.

Hurt’s version of Ross was of course in the modern, successful Marvelverse, too – he was the figure behind the Sokovia Accords that brought about the civil war in Captain America: Civil War, and he appeared in the whole Infinity War/Endgame storyline and the lone Black Widow movie.

That means that by finally elevating Ross to the Presidency of the United States, this movie feels like the conclusion of the Ross storyline, rather than, to any particularly effective degree, the start of a new adventure for a new Captain America. 

The focus, which should be fully on Sam Wilson’s challenges and adventures, is significantly drawn both by the potential of Ross’s character, and the big-name casting of Harrison Ford in the role.

That’s particularly the case because most people going to see this movie will know, either by being comic-book geeks, or by…for instance…having watched the trailer…that Ross is a President with a secret. When he’s overstressed, or raging, he will turn into the Red Hulk in this movie.

That’s a ticking time-bomb throughout the film, but Ross has only one actual transformation, and it’s saved for the film’s denouement, meaning it feels like a “reward” for having stuck with the plot as long as you have, rather than anything more impactful in terms of a patriotic political Jekyll trying to contain his gamma-infused, raging Hyde. 

All The Good Stuff

That said, there’s a lot of good work on screen here. Mackie in particular is excellent in his first outing front and centre, showing both the uncertainty of a Captain America without the superserum that made Steve Rogers what he was, and Sam Wilson’s dedication and Falcon-based approach to the task of being Captain America. He’s charismatic as all-get-out, and frankly he does a lot to make the movie watchable. 

In fact, Mackie makes Wilson’s attempts to fundamentally “earn” the shield that was gifted to him by Rogers a central story-strand of the movie, and the film itself is better for it. 

He also has a good group of supporting characters around him. Danny Ramirez as Joaquin Torres, the wannabe-Falcon to the former-Falcon’s Cap is adorable, while still displaying the kind of dedication to the job that Wilson showed when he worked alongside Rogers. 

If there’s a whiff of reminiscence here though, it’s tinged with Iron Man/War Machine vibes, particularly as Spoiler Alert Torres takes a nosedive into trouble and injury while trying to emulate his hero and friend in one of the movie’s key action sequences. 

Carl Lumbly as Isaiah Bradley (another supersoldier who was imprisoned as used as a superpowered lab rat for decades) gives plenty of father-figure energy, and helps turn the plot in a distinctly Winter Soldier direction (another element from previous movies that feels weirdly recycled here), while Shira Haas as Ruth Bat-Seraph, a new Widow in our lives, is both scary, curt, effective and funny by turns. 

Didn’t We See This Already?

The elements of recycling begin to stack up the further into the movie you go – Ross’s rise power, Winter Soldier-style supersoldiering and mind-control, the rise of a new Widow, and two flying heroes mimicking Iron Man and War Machine… it all begins to feel like you’ve actually seen most of this movie before.

Added to that, there’s a leadenness to the pacing of the story that makes even the big battle scenes feel contrived, as though the writers and director Julius Onah just sketched in “Insert Big Battle Sequence Here” while working from a Marvel-by-numbers guide. 

That big battle sequence, between the US and Japan over a mysterious new “better-than-vibranium” island of space-rock, is full of whizz-bang action, but when the movie comes out for home viewing, the chances are high you’ll fast-forward through it. 

You’re told the stakes are high, and then it’s all “Insert Big Battle Sequence Here,” with the one downside of Cap and Falcon both being airborne when dealing with lots of military hardware coming at them revealing itself – they might as well be Iron Man and War Machine, meaning the film feels like it loses its Captain America uniqueness of brand.

In the broad sweep of realism, that may be no bad thing – the movie embraces the idea that it’s hard to wear America’s emblem on your chest and your shield when you have a president like Ross, and comic-book audiences who actually understand comic-books will identify with that sentiment. It’s difficult to be pro-America in Trumpworld, too.

But in terms of establishing a new Captain America and his unique way of doing things, having your main set-piece battle indistinguishable from one fought by Iron Man and War Machine is a miss-step that bites the movie hard.

There’s a much sharper scene earlier in the film which establishes Wilson’s new way of Capping, and while the stakes there are smaller, it works significantly better because it lets Wilson’s approach shine separately. It’s a new approach to the job, but there’s lots of land-based shield-work, which feels like a neat bridge between Captain Rogers and Sam Wilson. 

When, later, the big battle sequence is fought, the connection between the two is broken, and the impact of the shield handover is lost.

And when Ross finally Hulks out, just like the big battle sequence, it feels very much like it’s Chekhov’s Hulk, in that having been seeded early, it needs to be seen before the end of the film if it’s not to short-change the audience. 

But when the Red Hulk scene comes, it feels entirely performative – we need a Big Bad battle in which Sam Wilson can prove his Captain America skills against the odds. It’s very reminiscent of the Hulk we see in The Incredible Hulk, crossing great swathes of distance in giant bounds. 

And the way in which Wilson’s Captain America deals with his Hulk is another recycled element from previous movies, and it’s delivered so swiftly and perfunctorily that it makes the whole Red Hulk element feel wasted and frankly, a bit of a swizz.

And while it would be spoilerific to go further, what happens to the movie version of a deeply flawed US President who turns a funny colour and explodes in rage is both mood-breakingly ridiculous and an additional element that reeks of short change.

Is Captain America: Brave New World a bad movie? 

It’s six to five and pick ’em – the answer will depend on what’s most important to you as a viewer. 

There’s fantastic potential in Anthony Mackie’s Captain America and his gang, and there’s a solid strand of somewhat more intellectual problem-solving than was traditional in the Steve Rogers era. 

But in terms of the scripting and the direction, there’s too much contrivance and solid, plodding lead on screen, which means Mackie and Co feel like they’re acting their socks off against the drag factors of a plot that’s both daft, dull, almost endlessly recycled and ultimately determined to waste its CGI Big Bad money in a quick, performative explosion of nonsense you’ve mostly seen before. Tony Fyler

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