Marvel Studios
Review by Curt Holman
When is a spoiler not a spoiler? Captain America: Brave New World builds to a revelation that would have been a delightful surprise had not the film been entirely sold on it in trailers and posters.
So it seems fair game for a review to mention that in the last act of the film, President “Thunderbolt” Ross (Harrison Ford) transforms into the Red Hulk and runs amok on the White House lawn. Keeping the Red Hulk, a creation of Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness, an audience secret would have made Brave New World a more entertaining experience. But you can appreciate the marketers falling prey to that temptation, since Brave New World, with its stale premise and muddled execution, has so little to offer as an entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The film follows the 2021 Disney+ show The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, as Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) has taken up the shield and public superhero role of Captain America from his predecessor Steve Rogers. An early action sequence shows Sam and his sidekick Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez), the new Falcon, take on a terrorist group and Sam’s vibranium-powered wings give him a big finishing move that Steve never had.
Sam sometimes doubts whether he can fill Steve’s shoes, but if anyone in public questions a Black man serving as a symbol of America, the film doesn’t mention it. The closest to Brave New World having a political subtext comes when President Ross tries to recruit Sam for a more active role in his administration. The two men have a fraught history because, if you remember Captain America: Civil War, Ross (then played by the late William Hurt) was the champion of the Sokovia Accords to register superheroes, turning Sam, Steve and others into fugitives.
As President, Ross’s major initiative is a world treaty for Celestial Island, the petrified body of the alien god from the ending of 2021’s Eternals. The island contains the world’s first supply of miracle metal adamantium, and when Ross says, “It’s even more indestructible than vibranium!” it may be one of the worst lines in more than 30 MCU films. On the other hand, the celestial’s giant fingers provide a unique backdrop to a Cuban Missile Crisis-esque standoff later in the film.
Sam is inclined to support a sitting President, despite their checkered history, although Sam’s mentor Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbley) has a bitter grudge against Ross. When an assassination attempt against Ross points to a deeper conspiracy, Sam defies the president and launches his own investigation.
Director Julius Onah and his five credited screenwriters clearly want Brave New World to emulate Captain America: The Winter Soldier as a taut political thriller. One of the most acclaimed MCU movies, The Winter Soldier was consistently effective at building tension, cultivating atmosphere and balancing clever character details with well-constructed set pieces. Brave New World is consistently rushed and muddled by comparison. The film reportedly had extensive reshoots and while there’s no way to tell what was shot when, the sets and locations seem consistently small, dark and bland, more suited for a cheap spy show on a streaming service.
Mackie is a charismatic actor but kept overly reined in by this particular story. Ford, even giving a low-energy performance, is a real movie star and even at the film’s silliest, remains a compelling player who gives Ross a tragic dimension. The special effects in the Red Hulk sequence can prove surprisingly janky, but at least the Washington rampage wakes everything up.
The most memorable performance comes from Tim Blake Nelson reprising a role from 2008’s The Incredible Hulk. Nelson gives his villainous turn a mannered intensity that borders on camp but really pops. This is all the more impressive given that in some of his later scenes, he appears to be in a different space than his screen partners, as if filmed separately and awkwardly placed opposite Mackie.
Brave New World is a prime example of interchangeable Hollywood action movies with interchangeable plots and colorless CGI that critics call “slop.” Some MCU movies with a high slop content at least have compensating charms, like the three web-slingers in Spider-Man: No Way Home or the sheer quantity of jokes in Deadpool & Wolverine. Brave New World is unfortunately one of the messiest, least interesting films in the franchise.
I’m a big fan of some of the MCU’s entries, but Marvel Studios seems to have really lost confidence in its creators and seems committed to fall back on weak-tea imitations of past successes. Creatively, the latest Captain America just doesn’t display much bravery.
Captain America: Brave New World. C-. Starring Anthony Mackie, Harrison Ford. Directed by Julius Onah. Rated PG-13.