TL;DR – It is a perfectly serviceable film saved by a strong rapport between the cast and perfectly fine action sequences, but it was aiming for a level it did not have the strength to reach.

Post-Credit Scene – There is an end-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

Captain America: Brave New World Review –

There are some films where you walk in with a healthy amount of trepidation, and for me, this was one of them. The Captain America films were always one of the highlights of the MCU for me, with Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain America: The Winter Soldier & Captain America: Civil War all scoring high on my best of MCU lists. I even enjoyed The Falcon and The Winter Soldier series, even if it was a bit uneven. But something about the production just felt off, and the need to drop the Red Hand into every trailer made it feel like they didn’t have much else to go with. Having watched it now, I think this was both a fair and, luckily, unfair suggestion.  

So, to set the scene, it has been several years since Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) took over the mantle of Captain America, and while things have been going well, they are about to be tested with the election of Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (Harrison Ford) to United States President. We open in as Cap flies a mission in Mexico, recapturing a container captured by mercenaries led by Sidewinder (Giancarlo Esposito). The mission was a success, and Sam, Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez) and Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly) were invited to the White House to see the Celestial Island Treaty be signed. It was a perfect night right up until Isaiah stood up and tried to kill the president. Chaos erupts, and suddenly, the world is on the brink of war.

While there are many issues with this film, the cast is not one of them. In fact, they are the true highlight of the film. When Anthony, Danny, and Carl are all together, the film takes on a joyous feel, and you are here for all their banter. Tim Blake Nelson makes for a compelling villain whose visual design entirely matches his demeanour. While Giancarlo Esposito feels like he was shoved in after the primary production was finished, he still owns every scene he is in. The big surprise for me was Shira Haas as Ruth Bat-Seraph, who very much captured that feeling of a cat you don’t want to upset because they will wreck you. Also, while Harrison Ford is not hitting his Shrinking level here, he did make for a credible Thaddeus Ross.  

On that front, the action scenes are all quite good. You can feel an attempt in places to go back to the stylings of The Winter Soldier, and there are moments where they do get close. While narratively, they feel quite forced, every battle scene with Anthony Mackie and Giancarlo Esposito was fun to watch. Indeed, the whole opening sequence in Mexico was a blast, and the battle in the White House captured that complete chaos when the threat was your own people. I would have liked to see Sam Wilson and Joaquin Torres interact more in these scenes other than talking over the radio, but it still all worked. All the visual effects also work together in these moments, so it’s a blast to see Cap cut through a jet with his wings.

However, while the action and casting save this film, you cannot help but feel that there were serious problems under the hood that were being held together with duct tape and a prayer. Narratively, this film is a mess, which you could tell even before it became clear in the credits how many rewrites there were. So much of the dialogue just falls flat because there is no heart to it. It had such a boilerplate nothingness to it. The cast is bringing these moments to life, but you can tell in places that they have to throw everything at it because they are being given nothing to work with. This also leads to some awkward structural issues where all the seams don’t quite fit together. Tonally, they are aiming for a brooding political thriller like Winter Soldier, and while they are dancing in that area, it is clear they didn’t quite hit the mark.   

This leads us to the central plot device of this film. I am glad that someone is finally dealing with the Celestial that popped out of the Earth in the Eternals, which was, checks notes, all the way back in 2021. Also, fine, this is how we get adamantium, sure, okay. However, the countries fighting over the islands are France, America, Japan, and India, and that makes no geopolitical sense in any shape or form. I get it for business reasons or just not wanting to add to the fire that is China-US relations now that you didn’t want to pit them as the bad guys. However, only China and America can forward project in that region to the extent that they could be land grabbing over other Indian Ocean powers. I say this because that narrative dissidence always impacts the film, and heck, even the Eternals name-dropped better candidates like Australia. It is like they wanted the cherry blossoms in Washington, DC and worked back from that. But that is a choice that works in only one market. Okay, maybe I am just annoyed because they still have not put the islands on a map, seriously, they almost did it here but then they had to shoot the president.

In the end, do we recommend Captain America: Brave New World? Look, it is not the worst film I have seen in the past year, or even in the MCU, which, given their spotty record recently, is good to see. While it is clear that it had a troubled production, at least it all came together in the end, sort of. But a rampaging Hulk does seem to smooth over several frayed surfaces. Have you watched Captain America: Brave New World? Let us know what you thought in the comments below. If you liked Captain America: Brave New World, we would recommend to you The Marvels.

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

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Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Captain America: Brave New World
Directed by – Julius Onah
Screenplay by – Rob Edwards, Malcolm Spellman, Dalan Musson, Julius Onah & Peter Glanz
Story by – Rob Edwards, Malcolm Spellman & Dalan Musson
Based on – Marvel Comics
Music by – Laura Karpman
Cinematography by – Kramer Morgenthau
Edited by – Matthew Schmidt & Madeleine Gavin
Production/Distribution Companies – Marvel Studios & Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Starring – Anthony Mackie, Danny Ramirez, Carl Lumbly, Shira Haas, Xosha Roquemore, Giancarlo Esposito, Tim Blake Nelson, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson, Takehiro Hira, William Mark McCullough, Liv Tyler, Sebastian Stan & Harrison Ford with Harsh Nayyar, Rick Espaillat, Alan Boell, John Cihangir, Eric Mbanda, Josh Robin, Sharon Tazewell & Rosa Salazar  
Rating  – Australia: M; Canada: PG; Germany: 12; New Zealand: M; United Kingdom: 12A; United States: PG-13