Brave New World: Not bad, but not great
Title: Captain America: Brave New World
Release date: Feb 14, 2025
Duration: 1 hour 58 minutes
Director: Julius Onah
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Danny Ramirez, Shira Haas, Carl Lumbly, Xosha Roquemore, with Giancarlo Esposito, Liv Tyler, Tim Blake Nelson, and Harrison Ford
Genre: Action-Adventure
Rating: PG-13
Score: ✓✓✓
With Steve Rogers presumably somewhere in a retirement home, Sam Wilson gets his first outing as the new Captain America.
With his vibranium-upgraded wings and the iconic shield, he takes on the Red Hulk, a rage-induced monster created by The Leader, a mutated scientist that - wait, this was supposed to be a thriller?
After meeting with newly elected US President Thaddeus Ross (Ford), Sam (Mackie) finds himself in the middle of an international incident, where he must find the true mastermind before the whole world starts seeing red.
HITS
Acting
Anthony Mackie brings a gritty and much less charismatic Captain America, while Danny Ramirez, the successor to Mackie's Falcon, does chip in with a few quips but doesn't offer much else.
Shira Haas, who plays Ruth Bat-Seraph, the president's head of security, also doesn't bring much to the table and is kind of just there.
Harrison Ford plays the role of a wartime general-turned-president decently. Although at times he may appear a bit frail, he does convey the image of a father trying to prove himself to his daughter quite well.
The best performance, however (totally unbiased), comes from Giancarlo Esposito, despite his limited screen time. He portrays a ruthless and driven mercenary, reminiscent of Anton Castillo, a cruel dictator in the video game Far Cry 6.
Production Value
As expected from a Marvel film, a lot of work was put into the costumes, the backgrounds, and various designs.
I particularly liked the aerial scenes, of which there were quite a few given that Mackie's character can fly. I felt that they were executed brilliantly.
Although the CGI was a bit out of place at times, overall the movie looked well put together in terms of production.
Audience Appeal
Marvel movies have always had a huge following, even recently when some movies were underwhelming.
Captain America: Brave New World offers fans answers to events after Endgame and The Eternals, with one of the plot points being a conflict over the Celestial seen in The Eternals.
While it isn't exactly a groundbreaking film, it does make for decent viewing and has more grounded characters without magical powers that can make you fall asleep for 30 minutes, if that is your cup of tea.
MISSES
Storyline
The Captain America films have been, personally, some of the best Marvel movies ever released. Captain America: Brave New World isn't one of those, but it is not one of the worst.
Despite being called a thriller, most of those aspects seem pretty clear-cut and obvious, and Nelson's The Leader gets boring quickly when half the time all he says is "I'm smarter than you," despite being the mastermind behind everything.
The redeeming factor is the story of Ford's character, Thaddeus Ross, aka the "Hulk Hunter," a man trying to prove himself to his daughter after sending the military after her boyfriend.
Wrecked by internal conflict, we see him turn to dark figures for answers, before cruelly turning into a Hulk himself in the film's climax.
Direction
The slow pan does get old after a while. Apart from that, there really isn't anything else that is spectacular or bad.
Julius Onah does deliver a watchable movie, though not something extraordinary, which, to be fair to him, the previous Marvel films have set a high standard (except the last few).
IS IT WORTH A WATCH?
While not very exciting, it isn't terrible either, so it unfortunately ends up in the category of movies to watch while on a plane or if you have nothing else to do.
If you are a Marvel fan and want to know what the world is like now after Endgame, you should definitely give it a watch.