Marvel's newest addition to the MCU falls flat

Captain America's "Brave New World" does little to advance the Marvel universe

Marvel has been directionless since the climatic success of “Endgame,” which was the masterful result of decades of intentional planning and character development. Since the conclusion of the infinity stone movies, and then the unfortunate abandonment of the Kang the Conqueror plotlines that were thwarted when actor Jonathon Majors was convicted of assault, Marvel movies have been random and flat.

I went to the theaters to see “Captain America: Brave New World” with the hope that this movie would be different from disappointments like “Madame Webb” and “The Marvels.”  I had full faith in Anthony Mackie’s ability to play the new Captain America, Sam Wilson, and I was excited about the political conundrums meant to drive the action. However, the movie’s politics were almost too simple, and Sam Wilson somehow felt like a side character in his own film.

Basically, this is the concept of “Brave New World:” Harrison Ford takes over the role of Thaddeus Ross, who was played by the late William Hurt in 2008’s “Incredible Hulk” – you, know, the most unseen MCU movie in existence. Ross has become the President of the United States, and he’s struggling between his past and his desire to be redeemed in the eyes of his daughter (who is the hulk’s ex-girlfriend). Meanwhile, Captain America investigates an attempted assassination of Ross in hopes of clearing the name of his long-time friend, Isaiah Bradley (played by Carl Lumbly).

The most annoying aspect of this movie, which leaves it miles behind others in terms of quality, is that it attempts to emulate the type of chemistry between characters that pre-Endgame movies spent years and years developing. I was astonished to realize a character I thought was new had a well-defined relationship with Captain America in the 2021 miniseries “The Falcon and The Winter Soldier,” so maybe I missed some of the subtler emotional elements of their relationship, but the history didn’t come across on the screen.

“Brave New World” is two-hours long, and not much happened in the grand scheme of the MCU. After reading a summary of “The Falcon and The Winter Soldier,” it seems this movie is a continuation of the emotional dilemmas – “am I good enough?” – Captain America was facing in the show, except there still wasn’t a clear resolution.

Also, the fight scenes, except for maybe one, were poorly executed. Sam Wilson, who doesn’t have powers, would regularly defeat an entire room of soldiers just to almost be taken down by one regular man. He was also repeatedly going into battle without his armor or rushing into highly-secured buildings with no plan – it just didn’t make sense. Great, he can throw a shield. Marvel, I know you can be more creative than that.

Despite it all, Mackie does give an excellent performance. I simply wish Marvel had better played his strengths.

A redeeming character in the film is Captain America’s right-hand-man of three years, Joaquin Torres (played by Danny Ramirez), who is charming, handsome and hilariously quippy. Carl Lumbly’s performance of Isaiah Bradley is also fantastic – his story is one of unjust imprisonment – and it was heart-wrenching. His arc in the film made a compelling statement relevant to today’s society.

Unfortunately, it was probably the only plotline related to politics that was gracefully done.

I don’t want to go into spoilers, but I personally believe the nationalism and dedication Captain America shows to Ross is not justifiable. The movie exposes evil deed after evil deed Ross has committed, and while he does end up with repercussions, the pushed idea is that Ross is absolved because he wanted to change (but didn’t really) –maybe Harrison Ford is just too charming of an actor to play a villain like this.  

The film is somewhat tone deaf, and it’s made all the worse by the political controversary that started before the release. I’m referring to how Marvel chose to significantly cut down the role of Ruth Bat-Seraph (played by Shira Haas), a former Black Widow and an Israeli superhero known as Sabra, over criticism about the Israel-Palestine conflict. Her part was so watered down, it didn’t make sense for her to be in the movie anymore, as the audience doesn’t get the chance to connect with her – she’s just another element to cloud up the plot.

“Captain America: Brave New World” is not the worst Marvel movie ever: it has diversity, emotion, fantastic actors and characters, but, with its poor execution, it can only be described as mediocre.

Rating: 5.5/10.