With a new year comes yet another entry in Marvel's ever-growing cinematic universe. In time for Valentine's Day and black history month, "Captain America: Brave New World" answers the call for a new MCU entry for fans to chew on. After a rough production history with this film had been exposed, there's been plenty of skepticism and overall disappointment with this title following in its wake. As for where I stand, this film strikes me as one of those entries where both everything and nothing are happening at the same time.
"Brave New World" is a defining example of a film where the usual amount of action you expect from an MCU entry is here, but none of it resonates like it should. Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) is the new Captain America, after the events of the TV series "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier". Working with Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford, taking over for the late William Hurt) who's now become the new U.S. president, Sam goes on missions designed to help Ross' political duties and goals come to pass, regardless if he agrees or not.
When an attempt is made on Ross' life that frames formerly unknown super-soldier Bradley (Carl Lumbly) to prosecution, Sam is determined to investigate and attempt to clear Bradley's name, Ross' disapproval and all. A manipulative antagonist pulling the strings is revealed. Sam, with the help of newer allies, defends his country against foreign opposition. And the marketing team for this film made the serious mistake of spoiling the big matchup between Captain America and the Red Hulk. Considering this is our climax, that blunder is hard to ignore.
To be fair, that's not the only element at fault here. If this strikes you as a film that isn't welcoming to newcomers to the MCU, that's because you're correct. Plenty of homework needs to be done to know or appreciate what ensues within this film, a trend that continues to get tiring with each new MCU offering. Hence why some folks like myself need a break from this universe. When you're relying on more mediocre films than great ones to understand "Brave New World", that's not going to motivate us to invest in the future of the MCU saga.
This theory applies double when this film recycles a weak antagonist from a previous MCU offering, a similar flaw that "Captain Marvel" also made a grave mistake in doing. The makeup on aforementioned antagonist isn't very good either. With the exception of the Red Hulk, the visual effects are typically generic and unconvincing just like other Marvel projects as of late. There's a notably awkward edit with Mackie delivering a brief monologue where a glaring continuity error rears its....shall we say, bald head. So the film's presentation is highly underwhelming.
The most disappointing part about "Brave New World" is that I didn't find anything to get me excited for these character's futures in upcoming installments. That's a big flaw considering that the next "Avengers" film is scheduled to release next year. Danny Ramirez as Falcon wore out his welcome with an overbearing reliance on typical MCU humor. Shira Haas as a former Black Widow named Ruth was very bland and wooden in her role. Something about her in hand to hand melee combat with enemies didn't feel that natural to me.
There are small cameos of other MCU characters to be found here. But when they are this underwhelming in the final product, that is a huge sin for an MCU film to make. The shortcomings with this narrative are a shame, since there are elements in this story that could be promising. For example, the most interesting arc in "Brave New World" belongs to Bradley. Thanks to Carl Lumbly's work, you see the pain and anger inside of Bradley over his newfound predicament that Sam is looking into dismantling.
Although his appearance is brief, I also found Giancarlo Esposito was turning in good work with his otherwise confusing role here. I also saw potential in the arc of Ross, whose political struggles with carrying out his plan and a growing health concern have internal and external conflict. There are story elements in here that can work. They just need to be backed up by a polished execution in terms of its writing, direction and editing. And as you guessed, that is where the film loses its way. Much of this film feels disjointed and fragmented.
Almost 11 years later, I'm still thinking back to "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" and a line Steve Rogers says to Nick Fury. He outright declares, "This isn't freedom. This is fear." Everything that followed in that story gave that quote additional meaning and substance, because it had a firm focus and vision for what it set out to do. Within a few hours after watching this film however, more questions keep manifesting than can be answered in a reasonable amount of time. 90% of said questions basically boil down to one: what was this all about?
The more I thought about this film after I saw it, the quicker I realized that I don't know what we're intended to take away from this story even after an explanation. This empty feeling only adds to this film's production issues making more sense. What are we supposed to be expecting from this universe going forward? I'm not sure that even Marvel knows, if this film is anything to go by. In able for the MCU to be part of this "Brave New World", then much like our education system, it needs to do much more than keep giving us homework.
Final Verdict: 5.5/10
One more thing, Marvel. If you're going to keep doing these post-credits scenes, make them worth our while again. Ever since "Avengers: Endgame", these post-credits scenes have been a waste of time. We don't receive buildup to future films of any kind as we did in the past. We're given a throw away gag or scene that could've easily been skipped. If I don't see tweaks to these soon, I will intentionally skip them. I don't care what great payoff they're setting up. If I see another bad post-credits scene, I will stop seeing them. Enough is enough.
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