Movie Review: Captain America: Brave New World
Captain America: Brave New World, the latest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is a conflicting watch because depending on how you view the film, you might love it or hate it. You will enjoy the film if you watch it from the view of a basic MCU sequel. But the film has an overly political message that if you look into it deeper than just surface-level it bogs down the viewing experience.
Since 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, the MCU has struggled to get its footing. Though there have been eleven movies and nine shows during this time, the long-running cinematic universe has failed to establish an exciting and new over-arching story plot, like the Thanos one previously. We were thrown all over the multiverse, were introduced to several new characters, like Shang-Chi and the Eternals, who we haven’t heard from since, got sequels from Spider-Man and Doctor Strange, and even welcomed Deadpool and Fox universe into the MCU. But the universe as a whole has felt directionless, leaving us easter eggs and introducing us to characters we will probably never see again (remember Charlize Theron at the end of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness? What’s she up to?)
Watching Captain America: Brave New World felt like I was watching a pre-Endgame MCU movie, though not a top-tier one. Like those films, Brave New World functions on three story levels. It has a character story, this one focusing on Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) as our new Captain America who is struggling with the idea of filling Steve Rogers’s shoes, as well as his troubled relationship with Thadeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (Harrison Ford, replacing the late William Hurt), who was recently elected President of the United States. It has plots within the film, which centers around an assassination attempt on Ross by Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly), a super soldier experimented on by the American government, which was set up by the devious Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson, making his return to the MCU after only appearing in 2008’s The Incredible Hulk). And it expands the MCU more, bringing back old characters and story beats, introducing us to new ones, and adding elements that we can potentially see in future MCU films.
This is how I mostly viewed the film and on this level Captain America: Brave New World is entertaining. The action is exciting, particularly the opening action sequence which is a showcase for Wilson to show how awesome he is as a hero. He has a fancy new suit from the Wakandans, he leads task forces, and, unlike Steve Rogers, he hasn’t taken a super serum, which elevates the fight scenes just a little bit knowing that Wilson isn’t a super soldier. I also enjoyed seeing Ross turn into Red Hulk, which looked awesome and led to destructive chaos, as most Hulk fights do. I enjoyed the return of certain characters and the callbacks to previous films, most notably the Celestial being that’s been in the Indian Ocean since Eternals, which I’m glad they finally brought up. And it felt like this was a step towards something bigger with the MCU, particularly the post-credit scene, which is very ominous but intriguing.
Where Captain America: Brave New World falters is in its political messaging, which is well-intentioned but ultimately doesn’t land. While the MCU has never been the cinematic franchise to go to for political messaging, it’s clear that Brave New World wants to say something but is too scared to do so. The film touches on themes of unity in a divided country as well as the idea of a Black superhero being the face of a nation that has not been historically kind to Black people or Black heroes. These are tough but important subjects, especially for a franchise like the MCU to tackle. I have no problem with them trying to tackle topical issues, but if they are going to bring them up, there needs to be a point behind it all. Brave New World is scared to pick a side. It brings up these issues and makes them too prominent in the film’s plot to go unnoticed but doesn’t say anything profound or interesting about them.
By the end of Brave New World, it felt like Marvel was asking, “Can’t we all just get along?” Let’s ignore our differences and come together because that’s when we’re the strongest. It’s a good message, but sometimes the issues are big enough that simply asking the audience to push their differences aside won’t do anything, especially when the issues aren’t fleshed out or have any actual resolution. If Marvel wants to add more messaging into their films, it needs to be with conviction and not just splitting the difference.
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