Captain America: Brave New World

 

This review may contain spoilers!

Captain America: Brave New World is the 35th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the fourth Captain America movie. In this feature, political tensions boil over the 'Celestial Island' in the Indian Ocean, the source of a rare element known as 'adamantium'. A figure in the shadows pits Captain America and President Ross against one another as the world races towards a potential war.

I actually really admired the ambition of this film to lean into the political thriller genre style, it's a complex thing to weave into a major blockbuster. In the past, Marvel has successfully woven political thriller elements into other Captain America films, notably Winter Soldier and aspects of Civil War. Yet this feels like Black Widow's more contained nature despite the scale at play. I also really liked the mounting mystery at play here, there is an antagonist at work who pulls the strings and I enjoyed seeing the film steadily bring his machinations to the forefront. The mystery fuels the conflict brewing between the two American pillars in the film: Cap and President Ross. Watching this film really dig into Ross and analysing his character flaws, redemption and hubris is a substantially satisfying sub-plot.

The style of this movie is quite impressive, assaulting with dark colours, sudden flashes and harsh beiges to link into the genre work. Yet the way this film shoots action is entirely impressive, particularly the effects shot of the Indian Ocean aerial fight sequence and the Red Hulk final fight. The special effects are absolutely fantastic; I look again to the Indian Ocean fight sequence in which protagonists hurtled through the skies in bodysuits, fighter jets careened and aircraft carriers fired anti-missiles. I also loved the design for Red Hulk, it really rivalled what the MCU has been doing with the Hulk characters for years. The score here has the inspirational tones of a Captain America epic but with discordant tracks woven in to uplift the moments in which we steer focus to the antagonist's plan. The soundtrack has a few solid tracks too, the "Mr Blue" song weaves a good callback to a past film while the chosen Kendrick Lamar tracks really transition us to the new Cap nicely.

Anthony Mackie, who played Sam Wilson, is a phenomenal lead and a great new Captain America; the scenes in which Mackie has to reason against those he stands against are surprisingly some of his very best moments. Danny Ramirez, who played Joaquin Torres, was a sidekick figure I wasn't sure of at first but who really came to grow on me; Ramirez is extremely earnest and exuberant in this which makes him a rising hero worth watching. Carl Lumbly, who played Isaiah Bradley, is stoic and gruff which befits a super soldier whose country wronged him; where Lumbly really captures your heart is the misery he portrays when his character is faced with prison once again. Tim Blake Nelson, who played Samuel Sterns, is a delight to see back in this role after so many years; Nelson really pours the venom into his hatred for Ross while simultaneously crafting a character who feels like the smartest in a room. Sebastian Stan, who played Bucky Barnes, has incredible chemistry with Mackie that results in one of the better scenes in the film; Stan gives a very cool and steady pep talk while also allowing for friendly humour that fits the Barnes/Wilson dynamic nicely.

However, the best performance came from Harrison Ford, who played President Thaddeus Ross. There is something really respectful done by Ford in taking the role of Ross onwards from the late William Hurt. I found his deep regret and sorrow over his estrangement from his daughter, Betty, to be one of the more emotionally impactful moments of his performance. Ford's Ross is a man who has developed into a diplomatic politician, someone who seeks desperately to unify the world and his internal American allies. Yet, there is something immensely satisfying in watching Ford's natural gruff demeanour feed into Ross' mounting fits of anger. Seeing Ross spiral out of control as Sterns's manipulations become clear shows Ford's incredible range. The seeds are perfectly sown by Ford to Ross' transition into the Red Hulk; the character is so well realised that Ross' character journey is the fuel of success for the feature.

Captain America: Brave New World is a new venture for audiences; introducing a new Captain America, Adamantium and the political landscape post-Avengers: Endgame. I sat back and felt that this movie asked a lot from the viewing audience. This is the first time I have watched a Marvel movie and felt like I was watching something that expected a lot of prior knowledge. This movie is a sequel to three notable projects; Falcon and the Winter Soldier, The Incredible Hulk and Eternals. All of these blended together is quite an unusual and unexpected combo on paper and it is a jarring first act at times. This should be quite a grand-scale narrative due to the nature of the Celestial Island and the global resource war but it's often quite contained. The film keeps throttling itself into a more personal skirmish which inadvertently lowers the stakes. While there is a good mystery to be had here, the characters often feed information or are fed information relatively easily one scene after the other - this is a particular issue in the first half. Characters don't have to work hard to advance their understanding of the mystery which softens how engaging the introduction to the film is.

I'm used to the MCU movies being of a high calibre across the production, but this had one glaring point that was lacking for me. The fight sequences, lifted up by visual effects, are immensely satisfying, but the first half of this film has some disappointing fight choreography. Once the fights get hand-to-hand, they are paced extremely slowly, and the reliance on more regular slow-motion material to break up the sequence tells the audience the fights aren't going to be as slick as past instalments.

Shira Haas, who played Ruth Bat-Seraph, is about as unconvincing as you can get when it comes to depicting a former Black Widow; Haas' has a nasally delivery that makes her quite an annoying addition to the main cast. Giancarlo Esposito, who played Sidewinder, is an actor I usually love but he is absolutely wasted in this glorified henchman role; Esposito dashing about like a mercenary with a gun is quite underwhelming and poorly realised. Xosha Roquemore, who played Leila Taylor, feels like a presidential aide who isn't strictly needed to push the film forward; if she and Ford had held some chemistry there might have been something interesting but this wasn't the case. William Mark McCullough, who played Commander Dennis Dunphy, is a soldier-type role that's really just around to feed exposition; he was oddly placed to be accessible only to Captain America and otherwise, he served no purpose. Liv Tyler, who played Betty Ross, isn't really missed nor needed to fulfil the end of the film; Tyler seems to give an airy delivery that doesn't leave you wanting more of the Ross family dynamic.

A really decent blockbuster to kick 2025 off with, but perhaps not the best start for a new Captain America. I would give Captain America: Brave New World a 7/10.