There’s a lot to like in the new Captain America: Brave New World. Anthony Mackie’s great run as the new Cap, a couple of fun cameos and a “this is how it’s done, folks” performance by Harrison Ford. But even with all of that, the film is just… fine. It ultimately feels like it’s a steppingstone, a placeholder to something bigger in the future.
Set a few years after the Disney+ series, The Falcon and Winter Soldier, Wilson is now working for the Government and wearing the mantle of Captain America like a champ. When the film opens, General Thaddeus Ross (Ford, taking over the role from the late William Hurt) has just been elected president and need Wilson to retrieve a top secret canister from Celestial Island – Hello callback from 2021’s The Eternals… and it’s about time they referenced that huge plot point.
Wilson enlists the new Falcon, Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez), who we met in the Disney+ series, to help and bring it back to the states.
After an attempt on Ross’ life, it discovered that it’s all one big setup from yet another long-ago character, Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson), who we last saw in 2008’s, The Incredible Hulk. Turns out Ross has kept him in prison since then and he’s super pissed and super smart, thanks to that gamma ray accident at the end of that film.
The new Cap is forced to race against time in a possible war with Japan while trying to stop Sterns from his years long plan to kill Ross.
Mackie’s great as you’d expect, and he carries the mantle of Captain America perfectly on his shoulders. Ramirez, who was another bright part of the Disney+ show, is equally good here too.
Ford has almost as much screen time as Mackie, and once you see the film, you’ll know why. If you grew up reading comics, Ross always had a mustache, just like he did when Hurt played him. When Ford took over the role, I was wondering why he didn’t sport a big shaggy as well. Early on we get a quick explanation as to why, which makes total sense, and I won’t spoil it. Plus, if you think about it, why would you pay Harrison Ford a boatload to be in a Marvel movie and have him in a bushy stache?
And I can’t tell you how much it is to finally see him turn into Red Hulk. He’s menacing, dangerous and deadly. Heck, it was great just to see a rampaging Hulk again in a Marvel film. The intelligent Hulk that Mark Ruffalo is playing now just isn’t the same.
Written by Rob Edwards, Malcolm Spellman, Dalan Musson, Peter Glanz and Julius Onah who also directed, the film is kind of meandering at times, no matter how good the actors are. The special effects were very good, but I was expecting more. In one of the episodes of The Falcon and Winter Soldier, there’s a shot of Wilson flying through the air in an extended sequence, and it just looked fantastic. We don’t get any of that here. It’s mostly quick cuts and dips and dives. It’s still good, but that one sequence in the TV show was absolutely brilliant, and I wish they brought more of that here. There are a couple of cameos that were a really fun surprise. But Anthony Mackie deserved better in his Captain America debut.
