Captain America: Brave New World

Considering the fact that the Captain America films have produced two of the best MCU films in Winter Soldier and Civil War, it is a shame that we are now left with this thoroughly mediocre and lazy fourth instalment.

Firstly, this film requires you to recall the events of a movie that came out in 2008. If you don't remember the events of this film, don't worry, as Brave New World is chock full of clunky exposition. It also requires you to remember the events of a show that came out in 2021. Without remembering some of these details, certain plot points just lose all their impact and don't carry much weight. Maybe my memory isn't what it used to be, and maybe I should have rewatched The Incredible Hulk and Falcon and the Winter Soldier before watching this, but who has the time for that.

Even ignoring these links to previous MCU instalments, the whole plot still feels incredibly messy and all over the place. There is a random collection of new characters all of whom get zero character development. Even Sam Wilson, Cap himself, gets no real development or journey in this film. It's an incredibly bland portrayal of the character, which is a shame given the great journey Steve Rodgers had. Anthony Mackie and Sam Wilson deserves more from his solo projects. Once you muddle through the clumsy link back the Eternals, and the overarching plot that links to The Incredible Hulk, you are still left trying to grapple with other bizarre aspects of the film. Why was a character seemingly central to the story like Sidewinder only added in reshoots? They can spin as much yarn as they like about the reshoots not being material to the film, but they clearly weren't happy with what they had in the can when they finished principal photography and it shows. The plot also felt very fragmented and choppy. Somehow it managed to feel convoluted yet mindlessly simple at the same time. Quite the achievement.

Now I will put my positive hat on briefly as there are some good points to this film. Despite being given very little to work with, Anthony Mackie puts in a good performance as Cap. It's clear that he could nail this role if the writing wasn't so poor, so I hope this improves for future outings. His chemistry with the new Falcon is pretty solid and there's some promise there. I do also think the final action scene is suitably chaotic, even if it does fizzle out, and the action throughout is all decent enough if nothing remarkable.

Ultimately though I really do think that Marvel has just hit a brick wall. With each film that passes, it becomes more and more apparent that Endgame was the obvious end point. The franchise should have taken a hiatus then kicked off again with a whole new cast and a whole new set of stories. It's a shame as Mackie has been let down by a poor film and poor overall franchise direction, but for Marvel diehards this film will be watchable enough.

I found myself extremely disappointed. Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson and Harrison Ford as Ross, both fails to capture the essence that made its predecessors compelling.

Although Ford is better than the charismatic vaccum that is "Do Better" Cap.

The narrative is a convoluted mess, attempting to juggle political intrigue with superhero action, but succeeding in neither.

No tension, thrill, no excitement. The action felt tedious to follow.

It's as if the writers threw together a series of tropes without any regard for coherence or originality.

Mackie's portrayal of Sam Wilson lacks the charisma and gravitas needed for the mantle of Cap.

His performance is wooden and uninspired, making it difficult to invest in his character's journey. Plus we have to act as if we care for his sidekick...the new falcon... didn't bother to learn his name.

Ford, usually a powerhouse, seems disinterested and it's obvious he came to collect a paycheck. Plus why would you cast a 80 plus nearby to grave for a character that is properly re introduced.

The film's pacing is atrocious, dragging in parts where it should be thrilling and rushing through moments that could have provided emotional resonance.

The action sequences are uninspired, lacking the creativity and excitement that we expect.

As usual the secondary or primary ( depends how you see it) antagonist is worthless whereas if used correctly he could have been a seriously dangerous threat. Earth's mightiest heroes the tv series had awesome portrayal of the character in a handful of episodes.

The VFX is trash with several scenes appearing blatantly artificial. The cinematography is uninspired, failing to capture any memorable or striking imagery.

Save your time and money; this is one superhero flick that's not worth the watch.

I just saw this in IMAX, and the quality was so bad we really thought something was wrong. It looked like an old VHS-copy. Anyone else experienced this?

The middle of the movie was kinda of okay. But the movie was kinda of pointless besides introducing the red hulk for the thunderbolts (which no doubt is gonna be a pretty pointless movie for the multiverse saga).

The movie also has one of the most dissapointing cameos of all time. I heard like 1 or 2 people go "oooh" in a way that almost felt ironic.

Red hulk and sam wilson were great, the rest of the films characters were just boring. 1 2 3 4 5.

Man, I remember a time when the MCU was good. Like, really good. Now, I feel nothing. This film got nothing out of me. Not hatred, not love, not even a whiff. Just nothing. Let's get this over with.

The performances were alright. Harrison Ford was definitely the standout in this film. I was expecting him to just phone it in, but he actually puts in the work. Not his best work, but enough to make me like his version of Thaddeus Ross. Anthony Mackie is great as always, but is honestly given very little. I'm not entirely sure Sam had a character arc outside of one scene late into the film and even that is just rehashing what happened in a D+ show. Giancarlo Esposito was absolutely wasted. Clearly added in later and could easily be cut.

As for the plot, there's nothing new here I'm afraid. It feels like this film's only purpose was to introduce Adamantium to the MCU. The antagonist is terrible, they try to connect it to earlier MCU entries but no one is really going to remember. This film was clearly altered from what it originally was. It's difficult to talk about honestly, because it feels like there's nothing here. The film wants to be an espionage thriller like Winter Soldier, but lacks the tonal consistency, tight pacing and writing to even come close.

But what about the action? It isn't great. The hand to hand combat looks sluggish and poorly edited. There's a good amount of that throughout. The CGI ranges from decent to downright terrible. It all rings hollow.

So yeah, it's probably not the worst thing the MCU has put out, but it certainly isn't far above it. I can't bring myself to hate this film, because it is ultimately nothing. A waste of time.

Brave New World left me with a feeling of disappointment, summed up in one word: forgettable. Throughout the film, I struggled to find any new or exciting scenes that we haven't already seen in the MCU. In fact, I caught myself nodding off a couple of times due to the lack of engagement and investment in the characters. Danny Ramírez's character managed to deliver a couple of amusing lines, though I can't remember what they were. Despite this, he was the only character I found myself rooting for.

The one thing that could have been a surprise would have been Harrison Ford's character transformation. But of course, they decided to spoil it in the trailer, why?!!!

The future doesn't look bright for Marvel films. Where have the good old days gone?