Captain America: Brave New World. A Review

CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD

Is there anything left in the Marvel Cinematic Universe after thirty-five feature films and numerous television series?  How much more can the world's longest and most expensive soap opera give those who have remained steadfast and loyal to the decades-long franchise? Captain America: Brave New World is neither the disaster its detractors insist that it is nor a return to form the MCU shills and fanboys insist that it is. It is serviceable, disposable, forgettable.

Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) is still wielding the shield of Captain America, though as a black man, that is still something that he struggles with. This is especially true given the past history of his friend, Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly), a hereto unknown super-soldier during the Korean War who was shafted due to racism. 

At least I think that is the gist of it since I did not watch the Disney+ show The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. 

There seems to be a rapprochement between Wilson and the new President, his former enemy Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford, replacing the late William Hurt). Ross is on the cusp of having a major treaty between the U.S., France, India and Japan to share Celestial Island, a massive body of land created during the events of Eternals. The island is filled with adamantium, a substance more powerful than vibranium, which is being horded by "an isolationist country" according to Ross. Fine way to talk about Wakanda, Thad.

As a side note, Eternals was released in 2021, so good luck remembering details from a film that flopped four years ago. 

However, there is evil at work determined to undermine this multilateral treaty. It even goes to an attempted assassination of President Ross, with Bradley being one of the hitmen. Could he be attempting revenge for his past imprisonment or was he brainwashed? Who wants to bring about worldwide destruction, and why? With his plucky sidekick Joaquin Torres, the new Falcon (Danny Ramirez), Captain America must fight against the villainous Serpent Society and its head, Sidewinder (Giancarlo Esposito). 

He, however, is merely a hired gun for the real mastermind, Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson). The gamma rays that brought about The Incredible Hulk did not affect Sterns' body but his mind, which Ross has been exploiting for his own purposes. Will Sterns be able to take a shocking revenge on his rival? Will Japan and the U.S. return to war? 

Perhaps it is best to remember that Captain America: Brave New World ties into events from a streaming television series that was made about three years ago, one film that was made four years ago, and another film that was made seventeen years ago. Those are the ones that I can remember, so I cannot vouch if other MCU films or television series were part of Brave New World's overall plot. 

The introduction of Samuel Sterns as this blend of Kevin McDonald's Medulla from Sky High and Sprout from the Green Giant commercials is simply going to go over most people's heads. I would not know who Samuel Sterns is, let alone remember anything about him from The Incredible Hulk. I literally had to look up my The Incredible Hulk review to see if Nelson was even in the film, let alone what his role was. That is the risk for this franchise, that is now so bogged down by its history that one needs an almost encyclopedian memory to know every nuance of whatever the five credited screenwriters cobbled together.

Ramirez/Falcon II and Isaiah Bradley were introduced in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. If you didn't see that show, you run the risk of being a bit lost in Brave New World. Given that I went to see Brave New World at the Alamo Drafthouse which had a preshow containing a wry "Previously On"-type recap, I was not lost. If, however, you opted out of Falcon and Winter Soldier and/or forgot/did not see The Incredible Hulk, you might be scratching your head.

Moreover, you might not end up actually caring about any of the supposed stakes in Brave New World. Somehow, one would think that a war between Japan and the United States would be more tense and gripping. Same for when President Ross is almost assassinated before an international gathering. Also same for when President Ross becomes the Red Hulk and wreaks havoc on Washington, D.C. Here, all of it was nothing. 

Brave New World was plagued with production issues. I believe the film was reshot not once but twice, maybe even three times. I think the somewhat jumbled manner to Brave New World is on the screen. Esposito was in three scenes and seemed rather unimportant to things. Nelson, despite being meant as the main antagonist, was pretty absent for most of Brave New World. 

The nicest thing that I can say about Brave New World is that "everyone tried". I think all the actors tried to make their individual characters work. Mackie, to be fair, was rather humorless in Brave New World, which perhaps explains Ramirez's efforts to lighten things. Ford was shaky: bad in his opening scene, good when confronting Wilson, shifting between the two when attempting to stop the Japanese from going to war.

As a side note, the idea that Japan and the United States would go to war over the Celestial Island seems a curious one. Even if one rolled with it, it never felt as if there was a serious threat of total destruction despite Brave New World's efforts. 

The hodgepodge nature of Brave New World was such that such elements as Bradley's second incarceration (the first being from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) and Shira Haas as Ross' Israeli-born security advisor Ruth Bat-Seraph felt as if they were left over from past drafts and versions. Haas, whom I described in my notes as a "midget", was meant to be I figure a powerful figure. We are told that she was a former Black Widow, so that might explain why she was able to take down men who are giants compared to her. It still looks curious to see the 5'2" woman able to bring down big men. It would be like believing that NCIS: Los Angeles' Linda Hunt could take down Reacher's Alan Richson, but again, fine, we'll roll with it.

It is harder to roll with the idea that Bat-Seraph is important to Brave New World, let alone important enough to end up friends with Bradley. 

Captain America: Brave New World stumbled onto film screens when it would have perhaps worked better on Disney+. Is it terrible? No. It is wonderful? Again, no. It just is. Captain America: Brave New World is neither brave nor new. It is something to have playing in the background as you go about your day.

DECISION: C+

Next MCU Film: Thunderbolts*