Marvel Studios has had one of the most successful franchises in cinematic history, but the famed production company hit a speed bump when Bob Chapek took over Disney and forced Marvel to pump out content at a rate that sacrificed quality for quantity. The results were mixed, with poorly received films such as The Marvels, The Eternals, Thor: Love and Thunder, and more. Captain America: Brave New World is one of the last two films created under the Chapek era, and it shows.
Brave New World follows the events of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Disney Plus series, with newly christened Captain America, Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie). He must work alongside the new Falcon, Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez), to thwart a threat to world peace. In many ways this film also serves as a sequel to The Incredible Hulk, and The Eternals, so if you haven’t seen those movies, you may not get as much out of Brave New World.
It was widely reported that Brave New World went through extensive reshoots, and that does seem to have negatively impacted the final product in some ways. The Serpent Society has a role to play in the movie, but only the Marvel Comics faithful would know that. Sidewinder (Giancarlo Esposito) comes and goes, and is referred to as Sidewinder, but there’s no context for what that name means, how he got it, or why he’s even in the movie. Ruth Bat-Seraph (Shira Haas) is in a similar boat, with no real connection to her comic character, Sabra, despite what seems to be remnants of a full reveal left in the script.
The action sequences in Brave New World are a bit of a mixed bag. Much of the aerial combat is fast, fluid, and entertaining. However, the close quarters combat suffers, especially when compared to films like Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Where the film truly falters is in the stakes, and the characters involved. Joaquin Torres is meant to essentially be the Bucky (Sebastian Stan) to Sam Wilson’s Cap, but the character isn’t built up enough to matter.
Bucky was featured heavily in Captain America: The First Avenger as a close connection to Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), so by the time audiences got to the sequel, you cared what happened to him. Joaquin Torres was only in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and didn’t have a very prominent role, so by the time we get to Brave New World, he’s not an important character by default. Yet, the film does little to make him important, and just assumes you know who he is and why he and Sam are close.
While technically world peace is on the line in Brave New World, it doesn’t really feel that way. Winter Soldier did a much better job building and maintaining the suspense, and keeping audiences on the edge of their seats. Brave New World has many of the same beats already seen in Winter Soldier (as well as Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and Black Widow…) but the stakes aren’t as high, and the characters aren’t significant enough to provide a substantial emotional impact.
For existing Marvel fans, Captain America: Brave New World feels like more of the same, with less impact. Anthony Mackie delivers a sharp performance as Sam Wilson, and Harrison Ford was much better here compared to the last Indiana Jones film. Carl Lumbly also does what he can with somewhat limited screen time as Isaiah Bradley, but Giancarlo Esposito is mostly wasted potential, and the rest of the cast don’t have much impact on the film.
Comic enthusiasts may be disappointed in how Red Hulk is portrayed, but anyone not familiar with the comic version of the character shouldn’t have too much of an issue with the MCU version. In that same token, those who have followed the Marvel Cinematic Universe for some time will likely find Brave New World to just be okay, but for newcomers it’s an above average action film, just not amazing by any means. There’s one post-credits scene at the very end, which like the film as a whole, isn’t very impactful.
About Captain America: Brave New World
Synopsis: Sam Wilson, the new Captain America, finds himself in the middle of an international incident and must discover the motive behind a nefarious global plan.
Director: Julius Onah
Writers: Rob Edwards, Malcolm Spellman, Dalan Musson, Julius Onah, Peter Glanz
Stars: Anthony Mackie, Harrison Ford, Danny Ramirez, Carl Lumbly, Shira Haas
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 1 Hour, 58 Minutes
Bryan Dawson has been writing professionally since the age of 13. He started his career as a video game writer and has since worked for Random House, Prima Games, DirecTV, IGN, AOL, the British Government, and various other organizations. For GNN, Bryan taps into his passion for movies.
- Bryan Dawsonhttps://geeknewsnetwork.net/author/bdawson1/
- Bryan Dawsonhttps://geeknewsnetwork.net/author/bdawson1/
- Bryan Dawsonhttps://geeknewsnetwork.net/author/bdawson1/
- Bryan Dawsonhttps://geeknewsnetwork.net/author/bdawson1/
