2025 | PG-13 | 118 mins | Directed by Julius Onah
The newest movie from Marvel has a lot on its plate. Between some behind the scenes issues involving reshoots and script rewrites to trying to introduce audiences to a new Captain America, the odds have not been in their favor. Fortunately, enough, Captain America: Brave New World manages to be an entertaining outing despite not reaching the heights of some of the previous entries in the MCU. Director Julius Onah takes over behind the camera and is able to put together a surprisingly straightforward movie which is a rare sight for a Marvel movie.
Anthony Mackie steps into the role of Captain America and is able to make it his own. Over the years he has done a great job of playing Sam Wilson and him as Falcon has been one of the better secondary characters in the MCU. Now getting to see him take on a lead role and get his chance to shine, Mackie gives one of his best performances to date. As the movie points out, Sam is not Steve Rodgers and Sam knows that he must work that much harder to prove that he is worthy of taking over the shield. The movie does a good job of showing Sam struggling at times in this new role and it adds so much more to his character.
Along with Mackie, the supporting cast does a good job in their respective roles. Bringing in Harrison Ford to play President Ross was a great choice. The back and forth between him and Mackie is a highlight of the movie and Ford does a job filling in for the late William Hurt. Coming over from The Falcon and The Winter Soldier Disney+ series are Carl Lumbly, who plays Isaiah Bradley, and Danny Ramirez as Joaquin Torres. Lumbly, once again, does a fantastic job as Bradley. He is able to bring a lot of heart to the movie and he is a great role model for Sam. The character of Joaquin gets fleshed out more here than he did in the streaming series and Ramirez works so well off the other cast members. Watching Mackie, Lumbly and Ramirez together make for some of the funnier moments in the movie.
There are numerous action sequences throughout and, for the most part, they work well. At times there are some moments of spotty CGI. In certain scenes it is also clear of moments that feel like they were part of the reshoots. With that being said, the rest of the action set pieces are quite entertaining. Seeing Sam fly in his new suit and using some of its new capabilities is fun to watch. Some scenes involve a lot of hand-to-hand combat and it is nice to see as it feels like most of these MCU movies have gotten away from that.
The biggest downfall of the movie is in the villain department. This movie acts as a semi-sequel to 2008's The Incredible Hulk. Samuel Sterns, played by Tim Blake Nelson, returns and has been infected by the gamma radiation from Bruce Banner's blood. While Nelson does what he can in the role his character never feels fully fleshed out. His motive is there but his plan ultimately feels like it doesn't amount to much, leaving the ending kind of feeling a little anticlimactic. There are some good moments when Sterns eventually unleashes Ross as the Red Hulk, however, what you see in the trailers is the extent of what you see of that character.
While Captain America: Brave New World has some issues and could have used a stronger villain, the good moments are able to lift the movie above its flaws. Setting the story up as a political thriller gives this a similar feeling to Captain America: The Winter Soldier. This movie never quite reaches the same level as that movie, but it is nice to see something much more grounded than all the magic and wizardry that Marvel has been putting out in most of their recent projects. Add some good action sequences and good performances from the cast and this is a worthy entry to this franchise.
Grade: B-
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