Captain America: Brave New World - Review: A New Star-Spangled Man Takes Flight

 

As opposed to virtually every single other film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, “Captain America: Brave New World,” does not open with the flowing logos for Marvel Studios, showcasing a combination of clips from the previous MCU films and comic book panels of yesteryear. Instead, the fourth film centering on the role of the Star-Spangled Man and the first to have Sam Wilson, played by Anthony Mackie (“The Night Before,” “Twisted Metal”), take over the role, opens with simple black and white words over pensive strings. “MARVEL” appears first, then “STUDIOS,” then “PRESENTS,” each word appearing on its own.  

It’s a small way of signaling to the audience that this is a film with different goals than some of the previous works, a film committing to the espionage centered political thriller that the beloved “Winter Soldier” film also touched upon. It’s a smart move as well, as the film does touch upon plenty of political themes and espionage, but isn’t nearly as successful, or just frankly good, as Marvel’s last attempt to do so.  

The film follows Wilson taking over the mantle of Captain America full time after the events of “Avengers Endgame” and “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.” President of the United States Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, played by Harrison Ford (“Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “Shrinking”), is attempting to broker a treaty between various countries to share the resources discovered on “Celestial Island,” an island made of the remains of a Celestial being after its death on Earth in “Eternals (2021).” During an event to celebrate these talks, an attempt is made on the President’s life, which leads Wilson to attempt to piece together who orchestrated the plot, why they involved his friend and former super-soldier Isaiah Bradley, played by Carl Lumbly (“Justice League (2001),” “Alias”). 

Mackie’s charm continues to radiate throughout the film, just as much as it ever has. Whether he’s been Cap or the Falcon, he’s be a source of charisma without begetting seriousness. His characterization also helps to further establish the differences between his version of Cap and Chris Evans/Steve Rogers’s. He and Ford have some excellent banter and chemistry as well. Ford’s performance continues to show that, for as much as he might bemoan these films in interviews, he’s committed to the showmanship required for blockbuster filmmaking. He narrowly eeks out Mackie and cements himself as the absolute best part of the film. 

It makes sense that Mackie and Ford are the best parts of the film, as they’re not only the two leads but the two marquee characters. Unfortunately, the rest of the characters fade away and are almost completely overshadowed by the two leads. The script has clearly gone through plenty of rewrites, with this final version credited to Rob Edwards (“Treasure Planet,” “The Princess and the Frog”), Malcolm Spellman (“Our Family Wedding,” “Empire (2015)”), Dalan Musson (“See What I’m Saying,” “Iron Sky: The Coming Race”), Peter Glanz (“The Longest Week”), and the film’s director Julius Onah (“The Cloverfield Paradox,” “Luce”). Those drafts have unfortunately muddled what political intrigue the film clearly wants to build. 

The rest of the film’s characters come across as people filling out the cast, rather than naturally fitting into the plot. Wilson’s partner Joaquin Torres, played by Danny Ramirez (“Top Gun: Maverick,” “Chestnut (2023)”), takes over his Falcon role, and the pair bounce off each other well. Ruth Bat-Seraph, President Ross’s head of security, played by Shira Haas (“Bodies (2023),” “Asia (2020)”), feels like a copy-cat of what came before with Scarlet Johansson’s Black Widow, as if she was supposed to fit into the role pre-“Endgame.” Wilson’s friend and secret service agent Leila Taylor and nemesis Sidewinder, played by Xosha Roquemore (“Cherish the Day,” “The Mindy Project”) and Giancarlo Esposito (“Breaking Bad,” “Do the Right Thing”) respectively, are great when they’re here, but simply underutilized. The only one who manages the balance of emotional pathos and great use of screentime outside of Wilson and Ford is Lumbly, but even that comes mostly from the beginnings of his tale in the Disney+ show “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.” Tim Blake Nelson (“Holes,” “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs”), as Samuel Sterns, is also great, in a scenery-chewing kind of way, but is limited by the amount of screentime he has.  

Yes, there’s some poor timing with a film based around the President and this kind of political machinations, but beyond that, the mystery still manages to be engaging despite the muddled themes. Those character moments and ambiance are the film’s best aspect. What isn’t is the action sequences. In-between a bombastic opening and final battle, the hand-to-hand combat is lackluster. What was once a massive feather in the cap of the Cap films specifically feels like a watered-down afterthought. It bizarrely feels like it's playing at two-thirds speed compared to the other action scenes, and it suffers because of it. 

Thankfully, the technical aspects behind the production are top notch. While some green screened reshoots show their seams, the camerawork from cinematographer Kramer Morgenthau (“Creed III,” “The Many Saints of Newark”) is fantastic across the board. Numerous scenes play with the camera’s tilt and the use of empty space, in a similar vein to something like Mr. Robot. The more grounded nature of the Captain America films also means that there’s an overwhelmingly practical nature to this film, though it's not without its CGI spectacles. The musical score from Laura Karpman (“American Fiction,” “The Marvels”) is also a massive highlight, bringing in some subtly and uncomfortable espionage ladened strings to complement the bombastic themes for the action set pieces. 

Despite how underutilized some of its characters are and the hand-to-hand action, this latest adventure with Cap and Co. is a legitimately entertaining romp. When it zeroes in on the most mysterious and small-scale elements, it really works as a fun bit of MCU comfort food, neither rising to the heights of films like “Winter Soldier” nor falling to the depths of “Quantumania.” It's a solid adventure with clear room for improvement, but imminently watchable for anyone looking for a superhero fix more in line with the early MCU’s more grounded nature than the current glut of science-fiction, space opera, multiversal tales. 3.5/5