Captain America: Brave New World arrives forgotten and out of time. Already a week into release it feels like conversation has passed and moved on, in favour perhaps of the Oscars dominating film discussion circles. There was a time when Marvel films would dominate the charts for weeks – if not months on end – yet instead, we’re stuck with a laborious entry from Julius Onah, director of The Cloverfield Paradox, with a track record that doesn’t inspire confidence at all bringing to the table a film that doesn’t do justice to Anthony Mackie finally earning the role of Captain America; a well-earned status for a Marvel stalwart.
From the start, it feels like an odd choice for Brave New World to use a storyline about a new Captain America to act as a sequel to The Eternals and The Incredible Hulk, and it feels purely like a bridging the gap movie, wrapping up any loose ends in favour of establishing something new. The choice to make Harrison Ford’s Thaddeus Ross the Red Hulk be the antagonist dominates much of the film – it gives the chance for a character to be a stand-in for Trump; an aggressive, controlling president with anger issues – yet the film has nothing to say, instead preaching a message of togetherness that his President thrives on. It tries to match the conspiracy thriller of The Winter Soldier but never feels like it has the same energy, aside from the middle act set on Celestial Island – this feels like the film designed for the five people who were left wondering why the MCU doesn’t answer the question about why there is a giant Celestial ruin where there wasn’t before.
The film feels like it can’t answer what it wants to answer because The Falcon and the Winter Soldier already told a better version of this story – and it wasn’t exactly a good version to begin with. Three years after the events of the show, we’re on the eve of election night with struggles between Ross and Sam – but before they can even restart their relationship after the problems that led to William Hurt’s Ross hounding them during Civil War and Infinity War, Isaih Bradley, the secret Captain America, brought to the White House by Sam, goes rogue and tries to kill Ross. He has motive but doesn’t succeed – but it creates a further friction between Ross and America, and the other countries around the world – who are locked in a power struggle for the new adamantium; indestructible metal that is deemed more powerful than vibranium. You know – that adamantium that runs through Wolverine. It’s a treat for those who like comics references – with Marvel facing the daunting task of adding the Fantastic Four and the X-Men to a universe that arguably, people are struggling to care about anymore.
Sam Wilson isn’t allowed to be the centre of the film despite being its protagonist, he’s forced into a supporting role with Harrison Ford’s Ross taking up much of centre stage in the wake of the initial attack. The emotional arc rests more on Carl Lumbly’s shoulders, and Lumbly delivers, putting in one of the best performances in the franchise to date – at least for the first half of the film; but then things dovetail, becoming Harrison Ford-centric, building towards a man trying to make amends with his daughter Betty, who he hasn’t seen in years – played by Liv Tyler, who makes a return here. Ford – in a career resurgence between the Yellowstone spinoff and Shrinking, is good here, but he’s always good – effortlessly so. The emotional impact of having a reunion with Betty is robbed by the fact that they barely get the actor who played her on the same scene and it all builds up to the much-advertised climax that’s set in a glum, hilariously bad CGI-fest of a movie dogged by endless reshoots. Greenscreen backdrops rob the emotional climax of the movie of any kind of impact and you end up laughing at it rather than caring; and it feels like a soulless brawl in a parking lot; a far cry from the at least somewhat creative aerial combat on Celestial island that feels forgotten about by the time of the laughably bad climax that you’re just begging to be over, for Mackie and Ford’s sake.
Ross and Sam’s relationship feels awkward. I don’t buy that someone like Sam would want to believe in the best of a president who turns into a rage-monster and destroys everything he touches. It feels like a case of reading the room – coupled with the addition of Zionist Shira Haas, playing an Israeli character in the comics but changed to avoid conflict, when there was no need to include her character at all – it perhaps sums up the soulless state of the film – unable to say anything and unable to make its emotional moments land. Giancarlo Esposito is there, because sure, why not, but he looks like every second of his scenes were reshoots – empty, awkward and tonally disjointed, and as great as Esposito is, he feels wasted here, reduced to playing a one-note villain. The chemistry between Danny Ramirez – as Torres, the sidekick’s sidekick, and Wilson doesn’t come anywhere close to matching that between Wilson and Sebastian Stan’s; which made Falcon & The Winter Soldier at least entertaining if not good. There’s a moment where you’re reminded of the quality difference between the two pairings – and if anything, Brave New World should have been a recut The Falcon & the Winter Soldier, dragging in Thaddeus Ross and a Red Hulk into a Captain America movie was not the right move at all and all it does is it robs Sam Wilson of his big moment. It feels more like a Hulk sequel than a Captain America movie and a massive wasted opportunity – there’s no real rivalry between Wilson and Ross in the first place to be invested in, the only one that should be there is between Ross and Bruce Banner, but the Hulk is nowhere to be found in a story where he was needed.
There are brief moments – few and far between, thanks largely due to the strength of Carl Lumbly’s terrific performances, where you’re remembered why we all fell in love with the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the first place. Lumbly is terrific at every turn; the real emotional heart and centre of the role and easily the highlight in an uninspired mess – but Brave New World’s biggest weakness is that it never gives you a reason to care.
