Review: Captain America - Brave New World
The Future Favors The Brave
INTRODUCTION
This is a quick review of the newly released film Captain America: Brave New World. Please note that this is just one of the many movies I will have watched each year, and my initial grade for this film may change over time, for better or worse. To stay up to date on my thoughts about other movies and any potential changes in my opinion on this one, follow me on Letterboxd.
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PLOT
Via Letterboxd: After meeting with newly elected U.S. President Thaddeus Ross, Sam finds himself in the middle of an international incident. He must discover the reason behind a nefarious global plot before the true mastermind has the entire world seeing red.
REVIEW
It feels like ever since Martin Scorsese’s controversial 2019 remarks about the MCU and the ongoing wave of criticism from highbrow film enthusiasts and critics, the franchise has been on a steady decline from the peak it reached that same year. Not only are we seeing increasingly negative reviews, fewer "Best of the Year" listings, and a notable drop in technical and craft nominations at various awards shows, but even the once-guaranteed billion-dollar box office hauls are no longer a given.
I’ve gone from being a staunch defender and enthusiastic supporter of the MCU, eagerly anticipating each new addition to the catalog, to someone who can’t even muster excitement for a well-constructed trailer. The magic that once made this cinematic universe feel like an event with every release has dimmed considerably.
That said, there have been some standout exceptions over the last five years. Spider-Man: No Way Home, for instance, absolutely deserved the brief Oscar buzz it enjoyed. I will go to my grave wondering what supposed bad cut of Thor: Love and Thunder everyone else saw, because it wasn’t the disaster many made it out to be. And of course, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was one of the better films of 2023. But sandwiched between those highlights has been a string of increasingly inconsistent releases, with the misses gradually outnumbering the hits. The chaotic and directionless nature of the last phase of the MCU only exacerbates this problem; there was no clear throughline, no cohesive plan to tie these films together, and audiences could feel that aimlessness.
Still, I held out hope that after a year-long hiatus from MCU canon films and with Deadpool & Wolverine serving as a fun side project, Captain America: Brave New World might mark a fresh start. Maybe, just maybe, this would be the film to break away from the formulaic rut and kick off a new era of the MCU with a real sense of purpose.
And you know what? There are flashes of that potential. The writers seemingly made a deliberate effort to close certain long-ignored loopholes; acknowledging the celestial corpse left protruding from Earth in the underrated Eternals, tying up unresolved arcs from The Incredible Hulk, and laying groundwork for a new Avengers group. It’s also refreshingly not another multiverse movie, which alone earns it some credit in my book. But even with these positives, the film ultimately stumbles under the weight of its own shortcomings.
Where to begin? Let’s start with the performances. The cast, for the most part, isn’t bad. They do what they can with a script that is riddled with clunky, exposition-heavy dialogue. But no amount of effort can mask the fact that many of these lines feel overly scripted and unnatural, pulling me out of the movie on multiple occasions. The characters themselves are underdeveloped, making it difficult to form any real investment in them; this includes one of the weakest villains the franchise has seen in quite some time.
The action sequences? Well-intentioned but ultimately bland and uninspiring. The grand finale, in particular, feels like a complete waste of time, with no real stakes or emotional weight. That said, I suppose I can appreciate that it didn’t devolve into the typical CGI-overloaded mess we’ve seen in recent MCU films. On the technical side, the cinematography is forgettable at best and ugly at worst; certainly not helped by a lack of visual identity or compelling stylistic choices. And this time it can’t be forgiven thanks to witty Ryan Reynolds jokes or singing witches.
And then there’s the plot. It’s perhaps too grounded for what it’s trying to set up, to the point where it barely feels like anything of real consequence happens. By the time the credits rolled, I couldn’t shake the feeling that all the movie’s key developments could have just as easily been conveyed in an email. Worse still, the reliance on MCU show lore left me feeling lost at times, an issue I also encountered with The Marvels. I don’t keep up with the TV series, and if that’s becoming a requirement to fully engage with the films, then the franchise is only making itself more inaccessible.
But the most frustrating aspect of Captain America: Brave New World is its reluctance to take a stand. There are moments where it teases the idea of being politically charged, something both The Winter Soldier and Civil War handled exceptionally well, but it ultimately pulls every punch. At a time when a Black superhero is poised to lead a new generation of Avengers, in an era where real-world political tensions are escalating with a bigot back in the White House attacking minority rights, the film plays it painfully safe. Sam Wilson, rather than embracing the opportunity to make a statement, feels like he’s simply trying to “both sides” everything. The result? A film with no real personality, lacking the boldness that made previous Captain America entries so compelling.
I genuinely try to enjoy even the weaker MCU projects, but watching Captain America: Brave New World was a forgettable and apathetic experience. I’ve seen worse, sure, but I’ve also seen much better, even among the franchise’s more middling entries. At the end of the day, I have no choice but to join the chorus of disappointment and settle on a mediocre grade of C+. I really hope fortunes turn around for the MCU ASAP later this year.
GRADING
