Captain America: Brave New World Review

After fully taking on the mantle of Captain America, Sam Wilson continues to develop his skills with the iconic shield and a suit with some fancy new features. But he still second-guesses himself and his ability to face any threats the universe throws at the Earth.

Sam must set those doubts and fears aside when President Thaddeus Ross, the infamous Hulk-hunter and newly elected President of the United States, asks him to retrieve some stolen materials taken from “Celestial Island” (as seen in The Eternals).

The mercenary group “The Serpent Society” has stolen a mysterious metal from a Japanese research team on the island and the theft threatens to end an international treaty being brokered by President Ross.

Captain America and his new sidekick Joaquin Torres, aka The Falcon, are successful in recovering the stolen alien material, but it pulls them into a battle being fought behind the scenes. Sam and Joaquin soon find themselves being played as pawns by an unseen puppet master who threatens to bring the world into World War III.

Captain America: Brave New World is noteworthy for a couple of reasons. The first is it weaves together a lot of past films and TV shows together while partially setting the stage for some future stories. You really must have seen some of those previous shows to follow what’s going on here.

Required viewing is the 2008 film The Incredible Hulk, the 2021 TV show The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and 2021’s Eternals. You may be lost if you haven’t seen them. There are also references to Black Widow, Avengers: Endgame, and Ant-Man to a lesser extent. But also important are references to elements of X-Men which should whet fans’ appetite for what’s to come.

The other noteworthy thing about Captain America: Brave New World is the addition of Harrison Ford to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He takes over the role of Thaddeus Ross from the late William Hurt, but he makes it his own here. I was expecting him to have a relatively small amount of screen time, but he ended up taking up a large portion of the two-hour running time.

Ford is an old pro when it comes to playing the President of the United States, but it’s no secret that he gets to play the Red Hulk as well. The CG Red Hulk surprisingly retains Ford’s characteristics and he seems to be having fun hulking out and battling Captain America. Ross literally and figuratively becomes the very thing he has hated his whole life and Ford does a good job bringing that to the screen.

Of the supporting cast, Carl Lumbly stands out as Isaiah Bradley. In the movie, his character is brainwashed and wrongfully imprisoned for attempting to assassinate President Ross. His history is a bit more interesting than almost anything else in this film and I think the story maybe should have been crafted around the US Government’s failed attempts at creating new super soldiers. Maybe there’s time to do it in the fifth Captain America movie.

Giancarlo Esposito is great in every role he’s in and he does a good job as Sidewinder. Unfortunately, he’s given very little to do here. Maybe he’ll have a chance to return in the future.

The bar was set very high for Captain America: Brave New World as the previous three films were all excellent. Unfortunately, this fourth film doesn’t quite meet that high standard, and what ended up on the screen feels like Marvel trying to make lemonade from lemons.

While all of the previous films have memorable action scenes like the elevator fight in Captain America: The Winter Soldier or Cap vs. Iron Man in Captain America: Civil War, there is nothing like that here. Yes, Cap vs. Red Hulk is fun but it doesn’t have the emotional stakes and power moves of the earlier films.

Captain America: Brave New World is also surprisingly dull. While Anthony Mackie is very funny and lively in real life, his Captain America is largely serious, often brooding, and generally lacking any laughs we typically expect from Marvel properties. That causes the movie to drag a bit and you find yourself checking your watch along the way.

The supporting cast does little to help elevate the film. Shira Haas as Ruth Bat-Seraph seems way too petite to be head of the President’s security. Throw in the fact that she’s Israeli and a former Black Widow and it feels more unlikely she’d be in such an important role.

Danny Ramirez does his best to try and add some life and humor to the film as Joaquin Torres, but he’s kind of dumped on the audience without a proper build-up to show why we care about him. The fact that he is “from Miami” is emphasized, but his Hispanic background is otherwise never brought out. Maybe they were trying to keep him from becoming another comic relief like Luis from Ant-Man.

For a film that is otherwise reality-based, it sets up a lot of rather unrealistic situations. Besides the aforementioned issue with Ruth Bat-Seraph, Captain America: Brave New World attempts to set up a war with Japan as the major conflict. It is highly unlikely that Japan would attempt to provoke another war with the US as the last one didn’t work out so well for them.

It feels more like China would have been a better party to this conflict and it would have been a bigger threat of World War III for Captain America to stop. But it’s likely Chinese censors nixed the idea and Japan was chosen since they have a better humor about being portrayed as an aggressor in the movie. There are other unlikely situations in this film, but you get the idea.

Oddly enough, this feels more like a Hulk sequel without the Hulk rather than a Captain America sequel. It has a Hulk villain, a Hulk love interest, dovetails off a Hulk movie, and features a Red Hulk. Yet the original Hulk and Bruce Banner are nowhere to be found. It’s yet another reason Captain America: Brave New World feels like it had a bunch of random ideas brought up in a meeting room and thrown in a blender.

As one last disappointment, the end credits scene is one of the least interesting and vague of any that they have done. There is no surprise and it does not tee up any future films in any significant way. They went from over-promising in the Eternals end-credits scene to under-promising here.

Captain America: Brave New World isn’t bad. It’s just incredibly underwhelming and has little to offer beyond the movie trailers and commercials. Still, it’s worth checking out on the big screen if you’ve been following all of the Marvel movies to date. But it’s yet another indication that the MCU needs a course correction fast.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD REVIEW RATING: 6 OUT OF 10

Disney’s Marvel Studios will release Captain America: Brave New World in theaters on February 14, 2025. Directed by Julius Onah, the film has been rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, and some strong language.