'Captain America: Brave New World' A Solid Addition To The Marvel Cinematic Universe | Spoiler Review

A spoiler review of 'Captain America: Brave New World'.

Nearly four years after The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) is back in the limelight with his own film, Captain America: Brave New World. Before the film’s release, the review embargos were lifted—and man, it was not looking good online. It received harsh criticism on Rotton Tomatoes and is now sitting at a critic score of 50% and an audience score of 79% as of me writing this. Regardless, I went into the theatre with an open mind, and sure it’s not perfect by any means but it’s a worthy film unlike some of the latest MCU slate—I’m looking at you Thor: Love and Thunder.

The film kicks off with Sam Wilson, fully cemented in his role as Captain America on a mission. He’s ordered to retrieve a package, but in true Captain America fashion, he opts to save the hostages first. Anthony Mackie is Captain America through and through, he’s an incredible actor even when given some clunky dialogue. He’s charismatic, and grounded, and there’s one particular scene where I think he shines exceptionally—but I’ll save that for later.

When we finally run into Seth Voelker played by the phenomenal Giancarlo Esposito, I couldn’t help but feel how underutilized this character was. This entire sequence is a little clunky, and I think they really needed to refine the fighting choreography— though the rest of fight scenes in the movie are better choreographed.

Then we meet President Ross who is now played by Harrison Ford, and it reminded me why I love to see him on screen. He commands every scene he’s in and when he and Anthony Mackie share it, it’s pure movie magic. In the first half of the film, President Ross asks Sam Wilson to restart the Avengers.

That all gets put on the back burner when Isiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly) and several others are mind-controlled into attacking President Ross. This is after President Ross reveals the Celestial island—the massive Tiamut from Eternals(2021), now treated as a global treaty site and the source of adamantium. This is a retcon of the Eternals and a clear setup for future X-Men films.

The rest of the film follows Sam and Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez) as they try to uncover who’s behind this attack so Sam can get Isiah out of jail. When we finally do learn the culprit behind all this—Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson)—his whole motive is….well, como se dice boring, and the plot becomes a bit convoluted.

So if my memory serves me right, Ross needs Samuel Sterns to keep pumping out these white pills—his medication that keeps him alive so he can watch the cherry blossoms with his daughter. Meanwhile, Samuel Sterns wants to see Ross fall from grace and does so by stealing Japan's adamantium and returning it, and making it look like President Ross was scheming to steal all the adamantium from Celestial Island for the United States. Right? Sure. I don’t know— I took a bathroom break during the film, give me a break here.

Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) makes a cameo and offers some advice to Sam, which I thought was a great look into Sam’s psyche. At the scene, Sam feels weak and admits he should’ve taken the super serum like Steve. And Bucky helps him understand that even with the super serum, Steve wasn’t able to save everyone— and that’s what being a superhero is all about.

Then comes the twist—those pills from earlier? They’re how Samuel Sterns has been injecting doses of gamma radiation into Ross over the years. And then we meet Red Hulk.

It was a shock to me that he was only in the last ten minutes of the film. The marketing of the film really made him out to be a bigger player. But seeing Red Hulk throwing and smashing stuff was fun to see and a solid payoff. The CGI? I thought was solid in my opinion, except for one shot that everyone keeps harping on. The artists did incredible work on this film. Not sure why people are out here expecting Avatar-level CGI from comic book movies. But I digress.

The film ties up with Sam visiting Joaquin in the hospital. And this—this is where I think Anthony Mackie truly shines. Joaquin tells Sam that he’s always looked up to him, and Sam Wilson opens up about the pressure of being that role model and living up to the Captain America name. There is so much subtext about race in this scene—without being in your face about it because, you know, how people are these days.

It’s truly a profound scene between two incredible actors.

Overall the film was enjoyable I had fun. The actors did amazing with what they were given. I think the MCU needs to work on their writing and strengthen it. That being said, I love the grounded approach they took. And I love that the MCU is learning to grow with its audience because, for the love of god if I see another film like Thor: Love and Thunder on their roster, I’m throwing myself off a cliff. If there’s no hater for that film, I am dead.

I gave the film a 3 out of 5.