Cert – 12, Run-time – 1 hour 58 minutes, Director – Julius Onah
Captain America (Anthony Mackie) finds himself trying to clear the name of original super soldier Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly) in an escalating international crisis which involves the new President (Harrison Ford) and a mysterious mind behind events.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier is one of the best entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. A tense political thriller with tested friendships and deep-rooted plots. In some way Brave New World; the fourth Captain America film, first led by Anthony Mackie and 35th in the MCU overall, tries to echo this. However, the origins of the narrative link back to two of the franchise’s weakest films – the largely pushed-aside until now The Incredible Hulk and thought-to-be-pushed-aside Eternals. To make this the core of the first big screen venture for the new Captain America may be seen as something of a bold move. It could also be seen as simply a way to close off some loose ends from previous instalments – at least it’s nice to have a film that doesn’t go on about the multiverse and the future a great deal.
Brave New World plays out like a 90s thriller, multiple pots boiling all linking to one central mind behind a potential international crisis. Sam Wilson (Mackie) finds himself caught up in the details, trying to clear the name of original super soldier Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly), when something takes him over to try to kill recently-in-office President Thaddeus ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross (Harrison Ford, taking over duties from the late William Hurt and throwing himself into the role). As the world tries to come to a deal on how to use adamantium, having found much of the new metal in the celestial being lying in the ocean since the events of Eternals, trained killers are trying to track down Wilson and the President to seemingly break down talks and create rifts in international relations.
On reflection, it may feel as if some of these strands, or at least what we see of certain characters, end somewhat abruptly and maybe without a more complete resolution, but whilst watching the film there’s a rather enjoyable time to be had within the traditional thriller leanings which play out. Yes, there may be some clunky green screen and VFX shots here and there, but there’s a likable nature to some of the action and seeing Mackie take centre stage. Comfortably in the role of Captain America, Sam is still trying to find out who he is under that title and perform as that rather than perform as Steve Rogers – who gets a thankfully small number of mentions here. Danny Ramirez joins him as Falcon-in-training Joaquin Torres, a nice pairing being built up between the duo which will hopefully have more room to flourish in later films.
As a whole there’s a slightly scrappy nature to this latest MCU film. While 2024 may have acted as something of an opportunity to get things back in order and give their upcoming slate a bit more time and work, with only Deadpool And Wolverine seeing a cinema release, the news of re-writes and re-shoots, and five credited writers, sees does show in certain aspects of Brave New World. This largely being the case in the opening stages of the core narrative as everything is still coming together, there’s a slightly jumbled feeling to certain events as the film is clearly trying to find its way – whilst building up to the reveal of the Red Hulk, front and centre in much of the marketing, which appears so late in the day that it would have been better to save this appearance for the film to unveil itself.
Yet, as the thriller aspects play out there’s a good deal to get caught up in. At just under 2-hours the events are largely well-contained, getting out just before they outstay their welcome, and as a way of giving Mackie’s Captain America a big screen launch there could be worse ways to do so. The narrative, while having its multiple elements, manages to whittle itself down overtime and make for a more direct set of entertaining events. There’s a knowledge from the film that this isn’t a big universe-expanding work. It’s a solo outing for Captain America, maybe with one or two other character tagging along for the journey, and in that respect this is a rather well handled film.
One that provides a good deal of escalating and entertaining thrills to see it through to the end. It may not be one of the best entries in this franchise, but for a film which has had multiple nightmare headlines throughout production it’s not turned out too badly. One which allows Mackie to shine and come into his own more, with some nice details for his character, and indeed he carries the film effectively and with a likable style. Helping to move things along in addition to the various action sequences, which use his evolved suits and technology, and the same old trusty shield, rather well, leading to some exciting uses and instances in certain sequences. It, like the film, might get a bit rough around the edges as a result of everything that’s thrown at him, but things hold up and manage to get through, with a growing strength and enjoyable nature.
Anthony Mackie carries his first big screen outing as Captain America with effective style, while Brave New World might start off feeling busy, the recognisable thriller beats make for an enjoyable, if scrappy, ride as things come together and provide enough amusement for a solid and likable MCU entry.
Just A Little Bit Random 