NOC Review: ‘Captain America: Brave New World’ Soars with Solid Superheroics
To all those who’d ground him, take a message back from me: Sam Wilson is flying high, defying gravity! Wait. Wrong movie. However, it’s no less true! Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) is Cap…
To all those who’d ground him, take a message back from me: Sam Wilson is flying high, defying gravity! Wait. Wrong movie. However, it’s no less true! Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) is Captain America! And Captain America: Brave New World proves it unequivocally!
We’re at a point in the world where many refuse to accept a Black man as Captain America. The MCU has touched on this theme before in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and only has done so because it’s so true. You look at trolls on message boards or comments sections of YouTube, and you can see how racism can blind them into narrow-mindedly writing off a character as Captain America, without actually seeing said character soar into the role. People prematurely dogging the movie because they didn’t want to see a Black Cap; starting rumors about the movie being a complete mess, and whatnot. Well for those skeptics, I submit to you that not only is the movie *not* a mess at all, but Sam Wilson is truly a worthy successor to the mantle of Captain America. And we see it throughout the DNA of Captain America: Brave New World; the perfect starting off point for Mackie’s Cap.
(L-R) Joaquin Torres/The Falcon (Danny Ramirez) and Captain America/Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) in Marvel Studios’ CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD . Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2024 MARVEL.Taking cues from Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Brave New World keeps itself grounded, setting up a conspiracy laced story that begins with an assassination attempt on President Ross’s (Harrison Ford) life, and develops into a sinister tale of vengeance and the dangers of control. Caught in the middle is Sam Wilson, who is doing everything in his power to live up to the mantle passed down to him by Steve Rogers, as he attempts to uncover the mystery surrounding the assassination attempt, to clear the name of his friend Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly).
Rumors and buzz can make or break a film. Sometimes they bear weight, and sometimes they’re just rubbish. And with word of massive reshoots and script rewrites, Captain America: Brave New World was looking to be a potential disaster. Reports of negative test screenings and so on made many worried that the film would be a mess. However, to my surprise, I found the rumors of this film being a trainwreck to be, not only unfounded, but now seemingly a malicious attempt to take down a movie that literally doesn’t deserve any of the negative press likely spun up by racist nutballs threatened by the idea of a Black Captain America (despite the fact that Sam Wilson is also Captain America in the comics).
Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson/Captain America in Marvel Studios’ CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD. Photo by Eli Adé. © 2024 MARVEL.Because I found Brave New World to be a nice surprise! It’s actually quite a bit of fun, and while many may criticize it for being “mid,” I can honestly say I just flat out enjoyed myself watching it. A movie doesn’t need to be mind-blowing or top-tier MCU to be enjoyable. It can just be enjoyable. And I can safely say Brave New World easily ranks much higher than some of Marvel Studios’ post-Endgame products.
For starters, Mackie and Ford are front and center, giving commanding performances. Ford’s version of Ross is actually a lot more charismatic and compelling than even William Hurt’s portrayal, humanizing the character more than we’ve seen in the past. Thunderbolt Ross was always unlikable, so why all of a sudden did I find him likable here? The answer is simple: Ford. The way he uses his gravitas to make the character a lot more relatable, and much more tragic actually makes me feel sorry for the man who created the Sokovia Accords and broke up the Avengers. He makes the character his own, and oddly enough, the result is surprisingly much deeper and more complex than we’ve seen of him in previous installments. By the way, if you’re going exclusively for Red Hulk, I need to warn you that the fun there only begins in the climactic final act. It’s pretty awesome though!
(L-R): Prime Minister Ozaki (Takehiro Hira), Captain America/Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), and President Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford) in Marvel Studios’ CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2024 MARVEL.Speaking of making the character his own, Mackie owns this movie. Sam Wilson is still the same Sam we’ve known and loved since The Winter Soldier, but a lot more mature. This is a world-weary version of Sam who has learned so much from Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes, but is willing to get to the bottom of a mystery for justice and friendship without super strength, speed or endurance. Mackie’s taken the role he originated, and infused it with wisdom and cynicism, but also more empathy. There’s a kindness and a loneliness to his take on Sam that is quite parallel to what Chris Evans brought to his role of Steve Rogers. However, his version of Captain America is also unique and different.
By opting not to take the super soldier serum, Sam’s challenges feel so much more palpable. And this yields more suspenseful and high stakes action sequences, where we actually feel a sense of danger for our hero. One shootout in particular during the film takes place between Mackie and a brilliantly deranged Giancarlo Esposito, playing Sidewinder. Cap doesn’t have a shield, his wings, or his suit, and must survive and outwit his heavily armed opponent with only his street smarts and survival skills. It’s a terrific moment that creates so much tension and excitement during the film, but also 1) emphasizes how Sam’s Cap is different from Steve’s, 2) shows that the mantle of Cap is not about the serum, and 3) validates Steve’s choice of Sam for the mantle of Captain America.
Captain America/Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) in Marvel Studios’ CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2024 MARVEL.The movie proves this time and time again, by putting both Cap and the new Falcon, a delightful Danny Ramirez, into really dangerous, very grounded situations. Both of these men could die at any point, but are willing to punch their way out of any situation if they need to. It doesn’t hurt either that the fight scenes and flight scenes are well staged and perfectly fast paced, giving us some really fun airborne battles, and a lot of impressive and aggressive hand-to-hand combat sequences. All of these make for an incredibly entertaining movie, and emphasize why this one is best seen on a large screen.
As far as other bright spots are concerned, Lumbly is absolutely terrific in his limited screentime as Isaiah Bradley, It is heartbreakingly tragic about what this character has one through, and the level of torment and experimentation that has been done to him is barbaric. And yet, he simply is unable to catch a break here, being mind controlled one moment, and locked up for the duration of the movie. However, Lumbly injects the character with so much humanity and melancholy, but also charm. And when he’s in trouble, given everything we know about him, and combined with Lumbly’s performance, you can’t help but root for the character, and hope that he’ll find some peace down the line.
Thematically speaking, the film also dives into political ideas that actually couldn’t be more relevant today than ever before. It covers the idea that Presidents can be incredibly flawed, and sometimes heroes must forego the principles of “standing by the President no matter what” in order to take a stand for what they believe in, to work towards true justice, regardless of how powerful your opponent is. Given the current atrocities we see committed daily by the current sitting US President, the timing for a movie that calls this out is simply perfect. It’s a message that I hope folks seeing the movie take to heart, because, as one character says to another in the film, Steve Rogers gave people someone to believe in, while Sam Wilson gives people someone to aspire to be. Sam’s decision to take matters into his own hands, against the orders of a President he knows is wrong should serve as a reminder that we all have a choice to stand up against injustice, even if committed by people in political positions of power.
(L-R): Harrison Ford as President Thaddeus Ross and Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson/Captain America in Marvel Studios’ CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD. Photo by Eli Adé. © 2024 MARVEL.Now as far as flaws go, Brave New World suffers from its share. It’s definitely not a perfect movie, with one of the most glaring mistakes being the obviousness of its reshoots. There are two scenes in particular that felt like they were thrown together hastily, from the look of the background, to the out of place exposition dumps between two characters. It ends up contributing to completely clunky moments, interrupting an otherwise compelling movie that would have benefitted from more time and refinement. Furthermore, the background effects on both of these scenes looked so artificial, it looked very inconsistent with the level of quality from otherwise decent VFX from other scenes.
Red Hulk/President Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford) in Marvel Studios’ CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2024 MARVEL.Also, while the movie is a lot of fun, and actually the shortest of the Captain America films, sadly there are a handful of moments that move quite sluggishly. Though Sam Wilson and Joaquin Torres do their best to drive the intensity of an investigation scene, some of those sequences with them walking around in the dark without any sort of opponent to battle feel superfluous and slow.
Additionally, the exposition dumps come en masse. Every so often, the movie will pause momentum to have characters explain everything about a plan, or answers to a mystery, directly to another character, as if to explain itself to the audience. In other words, it absolutely tells when it needs to show. That was one of the best things about The Winter Soldier: the way it revealed the different secrets was a lot more organic than Brave New World. It does feel like the writers felt folks didn’t find clarity behind character motivations or rationale, so they had to take time for characters to shout it at one another and, consequently, the audience.
Captain America/Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) in Marvel Studios’ CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD . Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2024 MARVEL.All that said, however, the good ultimately outweighs the negative here. Captain America: Brave New World may not be a perfect movie, but it is a solidly entertaining entry into an MCU. A rumored mess of a movie proves to be a lot more cohesive than people anticipated, and way more enjoyable as well, with really terrific action and performances across the board. The story is compelling enough to hold my attention for 2 hours, even if it’s a bit predictable. And ultimately, while it doesn’t quite soar to the heights of The Winter Soldier, or Civil War, it’s still a solid, fun MCU romp, that absolutely, firmly, and indisputably affirms that Sam Wilson IS Captain America, and Mackie is a star! Overall, a solid installment to the MCU and the legacy of Cap, that’s high flying, high octane entertainment.
Overall Score (on an entertainment level): BOverall Score (on a representation level): A
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Twitter (X), Inc. was an American social media company based in San Francisco, California, which operated and was named for its flagship social media network prior to its rebrand as X. In addition to Twitter, the company previously operated the Vine short video app and Periscope livestreaming service
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