If you only watch the Marvel movies and don’t mess with the adjacent Disney+ series, then the last time you saw Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) was when he was being handed the Captain America shield by an elderly Steve Rogers at the end of Avengers: Endgame. There was actually an entire Falcon and the Winter Soldier show that showed us Sam’s struggle with feeling worthy of the shield that was actually pretty great, but for those who didn’t watch, Captain America: Brave New World appears to pick up where Endgame left off, although a couple of the characters introduced in the series pop up in the film with very little explanation as to where they came from.
Danny Ramirez’s Joaquin Torrres (aka the new Falcon) is now Sam’s permanent sidekick, while the original, secret Captain America, Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly), plays a pivotal role here as well. The film attempts to quickly explain who these new faces are, but with five writers on your roster, it’s not surprising the film feels jumbled and rushed. I’m not here to speculate how many of these problems are the result of multiple rewrites and reshoots, but Brave New World packs a lot of story and exposition. I can’t think of a movie that used more fake newscast footage to fill in the plot-hole blanks and transition from one scene to another instead of solid editing.
Sam is still struggling to feel worthy of the shield, but he’s got a sweet new suit courtesy of Wakandan scientist, and the bells and whistles are plentiful. After yet another successful mission to retrieve a rare stolen mineral on behalf of the new U.S. president, Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford, taking over for the late William Hurt), Sam is called in to meet with Ross who proposes that Sam lead the effort to reform the Avengers. While Sam considers the offer, Ross is dealing with treaty negotiations with Japan to deal with the discovery of yet another indestructible metal called adamantium, which is somehow attached to the body of the Celestial that started popping out of the earth core at the end of Eternals (Marvel never forgets). As Ross is giving an update on the metal and the treaty, a snippet of a song plays, and Bradley stands up in his seat and attempts to shoot the president, along with a handful of other people at a White House press briefing.
Bradley is eventually caught and immediately jailed, and the rest of the Brave New World is Sam, Danny, and an Israeli-born agent working for Ross, Ruth Bat-Seraph (Shira Haas) trying to figure out who is behind these attacks, driven by mind control and the help of a nasty mercenary named Sidewinder (Giancarlo Esposito). So much of the film is just spinning wheels in the service of very little. Since we all know that Ross is eventually going to turn into the so-called Red Hulk, much of the film is just a waiting game for that to happen, and I’ll admit, it’s totally worth it. Red Hulk doesn’t show up until the end of the movie, but it’s the best action sequence in the movie by far. And when I say Marvel doesn’t forget, the story’s ultimate villain is pulled from one of the oldest Marvel films that technically fits into this universe, to the point where it’s practically a sequel to that movie.
Brave New World is directed by Julius Onah (Luce, The Cloverfield Paradox), who just seems over his head with this material. I’m not sure another director would have done any better with this messy, fragmented screenplay, but there are so few surprises or otherwise interesting moments that I can’t imagine audiences putting themselves through repeat viewings the way they did with some other recent titles. Still, Mackie is undeniably engaging as Sam Wilson; Ford has a few moments where he actually seems to give a shit, making him fun to imagine as the president; and Haas’ intensity really adds some punch to this fairly impact-free movie. Aside from that, the film has the requisite references to other Marvel events and characters, as well as a couple smirk-worthy cameos to see if we’re awake. I didn’t find Brave New World overtly terrible or boring, but it is uninspired, and that may be worse.
The film begins its theatrical run today.
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