Captain America: Brave New World Review

“You may be Captain America, but you're not Steve Rogers.” – President Thaddeus Ross

And here we are, at the fifth film of Phase V of Marvel’s cinematic universe, the 35th movie overall. Seeing how Phase V has with the exception of Deadpool & Wolverine, been pretty much an underwhelming write-off (for those of you not keeping score, the others in this line-up were Ant Man & The Wasp: Quantumania, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 & Marvels) Captain America: Brave New World was my huge hope to pick up the momentum started with Deadpool & Wolverine. In other words, a return to the epic greatness that we had up to Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: No Way Home. But it just wasn’t to be.

Steve Rogers, (Captain America) as we all know, chose to go back in time to live the life he missed with Peggy Carter while he was frozen, which gave that character a fantastic and touching close. He passed his shield on to Sam Wilson (Falcon) who took the mantle for a while, which I have no issue with because this was established in the source material comic books years ago. Since the final scenes of Endgame, we’ve had a TV series (The Falcon & Winter Soldier) which showed the transition and reluctance of Sam Wilson in accepting the role, which he didn’t feel he’d earned. So, from a storyline point of view – this should’ve been an off the scale epic, following in the tradition of the previous Captain America films, which have all been turning points in the Marvel Universe. Again, as a reminder, First Avenger was the immediate precursor and final piece of the jigsaw to the Avengers, Winter Soldier saw the rise of HYDRA and the fall of SHIELD and Civil War saw a fracturing of the Marvel Universe with the established characters having to choose sides.

So, in view of all this, I would’ve bet my X-Men comic book autographed by Stan Lee that this was going to be a game changer. Even the title hinted at greatness, and let’s face it, we Marvel fans deserve a break.

What did we actually get? A $425 million TV movie. Yep – it needs to take $425 million to break even, factoring in its absurd marketing costs. So far, it’s falling 50% short of its target.

Where did it all go wrong? Anthony Mackie is perfect in his role, no question about that. Sadly, William Hurt who played The Incredible Hulk’s Thunderbolt Ross has passed away, leading to Harrison Ford being cast in the role. Again, Ford’s gruff demeanour is perfect for the role and to be honest, I felt that this film was more Ford’s than Mackie’s which I guess is understandable, he turns in an awesome performance.

The plot has elements of mind control with some critical characters carrying over from the TV show where they were introduced, case in point Samuel Stearns whose intelligence was boosted after being exposed to Bruce (Hulk) Banner’s enemy (Abomination)’s blood. He’s now (I presume) the character called “The Leader” back in the Silver Age of the comic books. (Except he was from vaguely somewhere behind the Iron Curtain back then.) Even writing this last paragraph, I can see what a confusing mess the Marvel Cinematic Universe has become. If you don’t subscribe to Disney + and watch their Marvel TV shows, you don’t have a hope of following this film to its best advantage. (I do, and I still kind of failed, frustrating as that is.)

So, there’s mind control, a battle to… okay, here we go again… get Adamantium from this Celestial Island in the Indian Ocean. (Jeez) Adamantium is what Wolverine’s claws are made of. It’s the strongest metal in all of the Marvel Universe. There’s an abundance of it on this island called the Celestial Tiamut which was established in The Eternals in Phase IV (back in 2021). There’s a near war with Japan, as the now President Ross becomes increasingly angry and unhinged before transforming into the Red Hulk. (Why he’s red, I have no idea – I’m just holding on to my will to live by this point.)

It's not that there isn’t enough going on. The scenes where the President of the USA turns into the Red Hulk and goes on a rampage would probably have had more effect if it weren’t for the fact that sitting behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office right now is the nearest real life has to an unstable comic book super villain. (If that comment costs me readers, so be it – we all know it’s true.) So, that particular element doesn’t pack as much of a punch as it might. We’re all living in fear of what the real life one will do next. (But I guess nobody believed he’d get re-elected when they were filming this. Truth is stranger than fiction.)

The main blame I think goes to director Julius Onah for giving the film a flat and listless feel. As I mentioned at the beginning, it looks and feels like a low budget made for TV movie. It has no great scope, not even in the big action set pieces. I knew there was something missing – Steve pointed out it was the crowds fleeing from the destruction, they were somewhat smaller than usual. This isn’t the pulse pounding beginning to the next big thing in the arc, no matter how many times the characters coyly mention bringing back the Avengers. It’s a low level little something to kill time on a rainy February afternoon. Even cameos by Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) and around thirty seconds of Betty Ross (Liv Tyler) are too little, too late to elevate the loss of interest as the film unspools. It takes until the final forty-five minutes to really begin to feel like a Marvel marquee movie and by then my attention was wandering. There IS a post credits sting, just the one – but it’s nothing really worth hanging around for. A vague verbal hint at something down the line. (So what?) Ultimately, this is the Superman IV: The Quest for Peace of the Captain America films.

We have one film left in Phase V – The Thunderbolts, which from the trailer I’ve seen seems to be the Marvel version of DC’s Suicide Squad. I could be wrong. But my next really big hope for the resurrection of Marvel takes place in July with the long-awaited release of Fantastic 4: First Steps, which ushers in Phase VI. I’m praying to Stan Lee that phase will salvage the sluggish mess this once unmissable franchise is becoming. It should, it includes a new Spider-Man and two new Avengers films.

Until then, here’s my honest rating.

Rob Rating = 4