After multiple delays and reshoots Captain America Brave New World finally released. This is the first film to feature Sam Wilson as Captain America who is played by Anthony Mackie. The Film also includes Harrison Ford as President Thaddeus Ross. The Story Takes place after the hit Disney+ show The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and includes many familiar faces from the show. While it is not necessary to watch the show beforehand it certainly would help get an understanding as to how Sam Wilson became the New Captain America.
The Movie starts off at Thaddeus Ross’ election party and him giving a speech after getting elected, which is very similar to what happens in our society after the election. The political side of the story was one of the most intriguing aspects of the film due to how lifelike and real it felt. That was a side that was mostly untapped in the MCU and it was cool to see it explored. As the movie continues we go to our main characters who are now working with the president and helping him out. Our 2 main characters are Sam Wilson and Joaquin Torres, and they have a very similar relationship to what Sam and Steve Rogers had in previous films.
Unfortunately one of the major low points of the movie was the failed comedy, which mostly came from stuff said between Sam and Joaquin. Many recent MCU movies have received criticism about being too “cringey” or “corny” and this is yet another victim of that statement. Sam and Joaquin’s friendship nails every trope from every movie with 2 best friends, and it just feels repetitive. Towards the end of the film they explore more of the serious side about their friendship but unfortunately it’s too little too late.
This Film also commits one of the cardinal sins of a superhero movie and that’s having an awful villain. A good villain can make or break a movie and it certainly breaks this movie. The whole first half of them builds up the villain as a major threat but never shows his face or reveals who he is. At around the halfway mark he is fully shown and it really brings the quality of the film down. The villain ends up looking nothing like what anyone expected and audibly got a laugh out of many audience members. The villain whose name is Samuel Sterns has makeup on him that sort of makes him look like an alien, unfortunately it’s not very well done and really makes him look non-threatening.
Even though the villain is lackluster the film takes a massive leap in quality once he isn’t the focus of the movie, and Thaddeus Ross comes back into play more. Thaddeus Ross becoming “Red Hulk” was definitely the highlight of the movie and it’ll hopefully be explored more in the future of the MCU. Harrison Ford killed it in his role and many fans have asked for him to reprise his role as President Ross.
Overall, even though there’s definitely a fair share of problems with the film it’s still a lot of fun and a fun watch. It’s nowhere near the top half of the MCU in terms of quality wise but it’s definitely not in the bottom half. As an audience member it’s fun to see all of the actors having fun and you can certainly tell the actors enjoyed filming this, which therefore the audience member can have more fun with it. It might be an overstatement to say the MCU is “back” but they’re definitely on the right track.
