Review: 'Captain America: Brave New World' Doesn't Have the Magic

The good news: Captain America: Brave New World is absolutely one of the better entries in the recent spate of MCU films. Now, this is absolutely damning with faint praise - one could (generously) claim that Marvel has been batting .500 at best over the last 10-12 movies, with some huge stumbles (I’m looking at you, Thor: Love & Thunder and Quantumania) peppered in with other entries that ranged from “pretty OK” (The Marvels, Shang-Chi) to damn good fun, even if not great (Deadpool & Wolverine) to “almost great” (Spider-Man: No Way Home, Wakanda Forever).

The point is, it’s the mother of all mixed bags these days. It’s not just “Marvel fatigue,” either. Some of these entries have just been flat-out bad movies, no matter the Phase in which they were released. Disney and Marvel have lost the magic that they had up until Avengers: Endgame, and they’ve been scrambling to find it again.

Therein lies the bad news about Brave New World: it doesn’t have the magic. It’s got a lot of good parts — Anthony Mackie is growing nicely into his mantle of Sam Wilson/the new Captain America and brings a unique spin on the character. They’re not shying away from the challenges that come with a Black hero in America, and this is bolstered by a great supporting performance by Carl Lumbly, returning from the Falcon & The Winter Soldier series as Isaiah Bradley, the wrongfully imprisoned and tortured subject of the government’s prior efforts to recreate the super soldier serum. Sam’s new sidekick, the new Falcon (Danny Ramirez as Joaquin Torres) is also a fun addition to the mix, and with Harrison Ford chewing his way through his scenes as President Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (taking over for the sadly deceased William Hurt), there’s a solid foundation.

Yet, things don’t always click. The plot — a messy bowl of spaghetti that involves Wilson and Ross butting heads over the divide between superpowered individuals and the USA, as well as the discovery of a valuable new resource AND a secretive villain pulling strings behind the scenes — tries very hard to be compelling, and sometimes it works. But it works more like an off-brand Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which is tough given that that entry is renowned as one of the best Marvel has ever made. It does a respectable job of making the story a mystery to be solved, and Sam and Joaquin (and eventually diminutive ass-kicker Shira Haas as former Widow Ruth Bat-Seraph) following the clues is entertaining. Unfortunately, the mystery isn’t particularly intriguing, its solution is badly telegraphed, and the machinations themselves are riddled with plot holes.

When things pick up, and we get into the action side of things, the film is damn good. There’s some great choreography and flight combat is terrific. Extra points for 66-year-old Giancarlo Esposito as the ruthless mercenary Sidewinder, who gets to do a good bit of violence himself. Obviously, everyone has seen The Red Hulk in the trailers, and the explanation for his appearance makes decent enough sense; he’s fun for the 15 minutes he’s in the film.

In the end, the script is what ultimately drags the film down. Director Julius Onah does an adequate job, but it’s a clumsy and uneven effort. It frequently tries to cram a few too many pieces in, whether it be its abundance of villains, its shower of red herrings, or its excessive ancillary characters. Perhaps the greatest sin is that Brave New World also drowns the audience in exposition, with whole scenes designed just to explain things to the audience as if we’re idiots.

Thankfully, it doesn’t try to shoehorn too many plot elements designed to tie into future films, something that has often bogged down Marvel films. It does, however, have several unexpected callbacks to prior films, from Eternals to The Incredible Hulk, though nothing too distracting. It’s also mercifully not too long, coming in a hair under two hours, for which we can all be thankful.

Is it worth seeing? Sure, it’s entertaining enough for a couple of hours, filled with some fun dialogue, exciting action, and a solid set of characters. Mackie carries the mantle ably enough and I’m happy to see him continue to do so, along with the cast of characters that are being assembled alongside him. I only hope that next time, there’s a script worthy of him and the character.