Captain America: Brave New World—Another Misstep for Marvel.
Image Courtesy of Disney.
Ladies, it’s February 15th, and if you ain’t get the chance to carry yuh man to the movies yet, take him to see Captain America. We all know how them fellas love a superhero flick! Brave New World has just dropped, and while I’ll admit I’m not the biggest Marvel nerd, I still went to check it out—let’s be real, a blockbuster is a blockbuster. This is the 35th film in the long-running Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it’s the first Captain America movie to feature Sam Wilson as the lead after he took up the shield from Steve Rogers at the end of Avengers: Endgame. Now, I’m not saying it’s a perfect movie, but hey, it’s the season of love, so let’s indulge their inner child for a bit.
But now, I’ll just get straight to the point—this movie, for lack of a better word, was just meh. The MCU has been doing way too much lately, and Brave New World is no different—juggling too many storylines that don’t really connect. Instead of feeling like a true sequel to Captain America: Civil War or even a proper follow-up to Falcon and the Winter Soldier, it somehow ends up feeling more like a sequel to The Incredible Hulk from 2008.
The Incredible Hulk— a movie from 17 years ago. Alyuhh understand how long 17 years is. You could even remember what you ate on Monday? No? Yet somehow, Marvel expects fans to care about storylines from a movie that old. The Incredible Hulk came out in a completely different era—before the MCU was the MCU, before Iron Man was a household name, before post-credit scenes were really a thing. And now, with Brave New World, Marvel is dusting off characters and plotlines from that time, acting like people have been sitting around for nearly two decades waiting for answers. I don’t want to spoil anything, so I won’t say more, but I had to get that off my chest because, honestly, it’s a baffling decision.
Image Courtesy of Disney.
Visually, Brave New World is all over the place. The cinematography is fine—nothing too stylish, but nothing outright bad either. The hand-to-hand combat, which should be a highlight in a Captain America film, starts off sluggish and lacks the impact of previous entries. It does get better by the final act, but the real issue is the CGI. I get that Red Hulk has to be fully CGI, and that’s naturally going to affect how he interacts with everything around him. But even with that in mind, the final battle looks rough. It’s over-processed, and at times, downright jarring. What should be a high-stakes climax ends up feeling like a rushed video game cutscene.
That said, the movie isn’t all bad. Buried under the messy storytelling is an interesting political thriller that, with better focus, could have been something special. There are some solid action sequences, and Carl Lumbly delivers a performance that deserves way more attention. But with all the reshoots and story elements left on the cutting room floor, I can’t be too hard on the final product. It’s still a decent ride for die-hard Marvel fans, but if you’re not deep into MCU lore, this one’s probably an easy skip.