Ryan Shoots First: Captain America: Brave New World
Captain America: Brave New World is what happens when Marvel finally gets sick of people on Twitter commenting that they never mention The Incredible Hulk film or The Eternals. Both are huge factors in this movie so that tweet about the Celestial in the Indian Sea can die. And for that… we thank you.
Brave New World serves as a reboot of sorts in the Cap series as Sam Wilson is now fully entrenched as Captain America following the events of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. While Sam seems more comfortable in the role the movie still plays with just how difficult it is to live in the shadow of Steve Rogers and how he must forge his own path as this new Cap. I enjoyed Brave New World, it tries a lot of things, and some of it nails but there are a few cracks in that shiny new adamantium armor. While the movie is far from the worst MCU outing it also will do nothing to stop the content farm that is dunking on the MCU. Like most things, the critical mass and peak of the MCU has passed and now the vultures of social media are circling, picking off whatever they can get.
We’ll start with the good, Anthony Mackie is great as Sam, for those that have been around for his entire MCU run we have seen quite the development from an ex-solider leading a support group at the VA to the mantle of Captain America. The inner turmoil and imposter syndrome Sam deals with resonates with me and seeing him lean on his friends and the fact under the wings and drone he really is just a fleshy human meat bag is amazing, the film plays with this well and is a core aspect of Sam as Cap. He has managed to keep his empathy and desire to serve but has also developed the mettle needed to stand up for his ideals and carry the shield. Mackie can handle the laid-back scenes, shooting the breeze with other soldiers or colleagues and then retaining the intensity to stand up to Harrison Ford in President mode. We may have no better actor president in history than Harrison Ford and he brings real presence and gravitas to the movie. He is in his element and brings everything you expect from Ford. The plot tries to pull some elements from Winter Soldier with political intrigue and mystery but that is a high bar to shoot for and when that is maybe the best standalone MCU film in the cannon it really had no shot of reaching it, but it does work and if not for the comparisons the mystery is serviceable. I also really loved the return of Isaiah who returns from The Falcon and Winter Soldier series. Carl Lumbly delivered a great performance and there is one scene he shares with Sam that is full of emotion and plays with the notion of African Americans who have been imprisoned unjustly and the damage that can cause but all in the context of super soldiers. Just one of the things the film goes for and hits… but let’s talk a bit about the misses.
It’s well-documented that this film was a moving target. Constant rewrites, renames, and reshoots mean that while what they ended up with is good you can’t help but see the seams and how that process hurt the end product. If the movie they ended up with was the story the whole time and they had more time to focus on that I think it would have been a solid picture but I bet within 80% I could tell you the exact scenes that were reshot. Shots clearly on a greenscreen removed from the rest of the scene they are in, additional dialogue added while characters are off-screen, and lastly some rough visual effects that were likely just finished last week to get the film in the can. I am not going to go so hard on the modern MCU look like many do but I would like to see them lock in a bit more because I know these teams are capable of fantastic work it just comes down to time. If it takes less content to get things a little more fully baked I am all for that. In one particular shot at the climax of the film when Sam is giving his grand speech I could not contain my voice audibly mumbling under my breath “oof that looks bad”.
I enjoyed Brave New World but I don’t at the same time feel I can defend it as much as I have other MCU films. I am sure Twitter will tear it to shreds because it’s low-hanging fruit and some of it may be justified but this sadly is not the movie to put all that rest and loudly proclaim that the MCU is back, and while Thunderbolts looks entertaining the feeling is that Fantastic Four in July will be the next big lynchpin and hopefully the resounding resurgence of the MCU. No pressure.
