“Captain America: Brave New World” stars Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson, who finds himself in the middle of an international conspiracy and must uncover the individuals behind a nefarious global scheme while fully embracing the mantle as the sentinel of liberty. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is in a state where they are consistently hitting or missing with delivering stories that longtime comic fans and viewers can grasp onto without feeling burnout or dread after every other release.
Fans have long awaited for Sam Wilson to finally embrace the mantle of Captain America that was passed down to him since “Avengers: Endgame.” So how does it hold up and even compare to the previous trilogy? Unlike some entries in the Multiverse Saga, this one held up solid. However, it is not without an array of flaws and does not compare to installments such as “Deadpool and Wolverine” or even “Guardians of The Galaxy Vol. 3.” The amount of negative reception it has recently received is a little uncalled for due to follower culture having an escalation in recent years amongst cinema. Julius Onah, director of 2018’s “The Cloverfield Paradox,” leads the film in a way that comes off as a straight-to-streaming Netflix action thriller rather than a big Marvel event to get excited for.
As the film begins, it is evident that there were issues with the production. The first act comes off rushed with the pacing and even flawed with the fight choreography, which is disheartening to see since the Captain America films have always excelled in that aspect. The tone felt a little out of place and just did not land with the execution Onah was trying to deliver since Marvel Studios’ cursed flaw of needless humor pops up in a few scenes. The MCU’s state of visual effects remains a hot topic since a lot of their recent films have been the subject of disapproval with how they crafted the CGI.
Although it is not terrible or abundantly noticeable, there are a few moments where it is apparent that what you see on screen is not as immersive as it could have been. Thankfully, by the time it reaches the second act, it becomes a solid premise and feels engaging. The action for the most part is enjoyable. It may not be completely gripping like previous films, but it is fun and neatly planned out. That is unfortunately short lived right when it reaches the climax.
This film ended sooner than expected, just when things were starting to pick up with the stakes. For the matter of its storytelling, it feels as if it flipped the second act and third act around with the flow of impact on the character’s circumstances. It has a solid cast of performances, but other than the main characters, there is no one particularly memorable.
Anthony Mackie does his best as the lead, but it feels as if the writers were not ready to give him the chance he earned, despite his arc within the events of the Disney+ series, “The Falcon and The Winter Soldier.” Harrison Ford, who was chosen as the recast for Thaddeus Ross after William Hurt’s passing, serves as one of the biggest standouts that this film had to offer. His performance was complimented by the appearance of Giancarlo Esposito asSidewinder, a decent secondary antagonist who didn’t receive enough screen time due to how menacing his presence turned out to be.
The advertising for this film gave too much away with the trailers and even showed moments that should have been kept secret for the sake of reeling more viewers in, especially with how successful the plot was built up. What could have been a phenomenal comeback for the MCU’s haphazard format, ended up being an all-right film. The character of Sam Wilson has so much potential, and his comic counterpart serves as perfect social commentary on the American image, without being biased towards a political party. That said, it felt as if they were not ready to give that due to how little it focused on Sam’s ideology on freedom and identity.
If this film was given the time it needed for production and didn’t encounter the issues it faced before release, this could’ve been one of the Multiverse Saga’s best films and would have showed how great of an actor Anthony Mackie truly is and why Sam Wilson is a suitable choice in leading the mantle of Captain America.
Whether you choose to see this film in theaters or not is certainly up to you, but do not go into this film expecting anything more than what is advertised. Although it has good concepts and enough action to be entertaining, “Captain America: Brave New World” shifts between the feeling of a mindless popcorn action film and a thrilling espionage spy film.
