Captain America: Brave New World – Review
One of the strongest franchises of the MCU were the Captain America movies. Each of the three movies in the original trilogy were solid and continue to hold up.
After Avengers: Endgame, Steve Rogers gave the Captain America mantle to Sam Wilson, who had been the hero Falcon. The transition from Falcon to Captain America was shown to us in the Falcom and Winter Soldier.
Sam Wilson’s career as Captain America is brought to us in Brave New World, presumably the first of a new Captain America trilogy.
Brave New World did not do well in the theatres. Of course the box office has been notoriously unpredictable since Covid. It does not have to mean it was a bad movie.
However, I found Brave New World to be disappointing. It was not horrible. It was about at the same quality as Marvel’s recent television series.
Some have suggested that the problem with Brave New World is that Captain America has switched from Steve Rogers to Sam Wilson.
Certainly there is a draw to the Steve Rogers character. There is a reason why that character has stood the test of the time. But I would also say that Sam Wilson is a good character that is interesting. I have always liked him.
The problem with Brave New World is not who holds the shield but the story.
My ongoing observation is that superhero movies are only as good as the quality of the villain. The villain here is the Leader, a character briefly introduced to us a long time ago in the Incredible Hulk movie.
I was actually looking forward to seeing the Leader but was disappointed in how he was portrayed. His motivations were not clear and he seemed to not really fit the story.
The other protagonist is Thaddeus Ross, the one who had long been trying to capture the Hulk. Ironically, he is turned into a Red Hulk by the Leader.
Brave New World is important in that ties up some loose ends from both the Incredible Hulk and the Eternals. But that is also its weakness.
Brave New World does not tell a great story, it simply serves to tie up those loose ends. It acts as a link within the very complex MCU but that is it.
This is the problem with the MCU over the past couple of years. They are more focused on world building than story telling. They work so hard to get everything interconnected that the more important work of telling a story that needs to be told.
So is Brave New World horrible. No. But I am glad I did not pay to see it in the theatre or even pay to rent it. It was okay, but firmly within the mediocre spot that Marvel has mostly been in for the last few years.
