Marvel used to be a powerhouse, an unstoppable cinematic machine that churned out hit after hit, balancing spectacle with solid storytelling. But those days are long gone, and Captain America: Brave New World is yet another sign that the studio is flailing, desperately trying to recapture its former glory while barely holding itself together.
In the film, Anthony Mackie plays the new Captain America, who is drawn into international intrigue with a President he doesn’t trust, trying to find the motives behind an unseen enemy’s dastardly plan.
I actually wanted this scrappy, third-rate Avengers rebuild to work. There’s something inherently fun about watching underdogs rise to the occasion. Mackie is trying to fill some big red boots as the flagship hero of the franchise, both as a character in the film and as an actor in reality. But if this is the calibre of Marvel movie we’re looking at moving forward, then yikes.
It’s not an outright disaster — there’s a watchable, competent movie buried in here somewhere — but it’s painfully middle of the road, a slapdash mix of half-baked ideas, lifeless dialogue, and CGI that looks like it was rendered on a laptop from 1996. The writing is a huge problem. So much of the dialogue is flat, like it was barfed out by an AI that was trained exclusively on Wikipedia summaries. (Some day that observation won’t make sense, when AI actually finds its true voice, but today is not that day).
Then there’s the political weirdness. This movie is desperate to say something about power, nationalism, and legacy, but it never quite figures out what. By the time it finally lands on a point, it’s already tripped over a dozen conflicting ideas. Hard to say what they were getting at but Harrison Ford plays a President that turns into a giant Red Hulk and destroys the White House (and the fabric of democracy?). I bet the Trump Hulk memes will have already started circulating by the time I hit “publish.” Though, it will be funnier if they photoshop him from a being a red hulk to an orange one.
The CGI. Holy hell. Abysmal. Marvel normally shoots on blue screen and creates entire worlds, but some of this looks Birdemic-level bad. For a studio that built its empire on spectacle, how did they let this slide? Marvel has the resources to make these movies look good, and yet here we are, watching action sequences that feel like they were animated as a college final project.
Can we talk about Sebastian Stan’s Bucky? Brave New World is built on the back of many years of storytelling, including the recent Disney+ show, Falcon and Winter Soldier. Bucky’s role in this movie is baffling. He shows up for one conversation (and it seems like the actors weren’t even in the same room) and then just… disappears? Why wouldn’t he stick around to help? Maybe Sebastian Stan was too busy with Thunderbolts and some of the more serious films he’s been starring in as of late, but his absence here just makes things feel even more disjointed.
Also, while I’m on a roll, why is this a pseudo-Hulk sequel? But without Bruce Banner? Why does it feel like it’s also trying to be Black Panther, yet isn’t willing to put in the work that movie did to engage that audience? A black Captain America is a big deal, but they barely mention it. Though, I will say, for fans of closing loopholes, they finally address that weird celestial thing sticking out of the ocean.
Being a comic book fan since I was a kid, I’m compelled to see all these movies. Brave New World is watchable for people like me who just can’t quit Marvel no matter how many times they let me down. Or, if you just really, really enjoy mediocre action movies. But for anyone hoping for Marvel’s return to form? This ain’t it.
I can’t believe Marvel released this in this form when they’re at such a crucial crossroads. How did Marvel go from the biggest game in town to putting out movies that feel like straight-to-streaming placeholders?
Maybe this is just what happens when the machine keeps running long after the magic is gone.
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