REVIEW: Captain America: Brave New World (2025)

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Captain America: Brave New World is the first of a series of Marvel films most seem to feel like we have to suffer through before we get to the good stuff – and there’s no guarantee, or even much faith, that the “good stuff” will be all that good. The point is, I doubt many fans are looking forward to this film, plagued as it was with reshoots and reports of disastrous test screenings, not to mention its place in Marvel’s All-New, All-Different push and the general lack of quality in MCU output in the past few years. So, it’s a somewhat pleasant surprise that Brave New World isn’t as terrible as I thought it would be. It’s not very good, and it has some laughably bad scenes and elements, but there are a few good performances and an unexpectedly touching character arc for someone I never thought they’d do much with. However, it does suffer from extraneous characters, unearned “payoffs” and plot details, some awful action scenes, and an overstuffed story despite its relatively short length.

After foiling a terrorist contraband sale vital to national security, Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), who now embraces being Steve Rogers’ successor as Captain America, is asked by newly elected President Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (Harrison Ford) to re-form the Avengers and give Americans some hope again. But an assassination attempt changes everything, and Sam must go rogue with a new sidekick to clear a friend’s name and find out who’s behind what appears to be a conspiracy from inside the government.

The uneven nature of Captain America: Brave New World is best demonstrated in its lead character. Sam Wilson is nowhere near as unbearable in this movie as he was in The Falcon and the Winter Solider; he’s much closer to his characterization in the previous MCU films, and thank God for that. This means that Anthony Mackie is back to being a winning screen presence, and even though Sam still doesn’t feel like he’s built to lead his own movie, Mackie steps back into the role easily, giving Sam the old wry smile as he observes the increasingly absurd world around him. The problems with Sam don’t come from Mackie but from the script (or whichever parts of the assuredly nine or ten scripts that make up this movie). First of all, Sam’s strength level and abilities are all over the place. Brave New World often makes an issue of Sam’s lack of super strength, which I appreciated, but then, he’ll throw the shield with enough force to hit a whole team of bad guys as it ricochets off each man, which is ridiculous for someone with no super soldier serum in his blood. Later, the film tries to justify Sam not taking the serum, and it’s a stupid argument that makes no sense. (Since this is in every trailer, I don’t think it counts as a spoiler: the fight with Red Hulk gets laughable when you think of what a Hulk, even a non-Incredible one, should be able to do to a man with no powers.)

The other issue is Sam’s role as Captain America, the symbol. Much is made of how much Sam inspires people, how everyone looks up to him, how people are joining the military specifically because of him, and how the new Falcon always wanted to be him. But none of this is earned in the least. We never see Sam inspire anyone or do anything that would make so many people believe in him. Compare this to Steve Rogers, whom the seven or so movies he appeared devoted a lot of time to showing us was a hero and an aspirational figure, and even made several supporting characters’ arcs revolve around that – including Sam Wilson’s, especially in The Winter Soldier. And the usual “It could have happened off-screen” excuse doesn’t fly because, first, that’s not how you tell a story, and second, there’s no indication of anything he did off-screen. We’re just told over and over how much the whole world looks up to him. The movie also goes to great lengths to remind us that he’s Cap now; I think people referred to him as “Captain America” more in the first twenty minutes than anyone did for Steve Rogers in the entire MCU. There’s also a scene that, while not to the degree of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, lessens Steve to make Sam look better, and I still don’t appreciate that. Ultimately, it feels artificial, like they’re trying to force this point because they know it won’t stick otherwise.

The best part of Captain America: Brave New World is, as most probably imagined, Harrison Ford. He’s got a big role in the film – he probably has more screen time than anyone but Anthony Mackie – and he makes the most of it. His Thaddeus Ross is more human than the character has been portrayed so far; he’s ascended to the highest office in the land, and he’s now reflecting on the life he led, the sometimes horrible things he’s done, and what it all cost him. Ford’s Ross is at once regretful of his past and determined to make it worthwhile for the American people, and you feel that in Ford’s performance. He’s not phoning this one in; there are moments where he makes you feel sorry for a previously hissable character and hope he finds peace and maybe even some redemption. Frustratingly, Ross is also inconsistent in the movie, probably a result of all the rewrites and reshoots. He vehemently changes his mind on a massive issue in the space of one scene, and it makes so little sense that it takes you out of the movie. (At one point, they almost explain how this happened, then immediately take it back; it’s maddening.)

The rest of the characters in Captain America: Brave New World run the gamut. Giancarlo Esposito is only in three scenes as Sidewinder, the leader of the Serpent Society, but he’s good in all of them. This is a part Esposito could play in his sleep, and Sidewinder is suitably menacing for a minor villain, largely due to the performance. Tim Blake Nelson is also great as the finally returned (though in the wrong movie) Samuel Sterns, and his limited screen time makes you wish he’d gotten his due in something that focused on him more, especially because his backstory (or, rather, in-between story, from The Incredible Hulk to this one) and motivation are strong and have loads of potential for much cooler villainy. And it’s always nice to see Carl Lumbly again; he managed to make it through the ridiculous plot of The Falcon and the Winter Solider intact, and while he has a small role in this movie, he’s good whenever he’s around. On the other hand, Danny Ramirez is awful as Joaquin Torres, the new Falcon. The film tries to force a kinship between him and Sam that mirrors that of Sam and Steve, but it doesn’t work at all, partly because Ramirez isn’t nearly as good an actor as Anthony Mackie or Chris Evans. Part of it is the role, too, though; Joaquin Torres is all the worst elements of a sidekick: annoying, peppy, desperate to be cool, even more desperate to be funny, bursting with an “aw, shucks” feel that grates on you. And Shira Haas, who plays Ruth Bat-Seraph, is just kinda there. She’s been changed heavily for the movie: she’s no longer a Mossad agent but a former Black Widow, just in case you thought Natasha Romanoff would be relegated to only one replacement. But she also has no personality or function in the film, and she lifts right out of the narrative – as does Torres.

And that narrative is a jumble, which is an issue as well. Captain America: Brave New World is the latest in a string of Marvel movies that was clearly cobbled together from several scripts. There’s a storyline about President Ross and a plot against him, but there’s also the much-ballyhooed discovery of a new element, Sterns’ experiments, and the Serpent Society and their terrorist activities, and while the film tries to meld them into a cohesive story, it’s too much, and one major plotline falls by the wayside, seemingly here to set up future films. Brave New World also weirdly tries to cram in as many characters and plot points from the previous Captain America movies as it can; there’s a Winter Solider stand-in, a new Falcon who joins the new Cap (and even gets Sam to say “I can’t ask you to do this” like Steve said to him), an attempted assassination of a hard-to-trust authority figure, a former Black Widow who helps out, a secret military base that hides the bad guy’s evil plan, an assault on a car while on the road, Sam facing a minor villain in hand-to-hand combat as Steve did with Batroc, Sam going on the run, Sam watching a wounded ally who might die get patched up in a hospital, and even a new, darker super suit. But while these things happened organically in the other movies, many of them are in Brave New World just to be there, almost like their inclusion will remind viewers of better films… which they do, but not in a good way.

Then, there’s the action, which is nowhere near as good as it was in the other Cap movies. Julius Onah is yet another Marvel director who doesn’t know how to shoot a fight scene, and the poor camera angles look like they’re meant to disguise shoddy choreography. For example, another thing Captain America: Brave New World replicates is Sam’s spinning double-kick as he lands after flying on his wings, but this time, it’s filmed so that you can’t really see Sam kick the two guys he takes down, and you only know what happened because you saw him do it before for the Russo Brothers. The entire opening action sequence is a mess, with none of Sam’s moves looking as cool as I’m sure they were intended. Then, there’s the assassination attempt, which is so laughably conceived and executed you’d think the movie turned into a farce. Certain people have to live, so all of these deadly killers are on their very best behavior despite having guns, and the scene becomes boring, with a bunch of mannequins being slowly knocked down. Nothing has the visceral impact of the fights in the two Russo Brother Cap films or the old-fashioned adventure wallop of The First Avenger. It all results in a movie that tries to artificially recreate something great but proves to be nothing but a sloppy trace.

Let us know what you thought of Captain America: Brave New World in the comments!

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