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After an uncharacteristic seven-month break between movies, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is back in action with Captain America: Brave New World. A slew of baffling decisions made in and around this film take away from the excitement of Marvel returning to one of its most tried and consistently quality franchises. Here, I refer to three aspects of the movie in particular. Beginning with the elephant in the room, this film, for all intents and purposes, is a sequel to 2008's The Incredible Hulk (one of Marvel's oldest and least well-received films). In addition to this, after some intense (to put it lightly) critique of She-Hulk's appearance in the Tatiana Maslany show, Marvel made sure to put some extra effort into making this film's Hulk look a bit more realistic. This would be appreciated a bit more if the rest of the film had included any on-location shooting, or at the very least, a few dozen less computer-generated cherry blossom trees. Finally, the Captain America franchise is("was" is perhaps a more apt term at this juncture) one of Marvel's strongest. It achieved such a reputation and admiration among fans, largely because of its comparatively smaller scale and more human stories, but also, and more importantly, because of its well-constructed and shot action sequences. Brave New World does away with these themes and techniques.
Beginning with the hulking elephant in the room, we've got to talk about why this is a Captain America movie to start with. Anthony Mackie's movie debut as the new Captain America feels a bit lost in Brave New World as he has very few personal stakes in the game. To this point, while William Hurt's Secretary of State Ross might have sent Sam to prison in a previous MCU chapter, Harrison Ford's President Ross is but a short-tempered victim in need of forgiveness… just not from Sam. No, Harrison Ford's Ross has seemingly come to terms with Sam and the other Avenger's importance to society; vile as he may be, he seeks to put America first and do the right thing. For this reason, Sam is willing to work with him and set aside his differences. Instead, the emotional conflict in the film lies in Ross' relationship with his estranged daughter Betty (reprised by Liv Tyler in one brief scene at the tail-end of the movie). Because of the emphasis on Ross, his desire for redemption, and his beef with Tim Nelson's Samuel Stern, Anthony Mackie has little room to make autonomous or impactful decisions throughout the story. This leads Mackie to take a back seat in the film, which boasts the launch of a new Captain America and the seeds of a new Avengers. In this way, too, Brave New World even fails to set up compelling intrigue for a sequel, a task Marvel has entirely too much experience to botch so miserably.
In addition to the confusing story devices used throughout the movie, visually, this film can feel disorienting and uncanny. Seeing as this is an Incredible Hulk sequel, it may be interesting to compare the two visually, especially because the seventeen-year-old film frequently feels more tactile and tangible than many of the set pieces in the MCU's latest entry. Some instances of less-than-stellar computer animation can be excused (i.e., Celestial Island and fighter jet skirmishes). Still, Brave New World opts to re-create Washington D.C. streets complete with forests of cherry blossom trees, shedding their leaves in climatic fight sequences. The issue here isn't the use of the computer effects. The problem is the lack of care put into them. There are numerous instances in the most benign locations that were not filmed on location. These occurrences are frequent and consistently distracting.
In a similar vein, the action choreography in this new era of Captain America takes a dramatic step towards that which fans and critics of the franchise frequently complain about. The editing is largely disjunctive and incoherent when the combat is more personal or human, and with our new Captain America dawning a wingsuit, much of it takes place in the skies where, similar to the last point, scenes and characters begin to feel less tactile.
These are the three central failings of the film. Sure, there are more. The inclusion of Giancarlo Esposito's character feels empty, the movie's release immediately following an election year feels a bit tone-deaf, and Carl Lumbly's character feels incredibly underused. Little aspects of the film, like the ones just mentioned, add to the already messy and frustrating script. With that, the brave new world that Marvel may have been hoping to set up with Mackie's new role feels more in line with many of the complaints geared towards the franchise over the last few years than it does the era-defining expectations Marvel was seeking to plant.
Verdict:
Captain America: Brave New World lays victim to many of the same pitfalls that recent MCU installments have faced criticism over. The visual quality of the movie is lackluster, and its self-obsessive need to bring back minor characters from a seventeen-year-old movie distracts from the brave new world the film should have focused on defining.
🍿 SCORE = 35 / 100
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