A Marvel film, heck any film, relies on the marketing to get butts in seats. Marketing can be misleading, whether from the trailers, tv spots or the title itself. Captain America: Brave New World suffers from being a Captain America film, having an obvious restructure that has more parts The Incredible Hulk (Marvel can’t make another solo Hulk film due to rights) than the titular hero. 

 

Steve Rogers is gone, he’s been gone now for almost 6 years and since then we’ve had a Disney+ series, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier to set up this film. Unfortunately, this film desperately requires the viewer to have seen the series ahead of time to fully comprehend the characters on screen. 

 

Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson takes flight as Captain America officially in Brave New World and he’s a strong character. There’s a resilience within him that I’m sure is better fleshed out upon in the Disney+ series and his relationship with Joaquin Torres is a solid addition as the new Falcon. Joaquin is a solid example of where character development suffers due to the requirement of watching the limited series and the same can be said but even more prominently with Isaiah Bradley. 

 

Bradley for someone unfamiliar with the series events, is the original attempt at Captain America but due to racial factors was forced out and imprisoned. It’s clear that Bradley holds a sacred spot in Wilson’s heart but how it got there is unclear without The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. 

 

Mackie shows that he can lead a Captain America film if given the proper material and unfortunately he’s offered an underwhelming launching pad. 

 

While it’s neat and special to be able to see some returning faces that haven’t graced our screens as these characters since 2008 (17 years), their sudden reappearance is faulty at best. Its choices to have these characters suddenly reappear after 33 follow up films with little to no details of these characters whereabouts during that time really hinders the enjoyment of their return. William Hurt sadly passed away a number of years back and the recasting of Harrison Ford was a smart move, he could take on the gruff older military man that has now been thrust into the power of the United States Presidency. 

 

Ford has really changed over the last few years, gaining a softer reputation with his brilliant role in the Apple TV+ Shrinking and so while it doesn’t represent the character we saw all those years back, it does show a character that is “changing” as they say throughout the feature. Ford is a phenomenal, award-winning actor so there’s no doubt he delivers a quality performance here — sadly it just feels detached from the rest of the film due to the allotment of choices throughout that lean to to more of a character that’s green rather than red, white and blue. 

 

As many could speculate from all this talk of The Incredible Hulk, Samuel Sterns returns in his mutated form. Shielded by darkness with great effect, once he is shown the light of day, his design screams Toxie from The Toxic Avenger. Tim Blake Nelson is really outstanding in the role, it’s just hindered by creative and design choices. Also for those going in expecting Red Hulk to crush it, the trailers capture the extent of his on screen presence - brief and in typical Marvel fashion a CGI fest to close out the film. Luckily the design of Harrison Ford’s Red Hulk is really impressive looking and truly looks like the actor so there’s a win. 

 

Julius Onah helms the film and looking at his resume, it doesn’t boost a lot of confidence for anyone reluctantly looking forward to Brave New World. Onah is infamously known as the director of Cloverfield Paradox, the film that halted any further  in the franchise after its surprise launch following Super Bowl LII. While this in no way correlates to an end to Captain America, it does explain its stale execution. Combined with its empty action, lackluster plot points and a villain that sadly has made his reappearance a little too late (35 films in), makes for a missed opportunity for this new Cap to have his moment. While it’s respectable to try to capture the more down to Earth tones of the early days of the MCU, it sadly plays off more like a direct to video action film than a cinematic event worth the price of admission.