The Snapshot: Anthony Mackie’s big screen debut as the new Captain America is exciting and showcases his certain bravery, but the “new” world feels disappointingly familiar.
Captain America: Brave New World
7 out of 10
PG, 1hr 58mins. Action Superhero Spy Adventure.
Directed by Julius Onah.
Starring Anthony Mackie, Harrison Ford, Danny Ramirez, Shira Haas, Giancarlo Esposito and Tim Blake Nelson.
Now Playing at Film.Ca Cinemas, Cineplex Winston Churchill & VIP and Cineplex Oakville & VIP. Also in IMAX.
With both a new Captain America and a new Falcon in town, bad guys better watch out for a brave, new guard.
But this new iteration of Marvel’s superhero spy series, back in the new film Brave New World, offers an entertaining action story that has surprisingly little new to offer.
Marvel fans (the film’s key target audience) who’ve seen the inescapable trailers will likely know the premise already: Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), newly minted the successor to Captain America, must defend general turned U.S. President Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford, taking over for the late Wiliam Hurt) against a conspiracy plot to ignite an international war.
Director Julius Onah takes the reigns from the Russo brothers, who directed the last two Captain America films with Chris Evans in the title role, and later two Avengers films. Brave New World is a reset on the character as a solo fighter, committed to defending the integrity of U.S. politics.
Read more here: From the Avengers' endgame to an eternity
The good news is that the film’s tone and editing style borrow heavily from 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier without copying it directly - which coincidentally was also Anthony Mackie’s first movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Unfortunately, the story is missing the key mystery element in character and the villain’s evil plan that made Winter Soldier so suspenseful and high stakes.
Instead, the film’s marketing has already given away the supposedly secret ending and anyone familiar with past MCU titles will be able to guess the surprise villain almost immediately.
Without the mystery for audiences to uncover, all of the excellent actions scenes and political subtext gets undermined and rendered simple. That makes for a great superhero movie, but a thin drama.
Everyone in the cast gives a gripping performance, led by Mackie’s calm rigour and honesty as the new Captain. Ford is a stalwart addition as Ross, as is Danny Ramirez joining from the Disney+ series Falcon and the Winter Solider.
Without giving away the small amount of intrigue in the screenplay, both actors in the traditional villain parts are great in the menacing demeanour. Sadly, this is another key problem with the story: both of them are on screen in the film for less than five minutes. It’s hard to take a superhero movies seriously when the bad guy is barely in it.
Strangely, Brave New World focuses greatly on the first 100 days of a new U.S. president and his attempts to quell public fears over a possible corruption in his office.
With the tumultuous news coming daily from the real oval office these days, the timelines of this subject matter might be changing the story’s appeal and leave a sour impression on liberal audiences.
It would have been shocking to see the ramifications of President Ross drawing a closer parallel to the chaos currently seen 2025 Washington, or it could have been more direct in using re-shoots to address the contention among U.S. politicians today - great movies and art can do that.
Instead, Marvel does neither, instead opting to stay out of the conversation surrounding true modern politics and instead focuses on those of the comic book world. It’s the safe (if awkward) choice, and perhaps a missed opportunity.
Brave New World is a welcome return to the style of Captain America’s solo adventures from early a decade ago, and even with nearly 25 years working in Hollywood under his belt, Mackie more than proves himself as a bona fide action star.
The story’s predictability and missing villain presence, however, robs the film of the element that make Marvel’s best movies truly great.
