‘Captain America: Brave New World’ Review – A Captain America Film That’s Not Really About Captain America

The MCU has a problem. 

Depending on who you ask, they actually have more than a few. The problem I’d like to discuss is the behemoth studio’s struggle with telling contained stories that leave its titular heroes fighting for space on the screen. 

The latest film to exhibit this problem is Captain America: Brave New World, the first film featuring Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) as the star-spangled hero. It’s been two years since Sam took on the shield, and he’s an active participant in the American government apparatus, helping Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford) reclaim a sample of stolen adamantium. (The adamantium was sourced from Celestial Island, created by the Celestial’s crashlanding on Earth during 2020’s Eternals.) Ross asks Sam to rebuild the Avengers. Sam is ready to accept Ross’s offer before Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly), the super soldier Sam befriended in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, nearly assassinates Ross. In a bid to prove Bradley’s innocence, Sam and Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez), his own Falcon, uncover a conspiracy led by Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson) to undermine and humiliate Ross as payback for his actions against him in 2008’s The Incredible Hulk. 

Therein lies the crux of the MCU’s problem and its reflection in Brave New World. Although the film bears his name, Sam Wilson is not the film’s narrative thrust. Surprisingly and disappointingly, the film centers on Ross, his actions in a film that is wholly irrelevant to Wilson, and the consequences of said actions, spurred by a villain who is also irrelevant to Wilson. Large swathes of the film find Wilson (and Torres) responding and reacting to a convoluted web of grudges and motivations outside their sphere of influence. Wilson’s role in this conflict is spurred by his desire to prove Bradley innocent of a crime beyond his control. That’s a valid motivation, but it quickly loses steam when you realize that Bradley’s involvement in Stern’s scheme is driven by circumstance. It leaves Bradley as a damsel in distress when he means much and Wilson in a relatively passive role.

Consider The Winter Soldier, which Brave New World is shamelessly trying to evoke. Steve Rogers’s motivations were twofold: his concerns over SHIELD behaving as a surveillance state and the reveal of Bucky Barnes as the Winter Soldier. That film worked because of the character-shifting emotional and psychological stakes for Rogers. You saw him grow and evolve through Winter Soldier. Conversely, Wilson isn’t given the freedom to experience the same. Because the story is so enamored with settling scores without real stakes for him, it leaves him without a character-driven narrative that powers the MCU’s most successful entries. It isn’t until the third act that it briefly shifts its focal point back to Wilson, discussing his fear that his lack of super-serum makes him inadequate. (A cameo from Wilson’s past immediately injects much-needed emotional energy for Wilson, to the point where their absence from this film is almost indefensible.) 

The film sets up other compelling threads, but either loses track of them or tugs on them too late. It touches upon Wilson’s Blackness in relation to being Captain America, but apart from one heated exchange, it doesn’t bloom. (Ford refers to Wilson as “son” during said exchange, and WIlson’s furious reaction suggests that “boy,” a more charged racist dog whistle, was in the original script.) Torres’s revelation that Wilson inspired him (growing up as a child of color) sparks the film’s other best emotional moment but should’ve come earlier when Wilson needed the boost. Seeing Wilson, Torres, and Bradley celebrating on their way to the White House was a lovely moment of Black and brown joy that the MCU rarely leaves space for (outside of the Black Panther franchise). Any of these would be excellent foundations, with the traditional superheroic hijinks thrown in, but the film settles for less meaning.

The film isn’t without merit, though. There are some great fight scenes throughout, particularly hand-to-hand combat, where Wilson demonstrates his unique and creative style. (Again, this thread could have shaped Wilson’s narrative.) While the overarching plot (or plots) lacks cohesion and relevance to Sam, there are great individual moments that offer real engagement. The performances are excellent, with Anthony Mackie delivering his best performance as Wilson and one of his best-ever performances, sparkling on screen with high-wattage charisma and gravitas (when the script lets him). Danny Ramirez similarly holds up the film with his bright-eyed energy, having a blast in nearly every frame. While I question why Ross was needed in this story, Harrison Ford continues his extraordinary late-career surge here, imbuing the president with angst, yearning, and suppressed rage that makes his transformation into the Red Hulk truly impactful.

As another stepping stone for whatever the MCU is leading up to with Avengers: Doomsday next year, Brave New World is a decent entry in the post-Endgame canon. As a standalone film meant to introduce Sam Wilson to the world as the indisputable Captain America, it falls short. This is a film that should’ve been deeply grounded in Wilson as a character, leveraging his past, his strengths, and his weaknesses to drive the story. Instead, Wilson feels more like a cipher in his own film, following the breadcrumbs dictated by the MCU’s larger obligations. (Again, I don’t see why The Incredible Hulk is one of them.) It would be disappointing if any of the Avengers were treated so haphazardly. The fact that it’s Sam Wilson (and, by extension, Anthony Mackie) who still faces vitriol from the MCU fanbase’s more reprehensible members makes Brave New World an act of negligence.

While this review is about one type of problem within the MCU, it’s this one that poses an existential threat to the studio.