We are barreling towards the next big Marvel event movie with Avengers: Doomsday coming sometime in 2026. But, if you’re like me, it doesn’t really feel like we’re building towards something great. Sure, RDJ is back as Doctor Doom, a decision that has divided fans, but other than that, does it really feel must see? Remember when we first saw Thanos at the end of The Avengers and then slowly built towards the Mad Titan’s infinity fisting the whole universe? There was not only hype, but a clear progression of how we were getting there and who the major players were going to be. But at the moment, The Avengers don’t exist, but Sam Wilson as Captain America is supposedly leading the charge to reforming the group. But if this movie was supposed to be our springboard to that inevitable end, I don’t think Marvel fully stuck the landing.

The MCU is going through a bit of an identity problem right now, with no real clear direction on where it’s going or what it’s trying to accomplish. Well, other than make a shit load of money. Its films and shows are wildly swinging in quality for a few reasons, whether it be a desire to produce stories as plainly and directly as possible or to throw as many references as possible at you to trick you into thinking the product is more exciting than it is. The latest addition to the Captain America quadrilogy is mostly the former, lacking in the weight or style of the past films while presenting a quote unquote “political thriller” that doesn’t actually have anything political to say. Central ideas like Wilson earning the title of Captain are shoved to the back in order to not retread ground, but it leaves our hero with nothing for us to really get behind. There are moments of intrigue with some of the action sequences and performances, but the dry, glossy sheen of it all doesn’t bring it all home. It’s competent at least, but with no clear voice or intention behind it, I don’t really see this as capable of rallying the troops.

Sam Wilson, now the new, bonafide Captain America, is thrown into a political conspiracy involving newly elected president Thadeus Ross and an unknown puppet master pulling the strings. Unaware of how deep this goes, Wilson and his partner Jaquin Torres, must take matters into their own hands and find the source of this sabotage until world peace crumbles completely.

Captain America going rogue and not knowing who in the government he can trust while trying to unearth deep, catastrophic information? Sounds a little familiar. While it’s not a complete retread of The Winter Soldier, one of if not my favorite of the MCU, the similarities are there in concept alone. The finesse, the uncertainty, and the execution that made that film so good? Yeah, they forgot to copy that part. What we’re left with is a film that doesn’t want to surprise you too much, playing it safe and easy so nothing interrupts the big bonanza they apparently have planned. Yet at the same time, it feels so hesitant to move forward and actually establish anything or anyone worth caring about, seeming to think that just having characters with names we recognize is good enough. This unfortunately applies to Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson, who isn’t given much of a chance to reaffirm himself as the MCU’s new leader. His rebelling against the establishment comes from a place of narrative necessity rather than personal conflict, even though the pieces are there. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier show dealt with Wilson wrestling with convincing the world he’s worthy of adopting the title of Captain America, and Brave New World doesn’t really have that same kind of personal conflict. The world has accepted him more or less, so you would think the next step would be to see Sam reaffirming himself that he’s the right choice. And we get the tiniest sprinklings of that, but it never materializes into anything remotely interesting. What’s unfortunate is that the script never gives Mackie much room to let his charisma shine through, relegating him to dry plot speak or quips that don’t always hit their mark.

Out of the whole cast, I actually found President Ross to be one of the more interesting characters. Now portrayed by Harrison Ford, Thunderbolt Ross is a president weighed down by the misdeeds of his past, looking to move beyond them while never really taking responsibility for them. That could actually be pretty compelling, but his demons are never really given the gravitas they probably deserve. Instead, the film focuses more on building towards his turn as the Red Hulk, which is supposed to be more representative of his demons coming to light. It’s not exactly the cleanest metaphor, but the Hulk never really was to begin with. I do think the effect work for Red Hulk looks pretty solid, perfectly capturing Ford’s facial features while never feeling too disconnected from the film. It does feel like a bit of symbolism that writes itself was reeled back so as to not offend anyone, so if you like your political thrillers to be as unreflective as possible, then you’re in luck, baby.

But while Ross only plays a minor secondary antagonist role, there’s another man in the shadows plotting his and Captain America’s downfall. If you were looking for payoff from a 15-year-old movie most people forget is even part of the MCU, then you’re in luck, because Tim Blake Nelson’s Samuel Sterns returns to…not do a whole lot. Sure, he’s the one directing all of the misfortune, but he rarely feels like a viable threat. Compared to Baron Zemo, who was in a similar role in Captain America: Civil War, Stern’s impact and emotion behind his actions feel way too flat and uneventful. He’s supposed to be a genius, but only feels that way because the film tells us he is. He’s written like one of those movie geniuses who you can tell is smart because they appear to know the exact probability of every outcome, even though he’s wrong a lot of the time here. Even though his design is a bit of a far cry from how he looks in the comics, I do like the look we got, which comes off as both horrifying and tragic. I just wish that played way more into the actual character.

Falcon and the Winter Soldier may not have been a perfect show, but at least it actually made some efforts to be about something. An occasionally misguided and often surface level something, but something nonetheless. To not even attempt to follow up on the world and direction that the show established is pretty confusing, especially when the final choice for plot progression revolves around two of the most disliked films in the MCU. And it doesn’t even use these hanging plot threads in interesting ways. That dead celestial that’s chilling in the Indian Ocean is just used as a backdrop and nothing else. Its only real use is to be a half-baked tool to push the film’s message of “come on guys, we should all be kind to one another and work together”. And look, not every film needs to have an overtly political message behind it, but when your film looks like a political thriller, talks like a political thriller, and shits the bed like a political thriller, I expect it to smell a little like a political thriller. 

Additionally, the visual style of the film is just so uninteresting and bland, falling in line with many of the MCU’s films of the last few years. Action sequences present some fun ideas, especially with Wilson’s flying added into the mix, but they mostly feel weightless and are presented as boringly as possible. For slower moments, the film is mostly concerned with getting as much coverage as possible rather than using the camera to do some of the narrative heavy lifting. When I think of films like Blow Out and the Bourne films, I remember how intentful the camera was in instilling the right kind of emotion that was needed to make those films thrilling. But even when this film is looking to fulfill its superhero genre requirements, it does so with such little intrigue or innovation that I don’t think I’ll be remembering any of the action sequences after…well, now. And as for the writing, I swear Marvel is starting to do the same thing Netflix has employed, where they’ve been making it a point to have dialogue explaining what’s happening as much as possible just in case you happen to be looking down at your phone. There’s so many times where something happens, and then a character seemingly has to say what happened. The dialogue talks to the audience more than it talks to the characters, and that’s an issue.

Right now the highest compliment I can give this film is “competent”. Despite its lack of originality or style, it’s not outright terrible. Other than a few CG backgrounds, the film looks fine for the most part, and the narrative is structured in a way where it’s at least always moving along. But “competent” is a word I should be using for a first time director’s indie film, not the 35th film in a multi-billion dollar franchise. Captain America: Brave New World is further proof of a long running problem with Marvel; they’re more interested in throwing money at big name actors rather than creative minds looking to tell creative stories. They’ve backed themselves into a corner where they have so many characters and continuities to manage that they can’t afford anyone to try anything bold or, dare I say, brave. The characters are flat action figures flown through bare-bone narratives that are too afraid to offer any real humanity or reflections of the world we live in. It’s mostly watchable, but so are most things you’ll find at the theaters. I remember a time when that wasn’t the case for the MCU, but I don’t think that’s gonna change anytime soon. In conclusion, Brave New World is the same old shit.

RATING

RED HULK

The Red Hulk is a character often too hot to handle, but I think this cocktail manages to consolidate his essence in a manageable, enjoyable way. This bright red tiki cocktail packs a Hulk-sized punch thanks to its implementation of three types of rum, along with some orange and pepper liqueurs for additional flavor. Together, they form a sweet and powerful cocktail with just a hint of spice lying underneath. A light dusting of cinnamon on top makes the whole thing almost Christmas like, and I personally like to implement a lit match into the dusting to add a smokier element that can be both smelled and tasted.

INGREDIENTS

• 1oz white rum
• 1oz dark rum
• 1/2oz 151 rum
• 1.5oz cranberry juice
• 1oz lime juice
• 1/2oz Cointreau
• 1/2oz Ancho Chile liqueur
• Dusting: Cinnamon (with an optional match)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Add ingredients to a shaker and shake with ice.
2. Strain into a tiki glass filled with ice (or other tall glass)
3. Dust top of cocktail with cinnamon. (OPTIONAL: Light a match over the cocktail, then dust the top with cinnamon to created a smoked effect)