The powers that be in charge of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, namely producer Kevin Feige, have discussed how the movie division at Marvel Studios is in the midst of a restructuring. An entertainment brand in danger of overexposure and lack of audience enthusiasm certainly needed some creative rebranding. Last year, we only got one Marvel movie, Deadpool and Wolverine, and the Deadpool franchise has always felt like a fun diversion from the typical Marvel movie rather than a part of the ongoing saga. This year, we have three MCU films, starting with the one we’re talking about today. Captain America: Brave New World is the first Captain America movie to star Anthony Mackie, following his taking over the mantle from Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers. And despite hearing endlessly about this being a ‘troubled production’, I was hoping for good things with this one. It became clear very early on into Julius Onah’s film, however, that my optimism going into this film was misguided.

Following the events of the Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Sam Wilson (Mackie) has taken over the role of Captain America, but he still questions his role and whether or not he was the right choice. Meanwhile, politician Thaddeus ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross (Harrison Ford) has been elected President of the United States. Ross hires Wilson to work alongside the White House, but Ross has demons from the past he’s trying to draw attention away from. We also have a new Falcon (Danny Ramirez) who Sam is training with alongside Isiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly), an original super soldier. And a whole bunch of other things spiral out of control and this narrative gets super messy. 

Captain America: Brave New World feels like a lot of housekeeping for the MCU. There are a lot of plot lines left hanging from other films in this series that Onah’s film is trying to wrap up. But then it’s also trying desperately to set up what’s coming next in this series, and ultimately it feels like it has no sense of itself as an actual film. We start off with the 1970s paranoid political thriller vibes captured better by Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and the fact that this film is starting off reminding us of better Marvel movies, is problematic. Because we’re constantly thinking about other movies we’ve enjoyed more than this, movies that the one we’re watching, has no interest in matching the quality of. This feels like a mess because it’s trying to do so much to do so many things, that you leave feeling like nothing has happened. 

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is in something of a transitional period, something that feels similar to when the big stars leave your favorite TV show and the showrunners are desperate to hold your attention. I’m looking forward to the cool, retro futuristic looking Fantastic Four movie we have coming up this year, and the upcoming Florence Pugh/Sebastian Stan led Thunderbolts*, coming this summer. Hopefully those films get the MCU back on track, because there are many factors at play here that doom Brave New World pretty much from the get-go.

The central problem here for me is that Captain America: Brave New World is an inherently political movie that the script is trying desperately to make as apolitical as possible. We are obviously dealing with a very divided America at this moment in time. People are terrified, people are angry and people have always used media to cope with what they can’t control. And there is nothing in Brave New World that feels like this is all taking place in the same world we all live in, and that’s a problem, considering these movies have always consciously or subconsciously commented on the world around them.

In this film specifically, we have a black superhero taking the mantle after the retirement of a beloved white superhero, and the subject of race is central to this story, and the film is too afraid to really make it a plot point. This film also handles the story of a corrupt politician who is desperate to hold onto power, and the way the script skirts around this is kind of unforgivable. Sam Wilson is also dealing with his own trauma and imposter syndrome as a result of taking on the Captain America title, and there’s a lot of potentially interesting ideas we could have explored there, and the film spends about 30 seconds on this. Sam’s decision not to take the Super Serum previously taken by Rogers and Sebastian Stan’s Bucky, could also be a compelling angle for this story to focus on, and we don’t spend a lot of time on this either.

One person who is never to blame for Brave New World’s failure, however, is star Anthony Mackie, who is always giving a stellar performance despite the film around him. And if this film flops and people start blaming him and not the movie itself, that would be deeply depressing and I wouldn’t be a bit surprised. And co-stars Harrison Ford, Danny Ramirez, Carl Lumbly and especially Giancarlo Esposito, are all doing great work here, but everyone feels underwritten and no actor is given the proper real estate to truly make an impression. You definitely need to have seen The Falcon and the Winter Soldier over on Disney+ to make any sense of what’s going on here. 

Harrison Ford’s Thaddeus Ross transforming into the Red Hulk is something teased in every trailer and even the film’s poster. And the entire CGI-heavy third act battle sequence is essentially ruined by the advertising. You’ve basically already seen the entire sequence if you’ve seen this film’s trailer and/or any of the TV spots. It’s the kind of thing I normally wouldn’t have talked about in my review but since everyone knows that’s where this is going, I guess we’ll talk about it. The CGI in this sequence particularly but really the entire movie, is atrocious and you need to wonder what went so wrong here. With all the resources and money that went into this production (ranging from the reported $180 million budget to a rumored $320 million) one fails to find a logical explanation as to how this movie looks as bad as it does.

It’s also worth noting that all of the behind-the-camera work here is bad. There are five credited screenwriters here, and it shows. The film feels like a pasted together barrage of ideas that never mesh together. The editing is insane, with the frame cutting back, forth and sideways a ridiculous amount of times in scenes where we don’t need so much cutting. The score by the very talented Laura Karpman, is either too loud or too overbearing and genuinely feels out of place in multiple scenes. Cinematographer Kramer Morgenthau’s camerawork is chaotic and distancing. I’m unaware of the details of this reported troubled production, and you can’t quite tell where the reshoots might have taken place. But it’s not surprising to learn that a lot of chaos happened behind the scenes of this film because it feels very awkwardly slapped together the entire way through. And the post-credits scene at the very end of everything, feels like a big shoulder shrug. But I guess the whole movie kind of does.

Captain America: Brave New World is, unfortunately, yet another setback for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I hope to see the day where these films become thrilling and essential moviegoing again, but we’re not there yet. Brave New World is a total mess, from the perspective of plot and character and despite being one of the shorter MCU films, at under two hours, it’s paced in a way that made it feel endless. The MCU has been chasing the dragon of the pre-Endgame hype machine for several movies now, and I still have hope they can get back on track, but the outlook isn’t great at this moment.