There’s a new President of the United States and he wants to create a legacy for the ages… despite his sketchy past that makes even those in his orbit tiptoe around him. A dude with an anger management problem, the President manipulates both friend and foe to his own advantage, accusing others of being naïve if they push back. He yells a lot and insults people, quickly backsliding on promises to so-called friends, friends that moments ago were buttered-up with flattery, only to find themselves suddenly on his shit list when they don’t line up with his wishes.
But hey, 2025! Believe it or not, we are not watching the news! This is what passes for entertainment these days, Marvel-style.
Captain America: Brave New World was apparently in development for years. Blame the alignment of Asgard with whatever galaxy the Guardians live in, but I couldn’t help but think that this film with this tone and this plot couldn’t have come out at a worse time.
You’ve got a Black hero, the new Captain America Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), who mentions more than once how much harder he has to fight to prove himself. You’ve got the aforementioned President, one Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford taking over for the late William Hurt in the role), a man who is often spitting in fury, trusting no one. You even have a villain (one of of many) who is apparently smarter than everyone else, who is manipulating the President and the government like a puppetmaster from his lair.
Now, I’m not feeling the need to rehash the tangled Scooby Doo plots, mainly because my emotional investment was a big old shrug. However, I can sum it up to say that despite (or because of) multiple writers, the action isn’t particularly memorable, attempts at jokes and quips don’t land, and there is little charm or emotional investment in any of the characters (despite the considerable appeal of people like Mackie and others). Though it’s kind of fun to imagine Harrison Ford as his Air Force One badass President aging into a cranky, power-hungry man that can still throw a punch, his big, not-so-secret reveal as the Red Hulk comes waaaaay at the end of the film and fills just one action sequence, seeming almost after the fact considering its emphasis in the movie’s marketing.
I do want to point out a couple of performances that did make an impression. Giancarlo Esposito shows up as Sidewinder, a rogue mercenary (I think?) who simply vibrates with menace that could explode at any moment. He doesn’t need makeup or a costume to be a memorable badass, and is an actually scary bad guy. (Like most characters in Marvel, I’m certain we haven’t seen the last of him.) The other is Carl Lumbly as Isaiah Bradley, an aging super soldier who is brainwashed into attempting to assassinate the President. In a few short scenes, he manages to convey his nightmarish past, his fear of being locked up in solitary confinement (a torture that he experienced for 30 years), and his fatigue over the burden of what he has become. Apparently his story is fleshed out in the Marvel series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, but Lumbly is so good in his few minutes that his sheer gravitas fills in the blanks.
Captain America: Brave New World, surprisingly, is just under two hours, which in itself is some Marvel superhero-feat these days. Considering that the film was such an un-fun slog smooshed together with a ripped-from-the-headlines political vibe, it managed to feel so much longer. So it may not surprise you that I just couldn’t stick around for the post-credit teaser scene… I was done. I guess I’ll have to look on the internet to see what happens next.
