Captain America: Brave New World (Christian Movie Review)
With a lackluster, poorly scripted story that never rises to the quality of its talented cast, Brave New World is another dull and inconsequential entry in the MCU.
About the Film
There was a time when a new entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe felt like an important cultural event, but lately the franchise has experienced diminishing returns. Yet, if anything is poised to reenergize the MCU, it is Captain America, the subseries responsible for arguably the best films in the sprawling franchise. There’s also the additional intrigue of a new man in the star-spangled suit, with Chris Evans passing the shield to Anthony Mackie. Unfortunately, despite its provocative title, Captain America: Brave New World offers little that can be classified as “brave” or “new.” With a lackluster, poorly scripted story that never rises to the quality of its talented cast, Brave New World is another dull and inconsequential entry in the MCU.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) is often heralded as the best Marvel film (non-Avengers division), achieving acclaim as “a great film that happens to be a comic book movie” rather than just “a great comic book movie.” A decade has passed since its release, and a new Captain America has taken center stage, but Brave New World clearly strives to be a spiritual successor to that beloved film. Notably, the movie forgoes the classic Marvel fanfare opening, a purposeful attempt to establish a unique identity beyond being just “more Marvel.” Despite these noble aspirations, the story nevertheless falls into that same rut, weighed down by frequent callbacks to prior events (including some surprisingly deep cuts) and adopting many of the same unfortunate storytelling tendencies that have derailed other Marvel films in recent years.
The film marks the theatrical debut of a new Captain America. Actor Anthony Mackie ignited some off-screen controversy with his comments that the term “America” shouldn’t be what Captain America represents, but on-screen, he is a capable actor and a worthy successor to Chris Evans in the role. Despite those viral interview remarks, he is indeed framed as a champion for traditional American values, even as he fights for them from a different perspective as both a non-superpowered individual and a black man.
The central problem with Brave New World is not that it features a new Captain America but that the film seems to exist for no other reason. Beyond the “Anthony Mackie is Captain America now!” premise, there’s little else of consequence. It’s not a “bad” film; it is simply a boring one, devoid of the crisp writing or the explosive energy and pacing of prior Captain America films. Instead, the plot is disjointed and overstuffed, with uncompelling political intrigue and some uninventive action that looks surprisingly cheap despite the lofty budget.
The story also lacks a captivating villain. Despite his prominence in the film’s trailers, Harrison Ford’s “Red Hulk” only appears for one Third Act sequence. Ford delivers, making this the best segment in the film, but it comes too late. Instead, the primary antagonist is a returning character from the early days of the MCU, and even with the bar set famously low, he is unquestionably among the worst MCU villains. The film banks on audiences remembering the character from a 17-year-old movie and fails to establish him as a serious foil to Captain America. He is apparently a super-genius, but despite frequent mumbo-jumbo about statistical probability, he doesn’t do anything particularly intelligent or clever, and his “mind-control” abilities feel hokey and cartoonish.
The shortcoming of the villain is perhaps representative of Brave New World as a whole. The film is a collection of ideas and leftover pieces passed down from prior films that aren’t refashioned or developed in fresh ways. The screenwriters use excessive expositional dialogue to explain the themes and narrative tensions, but labor to communicate these elements on screen. Sam Wilson (aka Captain America) repeatedly muses that he “should have taken the super serum,” yet he doesn’t actually fail (or even struggle) at any point in the story, making his lack of superpowers a moot point. Similarly, a monologue in the film’s closing moments touches on the tension of being a black man in the role of Captain America, but the moment feels shoehorned in and half-hearted, as though held on a tight leash in Disney’s desire to avoid anything too politically charged. It’s a film that can’t seem to decide what exactly it is about beyond introducing a new hero into the ever-expanding MCU canon.
In the end, despite promises of a brave new world, the latest Captain America story is more of the same, merely another cog in the cumbersome Marvel machine. Mackie proves that he has what it takes to carry the Captain America mantle into the future, but Marvel will need to come up with more compelling stories for him if it wants to keep more than just the most die-hard fans engaged.
For Consideration
Language: There are frequent profanities, including multiple uses of “s—,” “b—ch.” “d—,” and “h—.” There are also several utterances of “Jesus” and “God.”
Violence: Typical MCU fare, with plenty of relatively bloodless action. One man, under the influence of mind control, puts a pistol to his chin, then the camera cuts away as the gunshot is heard.
Sexuality: None.
Engage The Film
Uniting a Divided Country
There are several different ways to interpret the thematic intention of Brave New World. The film wavers between an optimistic and pessimistic view of America. There are several moments that seem to be intentional critiques and echoes of real-world hot button issues, such as a scene where three white cops are roughly arresting a black man. The same is true of the character of Thunderbolt Ross (Harrison Ford), a controversial president who puts America at risk by becoming a monster and going off the rails to (literally) destroy the White House, which some audiences will likely take as a metaphor for President Trump.
At the same time, whether intentionally or at the behest of Disney Execs, the film largely avoids becoming overly politicalized, and instead offers a mostly positive message about unity. America is a divided country—in the film and in real life—but Captain America attempts to rise above the division and demonstrate a better way forward. Despite a tumultuous personal history with the now-president Ross, Sam Wilson chooses to stand by his side, in spite of some pointed criticism, in order to be a symbol of unity and shared American values.
At the end of the film, a character remarks that while people looked up to Steve Rogers (the former Captain America), they aspire to be Sam Wilson. He is an everyman, a hero without superpowers; thus he can set an achievable example. It’s therefore fitting that it’s not through strength that Wilson ultimately prevails, but by appealing to the shared humanity of his adversaries. It should also be noted that his Christian faith is not as explicit as with the Rogers iteration, there are several visual motifs that connect the character to America’s religious heritage.
