‘Captain America: Brave New World’ promises a better day for Marvel

Anthony Mackie capably carries this year’s first MCU movie.

Image: Walt Disney Co.

I’ve made no secret about not especially enjoying the last few movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Not only has the filmmaking and writing not been up to par, but the films have had too many characters and too many villains. And even worse than that, they’ve been way too dependent on multiverse-related plots, with their inherent lack of meaning. It’s where good film storytelling goes to die.

Therefore, I’m happy to say that Captain America: Brave New World is the best MCU movie in recent memory, mostly because it avoids most of those pitfalls. It’s a model of economical storytelling, not using too many characters or getting too complex. Nor does it spend too much time setting up the next movie in the series.

The action is mostly well-presented and not choppy or incoherent. And aside from a couple of brief references, the multiverse makes no appearances.

(Light spoilers to follow, but nothing that wasn’t in the film’s trailers and TV commercials)

This is the fourth Captain America movie and the first to feature Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson carrying the shield. There was already a whole Disney+ series in 2021, the mostly decent The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, that dealt with the former Falcon’s transition into the suit and Mackie’s filling some big shoes, both on and off-screen. (“You’re not Steve Rogers,” a character proclaims at one point, bringing the subtext into the text.)

I am pleased to say, though, that Mackie mostly holds his own in carrying the movie, which feels more like the early entries in the MCU than the slop that has characterized the series more recently.

The director, Julius Onah, is best known for making 2019’s Luce, and sticking an indie director into the blockbuster realm is something with a mixed record. But Onah makes the transition seamlessly, working from a script of which he is one of five credited writings.

There’s a touch of the 1970s conspiracy milieu that was a big influence on the best previous Captain America film, 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and there’s even a plot point left over from 2021’s Eternals, an MCU misfire that I had assumed everyone had agreed never to mention again.

But the key older MCU text for this film’s plot is The Incredible Hulk, the one with Edward Norton that came out in 2008. Those, like me, who see these films one time each might not remember all that; I saw the new film with my 15-year-old son, who wasn’t born yet when the Norton Hulk film came out.

As the film begins, former General Thaddeus Ross has just been elected president of the United States. Ross, a character long played in the MCU by William Hurt, has been replaced, following Hurt’s passing, with Harrison Ford who, yes, is 83 years old, older than both Donald Trump and Joe Biden.

Ford, for his part, already played the president in Air Force One, which came out almost 30 years ago. And yes, as every trailer has already spoiled, the president eventually becomes Red Hulk- although it happens for much less of the film than you’re probably expecting.

Sam Wilson is still settling into the Captain America suit, and he’s even got a new sidekick (Danny Ramirez) who’s looking to take Sam’s old mantle as The Falcon. When a supervillain from the past (Tim Blake Nelson, from the Norton Hulk film) attempts to use mind control to sow assassination attempts and international incidents, it’s up to Captain America to keep the peace. Most specifically, an international treaty that followed the crucial mineral discovery in that mostly-forgotten Eternals movie.

The setup allows a fascinating look at the unique dynamic of the president of the United States and superheroes working side by side, and the ultimate question of who’s the most powerful. While the “Civil War” arc looked at the question of control back then, the Sokovia Accords were more of a U.N. thing. Also, recent news events raise fascinating questions about what the Unitary Executive Theory would look like if the president were a Hulk.

As for the action, it’s better what we’ve been seeing lately from the MCU. The action is easy to follow, and this series never runs out of creative things to do with that flying shield. And a welcome addition are some small drones that Wilson gets to sport during fight scenes.

The supporting cast is fairly strong, led by Nelson, who’s a fantastic, unique villain, and Giancarlo Esposito as a secondary mercenary villain. Carl Lumbly has a small but consequential role as a war veteran wrongly imprisoned for years and who gets framed again.

Shira Haas plays a government agent whose Israeli heritage appears to have been mostly scrubbed by the movie, although I’m not sure it would have added or subtracted anything if the film had added a line or two where she talks about her country. Liv Tyler, meanwhile, has a cameo as Ross’s long-estranged daughter (Let’s just say we know exactly what Liv Tyler’s dad looks like, and it’s nothing like Harrison Ford.)

No, Brave New World is not an upper-tier MCU effort. But it’s a course correction after a few years of subpar films, which also shows that the Captain America shield is in good hands.