Captain America: Brave New World

Captain America: Brave New World is the latest entry in the Phase Five of the MCU. Considering the amount of reshoots, I didn't had high hopes for it and thought it wouldn't live up to the Captain America Trilogy and unfortunately I was right.

Starting with the positives. The cast delivers some charismatic performances particularly Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson/Captain America. He pours his heart and soul into bringing the best out of his character. Danny Ramirez as Joaquin Torres also delivered a hilarious and delightful performance and his chemistry with Mackie is solid. And Harrison Ford as Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross/"The Red Hulk" was one of the highlights of the film. The action sequences were entertaining even though not as mesmerising as they could've been.

Now the movie has some obvious flaws. The plot felt rushed, predictable and lacked depth with a lot of story elements feeling underdeveloped. The pacing was extremely uneven. There were moments that felt rushed while others dragged on making the film a little unengaging at times. It tries to match the storytelling heights of the Captain America Trilogy only to fail at it. The editing is noticeably choppy. The CGI was questionable at times. The villain was underwhelming which shouldn't be the case with a Marvel movie. And the ending was anti-climactic.

While it suffers from a rushed and predictable plot, boring villain and uneven pacing, Anthony Mackie's performance and the entertaining action sequences makes Captain America: Brave New World a passable action flick and another mixed bag in the Phase Five of the MCU.

Man, I remember a time when the MCU was good. Like, really good. Now, I feel nothing. This film got nothing out of me. Not hatred, not love, not even a whiff. Just nothing. Let's get this over with.

The performances were alright. Harrison Ford was definitely the standout in this film. I was expecting him to just phone it in, but he actually puts in the work. Not his best work, but enough to make me like his version of Thaddeus Ross. Anthony Mackie is great as always, but is honestly given very little. I'm not entirely sure Sam had a character arc outside of one scene late into the film and even that is just rehashing what happened in a D+ show. Giancarlo Esposito was absolutely wasted. Clearly added in later and could easily be cut.

As for the plot, there's nothing new here I'm afraid. It feels like this film's only purpose was to introduce Adamantium to the MCU. The antagonist is terrible, they try to connect it to earlier MCU entries but no one is really going to remember. This film was clearly altered from what it originally was. It's difficult to talk about honestly, because it feels like there's nothing here. The film wants to be an espionage thriller like Winter Soldier, but lacks the tonal consistency, tight pacing and writing to even come close.

But what about the action? It isn't great. The hand to hand combat looks sluggish and poorly edited. There's a good amount of that throughout. The CGI ranges from decent to downright terrible. It all rings hollow.

So yeah, it's probably not the worst thing the MCU has put out, but it certainly isn't far above it. I can't bring myself to hate this film, because it is ultimately nothing. A waste of time.

I went into Captain America: Brave New World with low expectations, especially after all the negative publicity. But I decided to approach it as a straight-up action movie-and in that sense, it was okay. It was entertaining and somewhat enjoyable for what it was, but the movie had its fair share of flaws.

The Story: The plot felt rushed, and while it had some interesting connections to The Eternals, it lacked depth. There were noticeable editing issues, and the script felt average at best. The villains was forgettable, which is a huge missed opportunity because a hero is only as good as their villains. The Red Hulk storyline, which had so much potential, was underutilized and felt wasted.

The Character.

* Anthony Mackie (Sam Wilson/Captain America): Mackie carried the film and was a definite highlight. He's an underrated actor who did the best he could with the material he was given. His performance felt genuine, and he brought heart to the role.

* Danny Ramirez (Joaquin Torres: A pleasant surprise! Ramirez played Joaquin Torres well and showed good chemistry with Mackie. I hope they continue building his character as Captain America's sidekick.

* Harrison Ford (Thunderbolt Ross Red Hulk): Ford is a legend, but he looked uncomfortable in the role. At 83, it's understandable that such a physically demanding character might be tough to portray. If they plan to continue the Red Hulk storyline, they may need to consider a recast or a different approach to the character.

* Shira Haas (Ruth Bat-Seraph): Haas is a okay actress, but she didn't feel like the right fit for this character. She gave it her all, but something about her performance felt off. Maybe it was the writing or direction, and it seems like she was trying way too hard to act tough, taking on men twice her size was not believable, but either way. The character didn't connect, it was a pointless character to have in the movie.

The Action:

The action scenes were not bad, with some well-choreographed fights and high-paced sequences that kept it fun. But the editing issues were hard to ignore, with some moments feeling choppy or out of place.

The Missed Opportunities: The biggest letdown was the Red Hulk storyline. They introduced such a powerful character but barely scratched the surface of his potential. Also, the villains lacked presence, which hurt the overall impact of the movie.

Final Thoughts: Captain America: Brave New World is worth watching when it comes out on streaming service, if you're looking for a okay action movie. Just don't expect anything groundbreaking from the story or villains. It's entertaining, but it feels rushed and underdeveloped. Hopefully, if they make a sequel, they'll slow down, tighten the script, and develop a stronger villain like MODOK or Zemo could be amazing if done right!

Rating: 6/10 - Watch it for the action and Anthony Mackie's performance, but don't expect it to blow you away.

This movie failed to focus on a villain or a storyline despite its length. It felt like it was being used as an excuse to introduce new dynamics and catapult upcoming releases and potential projects (IDF woman, Bucky in Thunderbolts*, the new Falcon) rather than focusing on the Captain America character. Both the Winter Soldier & Falcon show as well as the trailers made it seem like this movie had specific intentions for the new Captain America, but the movie fell flat and didn't tell us anything we didn't already know about Sam. Despite the possible consequences, the villains wound up feeling low stakes and impersonal. The most interesting characters had the least screen time, and it was overall disappointing compared to the show that preceded it.

I just saw this in IMAX, and the quality was so bad we really thought something was wrong. It looked like an old VHS-copy. Anyone else experienced this?

The middle of the movie was kinda of okay. But the movie was kinda of pointless besides introducing the red hulk for the thunderbolts (which no doubt is gonna be a pretty pointless movie for the multiverse saga).

The movie also has one of the most dissapointing cameos of all time. I heard like 1 or 2 people go "oooh" in a way that almost felt ironic.

Red hulk and sam wilson were great, the rest of the films characters were just boring. 1 2 3 4 5.