Captain America: Brave New World is directed by Julius Onah and stars Anthony Mackie taking over the mantle of Captain America. He’s thrown into an international conspiracy with the newly elected President who is hiding some serious anger issues himself.
Anthony Mackie is excellent as Captain America, bringing a strong grounded-ness to the role with plenty of charisma too. Danny Ramirez is awesome as the new falcon, injecting some charming humour to the new team dynamic.
Harrison Ford is a very welcome addition to the movie and has a surprisingly huge role. He takes over the role of Thaddeus Ross, now President. He’s prominent for the entire runtime and his signature delivery makes him the standout of every scene he’s in.
The story is kicked off by an attack on the President’s life, which reveals a conspiracy tracing all the way back to President Ross’ actions in the 2008 movie The Incredible Hulk.
Meanwhile, there’s a global political battle over the Adanmantium discovered in the Celstial from the Eternals movie.
And it juggles all this while introducing new characters like the Giancarlo Esposito’s Serpent Society villain ‘Sidewinder’, a trained Black Widow, and the new Falcon, all while trying to introduce Sam Wilson as Captain America. In the end, most of these plotlines either get lost, or quickly lied up in a rushed third act.
The film is very fast-paced, and the first half delivers some really strong political thrills including a high-stakes chase at the US Capital with strong action and tension.
As the film goes on though, it tries, but ultimately doesn’t quite match the espionage thriller that Captain America: The Winter Soldier was. Many of the elements are there — a conspiracy, coordinated attacks of undercover organisations, and high-stakes political negotiations — but ultimately, the second-half of the film quickly changes from a mystery thriller into a personal revenge story.
In particular, the return of Samuel Sterns from The Incredible Hulk is interesting. While his tragic backstory feels like it’s building to a huge reveal, it ultimately winds up pretty quickly, with a smaller impact than what we’ve come to expect from a Marvel movie finale.
In all, the great chemistry from the cast, and with a fast-paced mystery makes this an easy watch with an intruiging set up for a new Captain America that fans can be excited about. And, if you liked The Incredible Hulk movie, then this is definitely worth checking out too. The Red Hulk moments were a highlight!
You can also watch our video review from the Sydney Preview Screening here:
Captain America: Brave New World releases in Australian cinemas on February 14th.
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