Captain America (Anthony Mackie) has to discover who is pulling the strings behind a nefarious plot to put America at war with Japan over the discovery of Adamantium on the Celestial body in the Indian Ocean. 

General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (Harrison Ford stepping into the shoes of William Hurt who died in 2022) is now the President of the United States and despite his differences with superheroes he wants Captain America to work with him to rebuild the Avengers. But Sam Wilson, the new Captain America, is wary of working with someone who once had him put in prison for being an Avenger. When an attempt is made on the life of Ross the two of them disagree on how to work together on the investigation and go their separate ways. 

Has Ross really changed his behaviour? And is Sam Wilson worthy of the title Captain America? 

At one point in Captain America: Brave New World Captain America explains that some things are all about timing. And this must be something that Anthony Mackie must be thinking about right now. Finally given the leading role in a flagship Marvel Studios Production at a point in time when public perception of the product is at an all time low. Brave New World is an entirely average but perfectly reasonable entry into the comic book movie pantheon. But I suspect given the onset of Superhero “fatigue” from consumers it is unlikely to get the pass that the likes of Thor: The Dark World or Iron Man 2 were given in the early days of the studio. 

The plot itself is superficially complicated. A political thriller with a hidden villain pulling the strings. It’s just not that interesting when you find out what the answer is. Whilst the entire story builds to a key moment that was spoiled months ago in the trailers for the film. So the majority of people watching already know where this is leading and are just waiting for it. Hardly a good recipe for tension even if it probably sold a lot of tickets on opening weekend. 

So let’s discuss what is good, bad and questionable. 

In the good category we have the aerial action that Captain America and his new Falcon, Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez) engage in. Speaking of which, Torres falls into the category of wise cracking motormouth sidekick with a little charm. New Superbad mercenary Sidewinder (Giancarlo Esposito) is also a fun new entry purely because Esposito has nailed the villain role. So whilst his character is literally “badass mercenary” Esposito makes it work. Speaking of acting talent that knows exactly what to deliver, Harrison Ford is typically superb taking over the reigns of General/President Ross. And Anthony Mackie tries really hard to make his Captain America work. 

In the bad category we have a number of other secondary characters making zero impact in roles that I doubt will return to future films. We have the aforementioned big reveal in the trailers that rob the film of any payoff in its final act. And we get the dull and repetitive story of Sam Wilson feeling undeserving of the title Captain America. A plot done to death in the snooze fest that was the Marvel TV show Falcon and the Winter Soldier. 

The questionable category lays firmly in the bold choice that this film is essentially a direct sequel to 2008’s The Incredible Hulk. Something that might strain on even the biggest Marvel fan’s memory. Although at least the Celestial that has brought Adamantium into the world was found in 2021’s Eternals. 

The end result is fine, passable, ok or whatever mostly neutral adjective you want to use. It will not challenge a Marvel Top Ten, nor should it be labelled a disaster. 

As for the usual Marvel credits watch. There is only an end of credits scene and it’s so nondescript it is hardly worth waiting for.