The Mosley Review: Captain America: Brave New World

There is a hard lesson that is learned when making a film. You have to be absolutely certain of the story you're crafting for an audience to enjoy while having just enough wiggle room to adjust and shift the story to if something doesn't work out on screen. If it doesn't serve the narrative, cut it, but make sure you have a movie to put together without revealing all the scars left over. This isn't necessarily new territory for the films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Perhaps one of the biggest examples of this flaw is the first Captain Marvel. Somewhere beyond the flashy distraction of the effects, there was a unique and powerful story that clumsy limps along and isn't fully brought into the light. That's what I felt was the biggest problem with this film. The action in the film ranges from rough to spectacular and the story had the some of the best parts of Manchurian Candidate meets Crimson Tide. Its when it tries to build up some new characters and re-introduce new ones that I felt the film really losing its focus along the way and it turned into an unfocused collection of the best elements of its predecessor Captain America: Winter Soldier. In fact, it was pretty much a retread of many themes from that film with elements that would effect Bruce Banner instead of Sam Wilson.

Anthony Mackie has always been a strong actor and I enjoyed finally seeing him fully as Sam Wilson accepting the full responsibility of being Captain America. I liked that he is a bit meaner, more brutal and you feel more connected to him as you see the physical toll it takes. He is constantly proving himself to not only himself, but to his colleagues and of course the nation. There is doubt that he has to overcome and that shows the strength of his leadership skills. Danny Ramirez returns as Joaquin Torres and as his new trainee as he aspires to be the new Falcon. Their chemistry was good in the film and I felt their friendship built a bit more organically this time around. The great Carl Lumbly returns as Isaiah Bradley and I loved him the most in this film. Not only does he get more of lighter touch to his character, but he gets to show off his physicality. He has the most emotionally charged story in the film and it harkens to what I said before about the Manchurian Candidate aspect we’ve seen before with Bucky Barnes. Giancarlo Esposito is always fun to watch and as Sidewinder, he was all the villainy needed to push the first quarter of the film forward. I liked that he is being built up as the new foil for Sam and hopefully it is the beginning of a possible Serpent Society arc. Shira Haas was cool as the steadfast and small but mighty Ruth Bat-Seraph. I dug her abilities as a protector and I liked that she was part of the investigation, but ultimately her character was wasted and was unnecessary for the most part. She tends to figure things out way after Sam does. Harrison Ford was fun as he takes over for the late and great William Hurt as President Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross. I liked that he was very remorseful of his past and at times more human than ever instead of the militaristic tyrant of the character. He was constantly on edge understandably and I dug his many battles of ideals with Sam. When he eventually becomes Red Hulk, the fight itself was great, but I really loved the looming build of dread towards his transformation. The great Tim Blake Nelson finally returns to the MCU as Samuel Sterns / Leader and I loved his complete villain turn. He knows how to milk the sometimes hammy dialogue given to him. We get to see him after the events of the The Incredible Hulk and he looks pretty close to his comic accurate counter part. I liked that he was the puppet master of events in the story, but he turned into a Saturday morning cartoon villain toward the end.

The score by Laura Karpman was bombastic, sometimes overbearing and punctuated the action sequences well. It felt more like a standard Marvel score with no particular theme or melodies and was unfortunately forgettable. Like I said before, I felt the many cuts to the much more fleshed out story that was trying to be told. The film was heavy with exposition as it would explain away all the missing gaps in logic and the many obvious ADR lines that were blatant. I miss the days when each film in the MCU had a story theme. Winter Soldier was a political spy film, Ant-Man was a heist film and Guardians of the Galaxy were a 80's space soap opera. This film tried to stay in that same political / ecological thriller pocket so hard, but it struggled to land with the almost randomness of the frankensteined together plot. It wasn't the worst the MCU has had to offer lately, but its not the best this film it deservedly should've been. There is an end credit scene that was nothing special in my opinion as it states the insanely obvious. Let me know what you thought of the film or my review in the comments below. Thanks for reading!