‘Captain America: Brave New World’ Review – More Like New World Boredom
In Captain America: Brave New World, Thaddeus Ross (now played by Harrison Ford) is president and trying to convince the world that he’s changed since the events of Captain America: Civil War.
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Adamantium, the world’s strongest metal, has been discovered. Ross wants to introduce a treaty allowing this powerful new element to be shared equally amongst other countries. He also wants to reform The Avengers starting with Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) as Captain America.
From director Julius Onah (The Cloverfield Paradox), Brave New World has a screenplay written by five writers. This is worth noting because Brave New World feels like it purposely set itself up to fail by automatically feeling like a cheap imitation of better MCU films.
The film already features a new Captain America still struggling as Steve Rogers’ replacement. It’s been five years since Avengers: Endgame – when Steve gave Sam the shield – and the whole point of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier was Sam coming into his own as the titular hero.
Joaquin (Danny Ramirez) is Sam’s little technology sidekick responsible for research and being as annoying as possible. He wants to be the new Falcon and even wears Sam’s old suit. William Hurt, the original Thaddeus Ross for the MCU, passed away in 2022, so Harrison Ford took over the role. He becomes Red Hulk, which could be considered a cheap knockoff (or upgrade) of the original Hulk.
The film’s story involves using a song to brainwash whoever hears it, which isn’t a bad concept but was executed more efficiently in Captain America: The Winter Soldier and revisited nearly every time Bucky Barnes has appeared on screen since.
The brainwashing ignites an assassination attempt on President Ross. Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbley), a super soldier who was wrongfully imprisoned for 30 years, is affected by this song and tries to kill Ross. As he goes back to prison and awaits a death sentence, Sam spends the film trying to clear his name.
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Brave New World spoils nearly all of its best moments in its marketing. Going into this film without knowing about Red Hulk would have resulted in a much more satisfying film. They try to hide a returning Tim Blake Nelson as Samuel Sterns who has evolved into The Leader and is planning his revenge. There’s also Sidewinder portrayed by Giancarlo Esposito, who is a great addition to the cast but essentially just Gus from Breaking Bad with more guns.
The issue is while Red Hulk has been spoiled from the start there’s not much else Brave New World could have used to reel audiences in to see the film. The other villains in the film are secondary at best and the action is trash. Fights here seem slowed down compared to what we’re used to in the MCU.
We’ve all lost count of how many times Sam has done that weird spin-around kick in the air to two guys before landing on his feet, but he does it again, only this time with Vibranium wings and a white Ant-Man helmet. There is also a sequence where Sam surfs on a missile, but it lasts five seconds.
It doesn’t help that Brave New World is a major slog to sit through. It is incredibly boring with fights that don’t last long enough. It’s an action film driven by dialogue; its runtime is mostly devoted to a bunch of talking and Anthony Mackie smirking and making weird faces. The fact that they stretch out Red Hulk’s transformation for an action sequence that lasts eight minutes is also a bit of a letdown.
The worst part about Captain America: Brave New World is that it merely exists. It isn’t memorable, there’s no charisma between the actors, and it’s forgettable. Apart from its nostalgic roots, this “new” direction is more of the same just with actors and characters that aren’t nearly as interesting as they think they are.
Captain America: Brave New World (2025), Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
PROS
- Red Hulk
- Giancarlo Esposito
- Captain America's all too brief missile surfing sequence
CONS
- Not enough action
- Not enough Red Hulk
- Anthony Mackie's obnoxious facial expressions
- Too dialogue heavy
- Is monumentally dull
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