Captain America: Brave New World
Genre: Action, Adventure, Superhero
Directed by: Julius Onah
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Harrison Ford, Danny Ramirez
Release Date: February 14, 2025
Platform: Theater
Rating: 2.5/5
By Stephen Lackey
There’s not much brave in this new world.
Utilizing “Brave New World” as part of the title of the new Captain America film was a choice. The title references Aldous Huxley’s novel of the same name. Further, Huxley lifted the title from a line in the Shakespeare play The Tempest. In the play, the line is delivered by a character as she marvels at a people she has never seen before. Huxley’s book tells the story of a caste system that utilizes scientific grading to determine social status. So, CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD takes on big themes simply by the choice of title.
The movie that we actually get has little to do with the themes evoked by the title. Instead, we get a movie with scattered ideas and a desperation to recapture the glory of The Winter Soldier. The Winter Soldier found Cap trying to protect his friend, who had been manipulated to do terrible things through mind control. In CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD, Cap is trying to protect his friend who has been manipulated to do terrible things through mind control. In The Winter Soldier, a conspiracy existed to undermine the government for nefarious purposes. Suffice it to say, you may see some of this in the new movie too. The difference is The Winter Soldier had a focus of story, clear character motivations, and a satisfying conclusion. BRAVE NEW WORLD meanders through its plot with disjointed storytelling, soulless themes, and no confidence in what it wants to say.
Among the fine but forgettable action sequences, there are bullet point moments where the film must stop to remind us who the characters are and why some characters are different, in case we haven’t seen the shows or older movies. The movie literally stops and gives these moments of exposition that feel more like CliffsNotes than storytelling. Some of the problem lies in the multitude of reshoots done to course correct a very problematic character in the original iteration of the film. The revamped version of the character has no weight or relevance.
Another character is added to try and salvage a bit of the story, but it’s clear he’s a punch in character because he never once shares space with anyone but Captain America. BRAVE NEW WORLD offers a good performance by Anthony Mackie and Harrison Ford is actually kind of fun in the film. The action is passable, and the CGI is Marvel’s to be expected bare minimum presentation. This is definitely not the MCU’s worst outing, but it is just another stopgap film that winks at the audience about what’s to come. The question is, when is what’s to come going to be great again? Captain America is a very okay one-time watch. You won’t hate it, but you won’t remember it either.
