Director: Julius Onah
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Danny Ramirez, Shira Haas, Carl Lumbly, Xosha Roquemore, Giancarlo Esposito, Liv Tyler, Tim Blake Nelson, and Harrison Ford
Movie Length: 1 hour 58 minutes
If you haven’t seen any trailers or publicity for Captain America: Brave New World, stop reading and go see it now because I believe the trailers really hurt my enjoyment of the movie (This review has no spoilers beyond what you’ve seen in trailers/commercials).
As the promotional materials make abundantly clear, this movie features Red Hulk. They also make it clear that Red Hulk is General Thunderbolt Ross, who is now played by Harrison Ford. If I hadn’t known this going in, I think the appearance of Red Hulk would have been an awesome surprise. As it was, I knew he was coming so some of the breadcrumbs throughout the film that hinted at what was going on were more obvious. In addition, if my memory serves me, in the comics, Red Hulk showed up and started trashing the Marvel Universe, but the big mystery was who he was. Knowing it is Ross all along took away a dimension of mystery that made Red Hulk’s debut run interesting.
Recognizing that most people interested in this movie DID see the trailer, the film falls back on being a fairly straightforward Marvel film. Tonally, it feels most like Captain America, Winter Soldier. It’s more focused on political intrigue than ‘the world is about to end’ stakes. It has less humor and witty banter than the typical Marvel movie, but it also felt like there was less focus on action. Captain America isn’t even in his suit for a large portion of the movie. The film explores whether people can change, which made the inclusion of a Hulk fit thematically.
By now there are more Marvel shows and movies than casual fans can keep up with. I recommend seeing 2008’s The Incredible Hulk (the one with Edward Norton). This movie picks up quite a few strands from that movie that have been left hanging for years, which I appreciated. If you have Disney+, I’d recommend seeing The Falcon and Winter Soldier, which will explain why Falcon is now Captain America as well as filling in some details about things that are referenced. Finally, if you are willing to sit through one of the least well received Marvel movies, Brave New World ties in to Eternals (If you want to spare yourself, that movie ended up bringing a huge Celestial corpse into the Indian Ocean and ever since then, it hasn’t really been addressed). A basic knowledge of the MCU would be helpful so you can appreciate the cameos and references.
Special effects wise, the best thing about this movie is the Red Hulk. He looks great and I wish he had more screen time. The movie manages to come up with some interesting ways to use Captain America’s wings (he’s still got those), though you probably don’t want to think too hard about whether any of the stuff he does would actually work.
Brave New World doesn’t pop like some of my favorite MCU films, but it was entertaining. Harrison Ford is great and Anthony Mackie does a nice job despite being put in a tough position replacing Chris Evans as Captain America. I imagine your view of it will be colored by whether you are excited about Marvel movies or whether you are in the camp that thinks Marvel has lost its touch. While I’m firmly in the ‘loves Marvel’ camp, I think the truth lies somewhere in the middle. This movie won’t be on anyone’s top five list, but rises far above the bottom tier (such as Eternals, Thor 2). The movie in general, and the end credits scene in particular, also provides hope that Marvel has a bigger plan for its interconnected universe going forward. This could be the shot in the arm Marvel needs since they’ve been meandering around seemingly without a cohesive plan for a while now.
My grade is admittedly skewed based on the following factors:
It’s been a (relatively) long time since we’ve had a Marvel movie so I’m just excited to have one.
We are in the middle of Oscar season (my least favorite movie season) so any comic book movie is welcome.
I’m not claiming this is one of the better Marvel movies, but if you tend to like the MCU there’s a very good chance you will like this one. Bring on Red She-Hulk!
Grade: A-.
Captain America: Brave New World is now in theaters.
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