Just like its prequel television series, “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” the recent entry to the MCU, “Captain America: Brave New World,” seeks to justify why a black man would want to fight in an America that has not done so much to protect people who look like him. From the very first episode, Wilson (Anthony Mackie), aka Captain America, believes that the US government will work in his favor. But what does Wilson’s system do for him? Why does he simply take it from people who hate him the most? Is mere representation a potent potion for a fractured nation? To answer these questions would require the MCU to do something it has not done before, which is: be radical. This movie series prefers the status quo. It wishes to please everyone, which is very dangerous. That misplaced wish disposes of Wilson and makes this latest edition of the longest-running soap opera in the history of cinema the most out of touch ever.
“Captain America: Brave New World” was never supposed to be a compelling piece of art nor did it attempt to be one.
“The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” tried to connect multiple critical themes, such as the exploitation of Black bodies and the prison industrial complex, fostering some hope that this film would creatively combine them all. Unfortunately, “Brave New World” attempts to blend different political themes into a single film full of violent and disruptive set pieces; the desire to entertain the audience overpowers the coherence of the plot. In other words, these heroes do nothing and, as a result, try to protect a soft future constructed from a buried fascist past, only to disintegrate before our eyes. It symbolizes a post-racial dream. “Brave New World” is what the modern world has come to, built from ineffective and often damaging ideas of respectability.
A lot of folks will mention they do not come to the MCU looking for politics, but director Julius Onah’s film doesn’t just encourage that kind of conversation – it actively seeks out such discourse. “Brave New World” opens with Wilson being invited to a reception at the White House by the president Thaddeus Ross, played by Harrison Ford. Wilson doesn’t just go solo, he brings along his new partner, the Falcon, Joaquin Torres, played by Danny Ramirez. He even convinces the ‘forgotten Captain’ Isaiah Bradley, played by Carl Lumbly, who is still bitter because of the decades worth of testing this country has done on him, to join them. For the night, Ross has two objectives. First, he wants Wilson to recreate the Avengers. Second, he attempts to make a treaty with Japan that would be centered around the discovery of adamantium on Celestial Island. This is the part of the world where, since the movie “Eternals”, there is a half-hatched god-like alien that, for some reason, no one discusses. That night of festivities begins to go wrong when Bradley, under a mind-controlled stupor, attempts to kill Ross after hearing The Fleetwoods’ classic song “Mr. Blue.” With Bradley imprisoned, Wilson tries to make sure his friend doesn’t get destroyed psychologically and physically by the system before it is too late.
You would assume that his capture would cause some introspection in Wilson, especially when considering how supportive he is of an anti-black system that persecutes people like him.
He fights for the government by claiming that there is good to be found within Ross, who at least tries to make peace after his daughter Betty (Liv Tyler) becomes a casualty of his Hunt For The Hulk. On their side, Ross and Wilson endlessly wish that one day peace will come to pass, only to be rudely disturbed by Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson reprising his role from The Incredible Hulk), one of those bitter scientists who hate Ross. Sterns doesn’t make much of a villain. Honestly, a fern could stand in for him and the outcome would not be much different. He has no evil, no substance, no personality. Their lackluster presence, along with the film’s thin score, makes an already dull movie drag. No MCU movie has ever felt so long as ‘Brave New World’ and that includes Captain America: The Death of Captain America. For Wilson and Torres, the show is half over. With them is the head of security for Ross, an Israeli ex-Black Widow known as Ruth Bat-Seraph (Shira Haas), who helps them investigate an issue that gets less interesting with each passing moment.
The only good thing about Onah’s film is the sporadically shot action sequences, which are somewhat entertaining.
Onah is very fond of seeing flexible, muscular bodies gliding through space and relishes in the reality of the human body. For example, a fight scene in Mexico with Sidewinder (Giancarlo Esposito) and Wilson portrays two sides fighting with flows of wide angle shots to the point of feeling every punch done to the other person. Unlike previous Marvel movies where the cinematography was one-dimensional, in Onah’s opening scene, he and his Director of Photography, Kramer Morgenthau, use evocative chiaroscuro lighting to provide shadow contrast on characters’ faces, which adds drama. This is a game. Esposito is a major beneficiary of this aesthetic approach. He is the one actor in this feature who possesses the screen presence to be alive on camera. The filmmaker does not do justice with the “visual” language to Esposito when he does a certain scene later on in the film, which is a fight in a junkyard, where all the pictures were out of focus and dull. This place benefited Mackie and Esposito in no way.
In “Brave New World” the last half hour is just as painstakingly dull, during which it focuses on the suffering and pent-up fury of Ross. Ford attempts to work some magic (he still can unnaturally render dark villainous characters with a touch of humanity), but suffers the indignity of being subjected to banal dialogue. Given Ford’s all-American persona, one would expect Onah to dig up his leading man’s history (“Patriot Games” or even “Air Force One”) in an attempt to surprise the spectators. Rather, Ford’s inclusion becomes a cardinal offense. The one glimmer of apoplexy they allow him is when he shifts into Red Hulk (the VFX here isn’t too shabby). His rampage, and I do mean all out, set Wilson against a backdrop of a burning country, a dismembered White House, and a mournful government forced into playing the “world police.” Wilson’s relentless wild ride gets us to burn thanks to the amount of flames he spews while trying to control himself. The metaphors are more than subtle; they’re deafeningly clear, attempting to ‘un-portray’ entertainment and rather take “Brave New World’ focusing on the opposite of its intentions.
This is the franchise’s worst attempt at capturing its audience and has no consideration for the franchise lore, making the conclusion of the series unsatisfying. To be fair, I can’t think of an ending I’ve so passionately disliked until this film.
I won’t spoil anything for this review. That being said, this movie aims to suggest that forgiveness can be given freely, while giving half-hearted attempts to honor the struggles associated with Black excellence, fighting to earn a place, and representation. In striving to pacify the suffering White America, it turns its protagonist into a Magical Negro and demands a smile and tap-dance for the exit. The choice to feature Kendrick Lamar’s heartfelt anthem’s song I as the exit song purposely meant to provoke joy feels downright terrible. This is our Black Captain America now, which makes one question if that is America’s piece of the pie.
This film is overly timid. In my opinion, it is one of the most gutless blockbusters from the last ten years, a film that happens to already portray a dystopian society and is in the process of searching for a better one to manifest.
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