Bored New World

Captain America: Brave New World
Apple Cinemas Xtreme
Hartford
March 7, 2025

I intended to go to the theater and watch Mickey 17, but I misread the schedule and arrived just in time for a showing of Captain America: Brave New World. I decided to go with it; one of the most enjoyable aspects of writing reviews has been the happy surprises I discover along the way.

Unfortunately, this film was not one of those surprises. 

Brave New World (BNW) takes place at some point after Marvel’s latest raft of films and television shows. Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) has officially donned the mantle of Captain America. With his plucky sidekick Danny Ramirez (Joaquin Torres, who is honestly a lot of fun), they fight to make the world safe for democracy. Or something. 

Look, there’s a lot of plot in this movie. It ends up landing Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly, given nothing to do but look scared) in prison for attempting to assassinate President Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford, looking and sounding his age) as the world’s nations try to find a peaceful solution to dealing with the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s latest Macguffin, adamantium. 

Ever since the disappointment I felt watching Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, I’d checked out from the MCU movies. So I didn’t watch The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, or The Eternals, or any of Marvel’s recent projects. Apparently these projects contained plot information that informs BNW, so perhaps my inability to fully comprehend the plot is my own fault. 

That said, the movie still needs to stand on its own. I kept waiting for BNW to be about something on its own terms. The various elements of the movie consistently felt like they were either references to past MCU projects or setting up future ones. As far as I can tell, the big bad’s (who’s not even worth mentioning) entire plan was to … make President Ross angry? All the ​“twists and turns,” and I use that term grudgingly, seem unnecessary to get one guy mad enough to become the Hulk … excuse me, the Red Hulk.

It’s a shame that the movie took the ​“Who’s the mastermind and what do they want?” approach, leading to jet-setting and explosions for no real point. Because at the end of the day, every story is about the people at its center. The film sets up the idea that President Ross is a man who will do anything to acquire power, and that has estranged him from his daughter, Betty (Liv Tyler in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo). He’s now on a mission to make amends for his past behavior, which is why he wants to share the adamantium peacefully with the other nations of the world. 

That’s a story I’d be willing to watch, but it’s buried under layers of plot machinations that lead to set pieces that aren’t that interesting. I found myself feeling bored throughout most of BNW’s sub-two hour run time. There were no characters to relate to, and no CGI to wow at. It felt like a safe, paint-by-numbers MCU film, which is especially ironic given the film’s name.

I’ve felt that the MCU has been spinning its wheels since the death of Chadwick Boseman, who was clearly anointed to carry the mantle forward. BNW did nothing to dispel that thought. It’s an OK popcorn movie, but I would recommend it to only the most diehard MCU fans who have to keep up with every aspect of the story. Sometimes a happy surprise turns out to just be a mistake. 

NEXT
Captain America: Brave New World is still showing widely in theaters.

Jamil is taking the weekend off. See you next week!